Laid down 19 October 1942 Beam 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) Launched 31 August 1943 Builder Vickers-Armstrongs | Commissioned 22 January 1944 Construction started 19 October 1942 Length 84 m | |
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Fate damaged by depth charges, scrapped June 1946 Class and type British T class submarine Displacement 1,290 tons surfaced
1,560 tons submerged | ||
HMS Terrapin was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built as P323 by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and Belliss and Morcom Ltd, and launched on 31 August 1943. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Terrapin, after the animal of that name.
Service
Apart from a brief period in home waters off the Scandinavian coast, Terrapin served in the Far East for much of her wartime career. She had a comparatively active career, since she was only commissioned on 22 January 1944. In March 1944 she attacked a German convoy off Egersund, Norway, torpedoing and damaging the German catapult ship Schwabenland, and the German tanker Wörth, (the former Dutch Omala). The Schwabenland was grounded to prevent her from sinking and the Wörth was towed to port.
Terrapin was then assigned to the Pacific Far East in mid 1944. She opened her career by bombarding Japanese installations at Gunung Sitoli (Nias Island), western Sumatra. She also sank a Japanese coaster with gunfire and damaged another. She went on to sink the Japanese auxiliary netlayer Kumano Maru, the Japanese minesweeper W 5, and ten Japanese sailing vessels, damaging another.
Terrapin often operated with her sister, HMS Trenchant, and together they sank the Japanese tanker Yaei Maru No.6, the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Reisui Maru, the Japanese submarine chaser Ch 8, a fishing vessel and seven coasters. Terrapin herself sank another small craft with gunfire.
She was damaged on 19 May 1945 by depth charges from Japanese escort vessels while attacking an escorted tanker. Thanks to the assistance of the American submarine USS Cavalla, she was escorted and returned to Fremantle, Australia. She was declared a constructive total loss on return to harbour, and was scrapped in June 1946.