Starfish Song, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh we're tough, mighty tough, in the Starfish, And the Coxswain is a man that we well wish. Oh, the cook makes hors-de-overs Out of matelots' old pullovers, Oh, we're tough, mighty tough, in the Starfish."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy)
KEYWORDS: ship navy food hardtimes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy, p. 113, "The 'Starfish' Song" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "They're Tough, Mighty Tough, in the West" (tune)
cf. "Twelve Little S-Boats" (subject: The Starfish and other S-Boats)
NOTES [340 words]: The Starfish, according to Bagnasco, p. 110, was one of the first four units of the "S" class of submarines, built at Chatham in 1930-1933. "In 1930, the Royal Navy, in accordance with the plan to modernize the submarine force, decided to build a new type of boat, suitable for employment in the North Sea and restricted waters such as the Mediterranean."
They were small for submarines of the 1930s: the first group had a displacement of just 737 toms surfaced (later members of the class were larger); they were 202.5"x24"x10.5". They were slow, too, on the surface: 13.75 knots (although they could manage an impressive 10 knots submerged), and as built had a range of just 3800 miles at ten knots. They had six torpedo tubes, all in the nose, carried a 3" gun, and had crews of three dozen.
Despite their limited abilities, the British liked them and ended up building more than sixty of them (Bagnasco, p. 111).
They really didn't have the range to sail outside of European waters, but the Royal Navy found a way: "To achieve greater range for the boats bound for the Far East, several sections of the ballast tanks were adapted for use as fuel tanks.... Stores, especially food and ammunition were increased and were stored in any available space; a small ammunition locker was placed under the table in the officers' quarters" (Bagnasco, p. 112). It sounds like the song's complaint about them is dead on; when on Pacific duty, they must have been almost uninhabitable. Especially the early ones, which had stability problems (Worth, p. 117).
Despite those limitations, Bagnasco, p. 112, concludes, "The combination of their qualities -- none of which, in itself was above average -- together with the reliability of their equipment and the great ease of operation and maintenance made them very effective and safe." But he never had to serve on one!
Young, p. 147, reports that the Starfish was lost in a surface action in the North Sea on January 9, 1940.
For the class as a whole, see the notes to "Twelve Little S-Boats." - RBW
Bibliography

Bagnasco: Erminio Bagnasco, Submarines of World War Two, 1973 (Italian edition); English Language edition 1977 (I use the 1986 Naval Institute Press edition)
Worth: Richard Worth, Fleets of World War II, Da Capo, 2001
Young: John Young, A Dictionary of Ships of the Royal Navy of the Second World War, Patrick Stephens, 1975

Last updated in version 5.1
File: Tawn083

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