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My Grandfather served upon HMS Sharpshooter and HMS Rorqual.
HMS Rorqual (N74) was the one of the six ship class of Porpoise-class mine-laying submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched 27 July 1936. She served in World War II in the Mediterranean and in the far east. She was the only Grampus class submarine to survive the war.
Sent to the Mediterranean in 1940, Rorqual began laying minefields and attacking enemy shipping. Amongst the shipping lost to mines laid by Rorqual were the Italian merchants Loasso, Celio, Leopardi, Verde, Ticino, and Salpi; the Italian pilot vessel F 34 / Rina Croce, the Italian torpedo boats Calipso, Fratelli Cairoli, Generale Antonio Chinotto, Altair and Aldebaran; the Italian auxiliary minesweeper AS 99 / Zani, the German troop transport Ankara; the French merchant (in German service), P.L.M. 24; and the French fishing vessel Coligny.
Rorqual arrived in the far east in 1945 to operate against the Japanese, serving as part of the British Pacific Fleet. She laid minefields and sank three Japanese sailing craft and three coasters with gunfire, and damaged a fourth coaster.

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