South Wales town remembers 44 who were lost on wartime submarine HMS Urge

A memorial service has been held in Bridgend for the 44 people who died when HMS Urge, the wartime submarine adopted by the town, was lost during the Second World War.

HMS Urge was adopted by Bridgend after a wartime fundraising campaign in 1941, when communities across Britain raised money for the Royal Navy through Warship Weeks.

Cities were encouraged to raise funds for battleships and aircraft carriers, while towns and villages focused on smaller vessels such as cruisers, destroyers or submarines

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Once enough money had been raised, the community would adopt the vessel and support its crew.

Bridgend and District Warship Week raised £300,000 in November 1941, leading to the adoption of HMS Urge, as well as HMS Tudor, HMS Mallow and Motor Torpedo Boat 47.

HMS Urge was a U-class submarine commanded by Lieutenant Commander Edward Tomkinson. 

She served in the Mediterranean, attacking Axis shipping and operating from Malta at a time when the island was under intense bombing.

HMS Urge built a formidable wartime record with attacks including the damaging of the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and the sinking of the cruiser Bande Nere.

On 27 April 1942, HMS Urge left Malta bound for Alexandria in Egypt. On board were 32 crew, 11 other naval personnel and a war correspondent.

The submarine is believed to have struck a mine off Malta shortly after leaving harbour. For decades, her precise resting place remained unknown.

The wreck was discovered in 2019 during a marine archaeology project involving the University of Malta and Francis Dickinson, Lt Cdr Tomkinson's grandson. 

The discovery helped settle one of the long-running mysteries surrounding the submarine's loss.

More than eight decades after HMS Urge failed to arrive in Alexandria, Bridgend's connection to the submarine remains part of the town's wartime history – a fundraising campaign, an adopted crew, and 44 lives lost beneath the Mediterranean.