Tigris had a relatively active career, serving in the
North Sea and the
Mediterranean.
Home waters Tigris was active in the
Bay of Biscay from July 1940, under the command of Commander
Howard Bone. She was assigned to operate in the North Sea near the Scandinavian coast in mid-1941. Off the coast of
Finnmark, she sank the Norwegian passenger/cargo ships and , In the case of
Richard With, the ship sank in less than a minute, killing two of the three German soldiers on board and claiming the lives of 101 Norwegian civilians. Post-war, the Norwegian public was told the attacks had been carried out by Soviet submarines. She also attacked and badly damaged the German auxiliary submarine chaser
Uj-1201 off the Rolvsøy Fjord. The bow of the ship sank but the stern was towed to port and the ship was rebuilt, entering service again in April 1944. In addition,
Tigris unsuccessfully attacked the German merchant ship
Bessheim and a merchantman of 3,000 tons; she also attacked a convoy, but missed her targets; the Norwegian merchant ships
Mimona,
Tugela and
Havbris.
Mediterranean Tigris was reassigned to the Mediterranean, and was active there from late 1942. On 6 December, she torpedoed and sank the Italian submarine
Porfido, On 21 January 1943, she sank the Italian merchant ship
Citta di Genova in the
Strait of Otranto. This ship was carrying Greek officers, who were being taken to Italy as hostages; many of them perished. ==Sinking==