HMS Tiptoe underway on 3 June 1944 | |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Tiptoe |
Ordered | 22 December 1941 |
Builder | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
Laid down | 10 November 1942 |
Launched | 25 February 1944 |
Commissioned | 10 May 1944 |
Motto | Per Silentium Persequimur |
Honours and awards | Malaya 1945 [1] |
Fate | Sold 1971, scrapped 1975. |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | T-class submarine (Group III) |
Displacement |
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Length | 273 ft (83.2 m) |
Beam | 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m) |
Draught |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 4,500 nmi (8,334 km; 5,179 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h) surfaced |
Test depth | 350 ft (107 m) max |
Complement | 63 |
Armament |
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HMS Tiptoe (pennant number P332) was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, and launched on 25 February 1944. She was one of two submarines named by Winston Churchill, and so far has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named Tiptoe. In 1955 she was involved in a collision with a coastal steamer whilst in Tromsø harbour. She was involved in escape trials off Malta in 1962, and the commanding officer was reprimanded in 1964 following an incident in the Firth of Clyde where she was run aground, and again in 1965 when she collided with HMS Yarmouth. Although originally named for the ability to sneak up on someone undetected, she maintained several links with ballet, including the Royal Ballet and ballet dancer Moira Shearer. She was scrapped at Portsmouth in 1975, while her anchor is on display in Blyth, Northumberland.
HMS Tiptoe was one of the group three of T-class submarines. [2] She was named by Winston Churchill, with the intention to imply that it could approach the enemy silently as if on tiptoe, although the Royal Navy naming committee was against the name, stating that "it was derogatory to one of His Majesty's ships", but the Prime Minister had his way. [3] The only other Royal Navy vessel to be named by Churchill was HMS Varangian. [4]
She was part of the second batch of the third group to be ordered, in 1941. [5] She was one of a number of boats which had an all-welded hull which increased diving depth to 350 feet (107 m), an increase of 50 feet (15 m). [6] The torpedo armament was the same as the earlier group two, although by the time group three was coming into service it was realised that external torpedo tubes had major problems and affected the streamlining of the boats; the external tubes were abandoned in the following Amphion-class submarines. Because of expected use in tropical climates, boats of group three were equipped with freon blowers in order to deal with the increased temperatures. [6]
She was built by Vickers Armstrong and was laid down at their shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness on 10 November 1942 whilst still known as P332. Following her launch on 25 February 1944, [1] she departed the builders yard on 10 June 1944, arriving at Holy Loch on the following day, where she was commissioned on 12 June. [7]
After completing training on 10 September, she returned to Barrow in order to correct some defects. Between 5 October and 12 January 1944, she was equipped with new radar equipment and other equipment to prepare her for deployment in the Far East. [7] She arrived in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka on 1 March 1945 prior to her first war patrol. En route from Britain, she had stopped at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said and Ismailia in Egypt and Aden, Yemen. [7]
Her first patrol centred around the west coast of Burma and the Andaman Islands before heading onto Fremantle, Australia, and was uneventful. She departed Australia for her second patrol on 6 May with orders to patrol the Flores Sea. On 15 May, she sank a Japanese coaster of around 100 tons with gunfire near Dompo Bay, Sumbawa. The following day she sank another Japanese coaster with gunfire, this time around 200 tons, in Sepeh harbour. [7] On 1 June, she approached and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Tobi Maru near Matasiri, one of the Laut Kecil Islands. [8] Tiptoe was damaged during the attack as the cargo ship was about to rendezvous with an escort. The escort launched thirteen depth charges, putting all of Tiptoe's torpedo tubes out of action and flooded her sonar equipment. She returned to Fremantle on 17 June, and remained there undergoing repairs until 16 July when she left on her third patrol in the Sunda Strait along with her sister HMS Trump. [7]
On 31 July she attacked two small Japanese vessels, but broke off the attack when an aircraft was sighted. On 2 August, Tiptoe and Trump together destroyed two small vessels totalling 600 tons with gunfire. On 3 August, she carried out a torpedo attack against the Japanese army cargo vessel Tencho Maru whilst it was in a convoy defended by a patrol boat. [8] The final action of Tiptoe's last war patrol was on 9 August, when together with Trump, they destroyed an 800-ton coastal tanker in the northern part of the Sunda Strait. She returned to Fremantle on 21 August 1945. [7]
