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HMS Urge was a British U-class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939 and was commissioned on 12 December 1940. From 1941-2 she formed part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta and is the only Royal Navy ship to have borne the name. Urge spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she damaged or sank a number of mostly Italian warships and merchant vessels and took part in special operations. She was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Edward P. Tomkinson, DSO, RN. She was lost with all hands on 27 April 1942 after striking a  naval mine off Malta.
HMS Urge had an intensive 20-patrol career lasting around a year before her loss. In 1941 Lieutenant-Commander Tomkinson received the DSO and bar, was mentioned in dispatches and, at his request, received two years' seniority in lieu of a second bar to the DSO; in 1942 he was being awarded a further bar to the DSO for the sinking of the Italian cruiser Giovanni dalle Bande Nere but was lost before it was gazetted. Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeogh, a post-war Flag Officer Submarines who served briefly on Urge in 1941, wrote that Tomkinson "should in my view have been awarded the Victoria Cross - preferably before he was lost." HMS Urge’s crew were awarded a number of Distinguished Service Crosses and Distinguished Service Medals. The first lieutenant was Lieutenant JMS Poole, DSC and Bar, RN. The Chief Petty Officer, CJJ Jackman, was awarded the DSM and Bar and mentioned in despatches three times. At the time of her loss, the commander-in-chief Mediterranean reported to the Admiralty that the "loss of this outstanding submarine and commanding officer is much to be regretted."
HMS Urge was adopted and partially funded by the people of the Welsh town Bridgend as a result of the national "warship week" in 1941.In 1975 a building at HMS Dolphin in Gosport was named after Lieutenant-Commander Tomkinson, alongside others named after other leading Royal Navy World War II submarine captains.

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