| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | U |
| Pennant | P 57 |
| Built by | Vickers Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.) : Davey Paxman & Ricardo |
| Ordered | 12 Jul 1941 |
| Laid down | 5 Sep 1941 |
| Launched | 10 Nov 1942 |
| Commissioned | 8 Mar 1943 |
| End service | |
| History | Sold to be broken up for scrap in February 1946. Scrapped at Milford Haven in June 1946. |
Commands listed for HMS Universal (P 57)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | Lt. Cecil Gordon, RN | 29 Dec 1942 | 29 Nov 1944 | |
| 2 | Lt. Samuel Stanley Brooks, DSC, RN | 29 Nov 1944 | 8 May 1945 | |
| 3 | T/Lt. Derek John Palmer, RNVR | 12 May 1945 | 6 Jun 1945 | |
| 4 | Lt. Robin William Garson, RN | 6 Jun 1945 | ??? | |
| 5 | Lt. Bruce Collins, RN | 8 Sep 1945 | Oct 1945 ? | |
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Noteable events involving Universal include:
6 Sep 1943
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) sank the Italian auxiliary patrol vessels V 130/Ugo (114 GRT) and V 134/Tre Sorelle (178 GRT) with gunfire west of La Spezia, Italy.
18 Dec 1943
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant La Foce (2497 GRT) south of Chiavari, Genoa, Italy in position 44°15'N, 09°18'E. (see map)
27 Feb 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) torpedoed and damaged the Italian tanker (in German control) Cesteriano (6664 GRT) off Cape Camarat, southern France. The damaged tanker is towed to Toulon.
23 May 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) torpedoed and sank the German auxiliary gunboat SG 15 (590 tons, former French Rageot de la Touche) off Genoa, Italy.
21 Jun 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) sank the German Guard boat FMa 06 (121 GRT, former French Guarani) south of Marseille, southern France.
At 2121 hours and A/S yacht and a chasseur were sighted on an A/S hunt between Riou Island and the mainland.
At 2224 hours Universal fired one torpedo from 470 yards against the A/S yacht of about 250 tons that was laying stopped to listen with the hydrophone. The target was hit and disintegrated. Universal withdrew to the south-east.
22 Jun 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) torpedoed and sank the German merchants President Dal Piaz (4929 GRT, built 1929) and Canosa (3823 GRT, former French Sampiero Corsa, built 1936) off Cassis, southern France.
At 1445 hours (time zone -2) a 6000 tons passenger liner was sighted in Cassis Bay. 10 minutes later another passenger liner of about 12000 tons was sighted close to the other one. This last vessel was very well camouflaged.
At 1550 hours Universal closed in to attack. At 1559 hours four torpedoed were fired from 3500 yards, two against each ship. All torpedoed were seen to hit their targets. The larger liner was seen to roll over and sank on her side on the bottom with a fire breaking out amidships. The smaller one sank stern first until it hit the bottom, her back appeared to be broken. Also when the torpedoed hit this ship an enormous column of steam bellowed out from the funnel indicating that she had steam up.
14 Jul 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) sank the Spanish sailing vessel Sevellona off Port Vendres, southern France.
At 1600 hours (time zone -2) a schooner of about 350 tons was sighted about 5 nautical miles away. The schooner was in the 'sink at sight' zone so it was attacked despite being Spanish.
After closing the target Lt. Gordon fired three torpedoes but these all missed or ran under.
At 1631 hours Universal surfaced and engaged the schooner with gunfire but after two minutes she was forced to submerge due to accurate fire by shore batteries. Six rounds had been fired by then by Universal, four of them were hits. The crew by now had abandoned ship.
The schooner, with her sails set, continued at three knots. After reloading a torpedo tube Lt. Gordon fired two torpedoes at 1650 hours. One torpedo hit the target that was seen to disappear beneath the waves.
4 Aug 1944
HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) torpedoed and sank the German auxiliary minesweeper Petrel (80 GRT) of the coast southern France.
8 Aug 1944
While on patrol off Hy?res, southern France, HMS Universal (Lt. C. Gordon, RN) fires a torpedoed against what is identified as an enemy auxiliary minesweeper. They claim to have damaged the so far unidentified ship.