Relatives of the 44 who perished aboard the HMS Urge off Fort St Elmo in World War II have finally been able to attend a memorial service for their fallen forefathers after a monument commemorating the sinking was unveiled on Wednesday.

The ceremony was attended by President George Vella, British High Commissioner Catherine Ward and members of the Royal Navy, with the AFM performing a gun salute in their honour. The remains of the vessel a few miles outside of the Grand Harbour were only discovered in 2019.

The solemn event was briefly interrupted when a young soldier passed out and hit the ground, causing some alarm among his family members. He was carried off in a stretcher and an emergency nurse arrived on-site to tend to the man.

Subsequently, another three soldiers who were standing in full uniform at the ceremony were escorted away and also provided medical assistance.

Later, President Vella, who is a medical doctor by profession, stopped to check on the men.

'In light of Ukraine invasion, important to commemorate what happened'

Addressing the event, Commissioner Ward said the ceremony was a testament to the strong and enduring links between Malta and the UK, which are founded on a common love for peace and democracy.

44 people perished aboard the HMS Urge. Photo: Jessica Arena

“Malta is no stranger to the effects of war and it is tempting to think of them as distant memories, however, recent events prove that this is not the case,” she said.

“In light of Putin's unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine, it is more important than ever to commemorate what happened here.

“This monument will bear testimony to the sacrifice of the crew and their heroism in the face of devastating loss,” she added.

President Vella noted that while Malta still celebrated the arrival of limping convoys, the extent of all those who were long lost at sea during the war may never be known.

“Malta’s role as a British naval base came at huge material costs as well as the loss of human life.

“We often cannot commemorate the loss of so many others who drowned - the numbers are huge and more often than not never backed by the names and faces of those who died.

“Today, we are able to do something different - we know where the wreckage lies and we know the names of those brave young men who were lost in this seagrave. We can visualise them and we owe it to them to remember their sacrifice.”

The memorial at Fort St Elmo. Photo: Jessica Arena

The story of HMS Urge 

HMS Urge was a British U-class submarine that was built thanks to the residents of the Welsh town Bridgend. The town raised money to build the vessel in 1941 during a ‘National Warship Week’, an effort that saw cities and towns across the UK raising money to build warships and weapons during World War II. 

The submarine cost some £300,000 - the equivalent of €19 million today when adjusted for inflation. 

The Urge spent most of its career operating in the Mediterranean as part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla, known as the Fighting 10th, based in Malta, where it managed to damage and sink a number of Italian warships. 

However, tragedy struck on April 27, 1942, when the Urge struck a German mine just off the Maltese coast and sank, along with all its passengers. 

At the time, Malta was being brutalised by bombing from the Nazi regime’s Italian allies and the Fighting 10th was ordered to leave Malta and set up a base in Alexandria. The Urge left Malta on April 27 but never made it to Alexandria and was reported overdue on May 6. 

The submarine went down with 32 crew members, 11 naval personnel and a journalist. 

The location of the wreckage of HMS Urge remained a mystery for some time, but a research team from the University of Malta found the remains of the vessel a few miles outside the Grand Harbour in 2019, dispelling a rumour that it has been found off the coast of Libya a few years earlier. 

“That would have meant that the commanding officer and his men disobeyed orders as they were not to deviate from the course. The discovery now puts that to rest,” Prof. Timmy Gambin had said of the discovery at the time. 

Last year, divers were able to capture footage of the wreck, where the outline of the word ‘Urge’ was still visible despite the years spent underwater and colonies of corals that had grown all over the sunken vessel. 

In an interview with Times of Malta soon after the 2019 discovery, a descendent of the submarine’s commander Lieutenant-Commander Edward P Tomkinson, described the emotional importance of the find. 

Francis Dickinson, who is Tomkinson’s grandson, was part of the project to find the wreck and was present when it was found, a full circle moment after hearing his grandmother’s stories about his grandfather’s role in the history of WW2. 

“It was the experience of a lifetime to be above the wreck and watch live colour images of such a special submarine lying upright on the seabed… She was true to her orders and undaunted to the last,” he had said.