Jimmy Launders  Captain James Stuart "Jimmy" Launders, (1919–1988) was an officer in the Royal Navy during and after the Second World War. He retired from the service in 1974, but continued to serve in an unofficial capacity on training programs until his death in 1988. In addition to his reputation amongst his crew, colleagues, and historians as a brilliant, highly skilled, and courageous officer, Launders is remembered as the only submarine commander in history to have engaged and sunk an enemy submarine ("U-864") using only his own unaided vessel () while both ships were fully submerged. In 1925, when he was five years old his parents took him to the British colony known as the Uganda Protectorate. He spent his childhood "exploring" what is today Mount Elgon National Park and took many extended trips with his father into the far western part of the country in what would later become Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Launders returned to England in late 1935 at the age of 16 and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet on 1 January 1938. Upon completion of his training, he was posted as a midshipman to the battlecruiser on 1 January 1939. He was serving aboard "Repulse" when the war broke out. Though he would continue to serve aboard "Repulse" for more than two years, it was to be his last assignment to a surface vessel for some time. On 1 April 1941 (after the war had been raging for about a year and a half and the Battle of the Atlantic was well underway), Launders was posted to his first submarine assignment aboard . In recognition of his outstanding service during that critical phase of the Battle of the Atlantic, Launders was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) on 22 December 1942. He was subsequently promoted to lieutenant on 1 April 1943. His career was on a "fast track", and on 18 May 1943, he received his first command, one that would make him famous: "Venturer". "Venturer" was Launders' first submarine posting, but his intellect, quick thinking, and leadership had put him in position for just such a challenging command. "Venturer" was a fast-attack "hunter-killer" sub, whose mission was to hunt for enemy shipping and other submarines, attack them, and to effect a speedy getaway without engaging in a prolonged action. Launders was a "rising star" in the Royal Navy submarine command at the time. a "boy-wonder with a genius for mathematics," which gave him a tremendous edge in making the necessary vector calculations (manual or minimally mechanical-computer assisted reckoning of speed and trajectories for targets, torpedoes, attacking vessels and currents) that were part of submarine warfare tactics of the day.