COBI HMS Upholder (P37) U-Class Submarine Set 4862

COBI's HMS Upholder (P37) is a 1:300 model built from 140 blocks, 19.5 cm long, with movable rudders and propellers, a display base and a collector's plaque. All markings are printed.

A training boat that became a weapon

The U class was not designed to fight. It was ordered in the 1930s as an unarmed target boat for anti-submarine training — small, cheap, simple, and short-ranged. Torpedo tubes were added almost as an afterthought.

What made them lethal was the Mediterranean. The water there is clear and often shallow, which is fatal for a large submarine and survivable for a small one; the distances are short, so limited range did not matter; and the Axis convoy route from Italy to North Africa ran right past Malta. A boat that had been built to be shot at turned out to be exactly the right tool.

Wanklyn

Upholder was commanded throughout her career by Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn. In 24 patrols from Malta she sank over 93,000 tons of shipping, including three large troop transports — the Conte Rosso, Neptunia and Oceania — each carrying thousands of soldiers bound for Rommel's army.

Wanklyn received the Victoria Cross. Upholder was lost with all hands in April 1942, and the Admiralty took the unusual step of issuing a communiqué naming the boat, which it almost never did for a lost submarine.

In the COBI range

One of four U-class boats COBI makes at 1:300, with the Norwegian HNoMS Uredd (4861) and the Polish ORP Sokoł (4863) and ORP Dzik (4864) — the same class under four flags.

Specifications

Pieces: 140 · Scale: 1:300 · Age: 7+ · Display base and plaque included
Model dimensions: 19.5 × 6.5 × 4 cm (7.7 × 2.6 × 1.6 in)