and at submerged. The boats were armed with six torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried six reload torpedoes for a grand total of a dozen torpedoes. They were also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm) deck gun. Construction and career Ordered on 2 July 1930, Sturgeon was laid down by Chatham Dockyard on 3 January 1931. She was launched on 8 January 1932 and commissioned on 15 December 1932. At the onset of the World War II, Sturgeon was a member of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla. From 23 to 26 August 1939, the 2nd Submarine Flotilla transferred to their war bases at Dundee and Blyth. North Sea patrols On 23 August, Sturgeon departed her homeport of Portland along with her sister ships and . On 25 August, she commenced patrolling southwest of Stavanger, Norway. When Britain declared war against Nazi Germany on 1 September, this became Sturgeons first combat patrol. On 4 September 1939, Sturgeon, on her way to return to Dundee, was erroneously bomber by a British aircraft at 16:20 (UTC) in position . At 16:42 the aircraft dropped another bomb but Sturgeon was not damaged, arriving the next day at Dundee. Sturgeon departed Dundee on 13 September on her second war patrol, in the same are as the first. On 14 September, Sturgeon sighted an unidentified submarine, thought to be a German U-boat, and fired three torpedoes at it in position , south-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. The submarine, which was in fact the British HMS Swordfish, dived and the torpedoes missed. Sturgeon ended her second war patrol in Dundee on 21 September. On 8 October 1939, Sturgeon left her home port for her third patrol, in the Skagerrak strait. On 14 October, she sighted the German U-boat northwest of Skagen, Denmark in position . All three torpedoes missed their target. Two days later on 16 October, Sturgeon hit the bottom at depth, damaging her ASDIC dome. On 21 October, she ended her third patrol at Rosyth. After repairs, Sturgeon left for her fourth patrol, off Heligoland then west of Denmark. On 20 November, she sank the German armed trawler V 209 Gauleiter Telshow with torpedoes approximately northwest of Heligoland in position . The sinking of V-209 was the first successful attack on an enemy ship by a British submarine during the Second World War. On 29 November, Sturgeon ended her fourth war patrol at Blyth. On 13