HMS Graph
1941 Type VIIC submarine
HMS Graph (pennant number P715) was a German Type VIIC U-boat captured and recommissioned by the British Royal Navy during World War II.
Commissioned as U-570 in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in mid-1941, she was attacked and captured on her first patrol. She provided the Royal Navy and United States Navy with useful information about German submarines. Refitted for use by the Allies, she carried out three combat patrols with a Royal Navy crew, becoming the only U-boat to see active service with both sides during the war. She was withdrawn from service in 1944 due to problems maintaining her. While being towed to the breakers for scrapping, she ran aground on the Isle of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland. Some of the wreckage was removed as scrap but some remains to the present day.
Design and construction
The submarine was built to the German Type VIIC design. She had a displacement of 769 tonnes (757 long tons) when surfaced, and 871 t (857 long tons) when submerged. The boat was 67.10 metres (220 ft 2 in) long, with a beam of 6.2 metres (20 ft 4 in), and a draught of 4.74 metres (15 ft 7 in). The diesel-electric propulsion system provided a maximum speed of 18.8 knots (34.8 km/h; 21.6 mph) surfaced or 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged.
“HMS Graph” enters the record as 1941 Type VIIC submarine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Graph, Type and VIIC can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“HMS Graph” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Graph, Type and VIIC provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q339032. Authority coordinates are 62.250, -18.583. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941 and 1944.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “HMS Graph”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow HMS Graph primary sources, HMS Graph archive and Graph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “HMS Graph”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “HMS Graph” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.