Submarine Upholder: The Most Successful British Submarine of the Second World War

by Sydney Hart

The awe-inspiring actions of H.M. Submarine Upholder and her captain, Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, one of the greatest submariners of World War Two, are detailed in this account.

This account of the heroic service of the crew of Upholder is the perfect read for fans of Alex Kershaw, Andrew Williams, John Wingate, and Terence Robertson.

HMS Upholder, commanded for her entire career by Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, began service with the 10th Submarine flotilla based on the besieged island of Malta in December 1940. Thanks to the extraordinary dedication and leadership of her captain, she was destined to become the most successful British submarine of World War Two.

The news from the Mediterranean at the time was dismal; losses of underwater craft were considerable. The Italian Navy was proving to be fast, efficient, and deadly. Upholder’s objective was to help scupper the supply convoys crossing the Mediterranean to support Rommel’s campaign in North Africa, where Wavell’s army was battling desperately. During her short service of 24 patrols, Upholder and her dedicated crew sank an incredible 93,031 tons of enemy shipping before being lost with all hands in April 1942.

Using his own personal testimony, as a submariner serving in the Mediterranean at the same time as Upholder, author Sydney Hart witnessed first-hand some of the events he so eloquently describes. His account also includes interviews with Lieutenant-Commander Wanklyn’s family, friends, and comrades; research from official records, letters, and newspaper reports. His own service on submarines akin to Upholder gives the reader a thorough sense of what it would have been like on board at the time, operating in this theatre of war.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 10, 2025

Reviews

[Spad53 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting subject since one seldom gets to read about Royal Navy submarines. HMS Upholder was based in the Mediteranean and the most successful British submarine during WW2.
I can’t say its a good book, the writing is poor, dated and repetitive. It was first published in 1960, written by another submariner which gives it a very authentic feel, but worth checking wikipedia for a more corect record.
It’s a story worth a better book.

[Mike Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

World War books, especially those written on a single subject with no wider context, are either very good or very poor. This one is definitely in the latter group. To make the story of probably the best-known British submarine this dull is a real achievement. There are only so many times that you can read 'Fire One!', often followed by 'Fire Two!' etc., without being bored and for me, that was less than the TWENTY-FOUR TIMES that the author managed.
Basically, the boat's log is regurgitated, with a few descriptive passages, which are also repeated many times (we're told the weight of the boat six times, for example).
But, my biggest gripe is with the writing style, if I can call it that. The author clearly has no idea of how to use hyphens and sentences are sometimes oddly (read 'poorly') phrased. "her writhing’s were grotesque", "inhaling lungful’s of the cigarette smoke" and "to many chilly drenching’s" should have been corrected by a competent author, let alone an editor and where to start with "Malta's bomb racked sea drenched shores"? I had a mental picture of torpedoes stacked up in neat columns...
This is a dismally dull book, with few redeeming points, save for the ship's crew being quoted as saying 'Good old Wanks', not to describe recreation in the long hours underwater, but to praise their skipper, David Wanklyn. Even in the 1940s, that seems unlikely...

[Luke Proudfoot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this when I saw it as an upcoming release on Amazon as I had read about HMS Upholder in another book about Malta during the Second World War and wanted to know more. I did not realise that it was a reprint of an older book. The author clearly knows his stuff when it comes to submarines having served on one during the war himself, although I feel that this lead to frequent use of acronyms and naval terms without explanation. He uses metaphors and similes far too often, with some of them not being very good. The phrase 'pregnant minutes' was often used and having never heard it before didn't make sense to me. The fact that this was a new edition that left in the phrase 'luck of a chinaman' was disappointing. I appreciate the editors wanting to preserve the authors text but it adds nothing to the work and could have easily been removed. I found the descriptions of the submarine attacks very repetitive. A submarine attack seems to follow the same pattern and orders no matter what they are firing at, unlike an infantry attack which will differ depending on manpower of attackers or defenders, weapons, terrain etc. But given that HMS Upholder went on 24 patrols and carried out several attacks on each patrol, reading the same description of the same thing so many times did become predictable and boring. Other than a list of the whole crew at the end, little is mentioned in the book of the crew apart from the senior officers, who a lot is said about using a variety of sources. Perhaps when this was first written it was not the done thing to research into the ordinary service personnel but it would have been interesting to hear what they wrote home about, or what was in their diaries. Perhaps no sources exist to cover this. I did enjoy the way the author handled the final chapter. Given that once a submarine is sunk there are often no survivors and therefore no one to tell of the sinking or a length of time leading up to it. It was well written with no speculation but an explanation of what is likely to have happened given the available evidence. I suppose if one is more interested in naval history than I am this would be more enjoyable.

[Grant McDuling · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Sydney Hart gives a fascinating insight into life in submarines during World War Two. Hi writing is based on official records of HMS Upholder's wartime patrols as well as his own personal experiences serving in a sister submarine. His thoughts about the fatal final moments of Upholder are as chilling as they are gripping. A must read for any naval scholar, historian or anyone with an interest in underwater warfare.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An informative tribute to a brave crew. Informative in the level of activity in Mediterranean in the first years of the war, especially the submarines were unknown to me. A tribute as can only be written by another submariner to a lost crew.

[wally walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written diary of a wartime submarine

[John Pearse · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account of the wartime true exploits ofa famous submarine and it's brave, ingenious commander.Much better than any novel!