| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | U |
| Pennant | P 33 |
| Built by | Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.) |
| Ordered | 11 Mar 1940 |
| Laid down | 18 Jun 1940 |
| Launched | 28 Jan 1941 |
| Commissioned | 30 May 1941 |
| Lost | 20 Aug 1941 |
| Loss position | |
| History | On 6 August 1941 HMS P 33 (Lt. Reginald Denis Whiteway-Wilkinson, DSC, RN) sailed from Malta with orders to intercept an Italian convoy bound for Libya. On 18 August 1941 HMS P 32 reported hearing a prolonged depth charge attack that lasted for two hours. When the attack was finally over P 32 attempted to contact P 33 but received no response and it is almost certain that P 33 had perished in the attack. P 33 was reported overdue on 20 August 1941 when she failed to return to Malta. However the Italians claim that she was sunk by the torpedo boat Partenope off Pantelleria on the 23 August 1941. |
Commands listed for HMS P 33 (P 33)
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| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Lt. Reginald Denis Whiteway-Wilkinson, DSC, RN | 21 Apr 1941 | 20 Aug 1941 |
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Noteable events involving P 33 include:
15 Jul 1941
HMS P 33 (Lt. R.D. Whiteway-Wilkinson, DSC, RN) attacks a convoy and torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Barbarigo (5293 GRT, built 1930) off Pantellaria Island in position 36º27'N, 11º54'E.
At 1407 hours (time zone -2) the convoy P 33 was warned about was sighted in position 36º27'N, 11º54'E. At 1416 hours it was noticed that the convoy was made up of 5 half laden merchants. These were in two columns of two ships each in line ahead with one more ship leading in the middle of the two columns. The escort was identified as six Spica class torpedo boats in pairs of two, one pair ahead an one pair on each quarter of the convoy. The escorts were under constant wheel. Also an aircraft was overhead. P 33 was at 11000 yards and closed to attack the leading ship of the starboard column. The size of this ship was estimated at 7000 tons. (This convoy from Tripoli to Naples consisted of the Italian merchants Rialto (6099 GRT, built 1927), Andrea Gritti (6338 GRT, built 1939), Sebastiano Venier (6311 GRT, built 1940), Barbarigo (5293 GRT, built 1930) and the German merchant Ankara (4768 GRT, built 1937) and was escorted by the Italian destroyers Malocello, Fuciliere and Alpino and the Italian torpedo boats Procione, Pegaso and Orsa).
At 1439 hours four torpedoes were fired at the intended target from 2500 yards. 2 hits were heard about 2 minutes after firing. Almost immediately a heavy counter attack began that lasted until 1605 hours, in all 116 depth charges were dropped but only one pattern fell close knocking out some lights. After the attack on the merchant Lt. Whiteway-Wilkinson took P 33 to 70 feet but she lost her trim and control was only regained at 310 feet. Due to this extreme depth several leaks occured. This forced Lt. Whiteway-Wilkinson to abandon the patrol and head to Malta for repairs. This damage was not due to the depth charging but due to the great depth that P 33 ended up after losing her trim. (see map)