HMS L56: A Govan-Built Submarine of the Interwar Years

Built at Govan

HMS L56 was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Govan shipyard on the Clyde, launched on 29 May 1919 and commissioned on 3 September that year, one of the late-model L-class submarines that, like several of her sisters, entered service only after the First World War had already ended.

A Well-Armed Design

L56 displaced 960 tons on the surface and 1,150 submerged, capable of 17 knots on the surface and 10.5 knots submerged, powered by two Vickers diesel engines and armed with six 21-inch bow torpedo tubes carrying twelve torpedoes, alongside two 4-inch deck guns, crewed by 44 officers and ratings, a solid and capable design that continued to serve the Navy well through the interwar years despite arriving just after the conflict she was built for.

The End of Her Service

HMS L56 was sold for scrap on 25 March 1938, closing out nearly two decades of quiet interwar service just as Europe once again edged toward war, part of the steady turnover of older submarines that made way for the newer designs the Navy would need in the conflict soon to come.