During the royal inspection of the Home Fleet in 1947 by George VI, Tiptoe demonstrated diving and surfacing, along with the firing of her deck gun. [9] In November of the same year, she was part of a group of seven submarines with destroyer HMS Opportune to take part in anti–submarine training over the course of two weeks. [10]
Tiptoe was one of several all-welded T-class submarines rebuilt for greater underwater performance. [11] Extra batteries were installed below the control room and additional electric motors were accommodated by cutting through the pressure hull and adding in a new 20 ft (6 m) hull section inserted aft of the control room. [11] The diesel engines were modified and supercharged with output increased by 300 bhp (224 kW). The gun armaments and external torpedo tubes were removed, and the bow reshaped. [11]
The submarine was used in filming the 1950 film, Morning Departure , a naval film directed by Roy Ward Baker. During the course of filming, the submarine depot ship HMS Maidstone was used as a mother ship for Tiptoe. [12] In 1952 a further cinematic link was made when ballet dancer Moira Shearer presented a pair of size 3.5 satin ballet shoes to Tiptoe that she had worn in the 1948 film The Red Shoes . These are now at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. [13]
Whilst in Tromsø harbour on 18 July 1955 Tiptoe was damaged when a coastal steamer collided with her. The steamer, a 2,162 GRT vessel called Nordlys, was entering the harbour when she collided with the British destroyer HMS Chevron. The steamer bounced off the destroyer and collided with Tiptoe, snapping her moorings as she was pushed halfway under a wooden quay. [14]
She took part in escape trials in 1962, which were a series of trials conducted off Malta into escape from a submarine at extreme depths. Tests were conducted with men escaping from Tiptoe at depth of up to 233 feet (71 m) with ascent rates of up to 6.6 ft/s (2 m/s). [15] The trials included the use of buoyant ascent suits which involved a suit pulled over the sailor's head which fed them air as they ascended to the surface. [16] For their work in the escape trials, Chief Petty Officer Christopher Crossman was awarded a commendation, and Lieutenant-Commander L. Hamlyn was awarded an OBE. [17]
Following a refit in Portsmouth, Tiptoe went to the Firth of Clyde for working up, arriving on 10 January 1964, when she was ordered not to enter Gareloch due to dense fog. The boat was duly turned around and ran aground on a muddy bank. As the fog cleared it was realised the boat had run aground only 40 yards (37 m) opposite that of the house of the Royal Navy's Captain in Charge for the Clyde area, Captain G. D. Pound. Divers were sent out to assess damage, and after finding none, Tiptoe was refloated on the evening tide and pulled off the shore by two tugboats. [18] The commanding officer at the time was Lieutenant-Commander David Brazier, who was in his first command. He was later ordered to be severely reprimanded for negligence at a court-martial where he pleaded guilty to the charge. His defence statement read, "The ship was not worked up and it was a very green company. Unfortunately he ran into fog. He took all the precautions he considered necessary. Although he had all the theoretical knowledge, he was short of that tangible instinct of which we are all aware." [19]
Tiptoe was also damaged in a collision with HMS Yarmouth on 13 July 1965. Tiptoe was at periscope depth 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Portland Bill. Following the collision, the commanding officer, Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Pope was ordered to be severely reprimanded after being found guilty of four out of five counts of negligence. [20]
When she left for her final commission on 24 February 1967, six ballet dancers from the Royal Ballet attended the departure ceremony. At the time she was the oldest submarine in service with the Royal Navy. [21] She attended Portsmouth Navy Days later in 1967. [22]
By the time she was decommissioned in 1969, Tiptoe was the last active T-class submarine in the Royal Navy. [23] As she arrived at Spithead for decommissioning on 29 August 1969, a 13-year-old ballet dancer named Judy Wright danced on her upper deck. [24] She was sold in 1971 and scrapped at Portsmouth in 1975. Her anchor was saved, and was mounted on stone in 1979 in Blyth, Northumberland. The town was used as a training base for submarines during both World Wars. [23] Her oak nameplate, used in port and on ceremonial occasions, was recovered by John Storm (who served as her Leading Telegraphist 1944–45) and is now in the possession of his eldest daughter.
A lifebuoy from Tiptoe was found washed up on Newtown beach, Isle of Wight, in the early 1950s. It was donated to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in 2019.
HMS Trump was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built by Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow, and launched on 25 March 1944. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy (RN) to bear the name Trump. She spent the majority of her life attached to the 4th Submarine Squadron based in Australia. She was kept in service following the war and was refitted for greater underwater performance, and was the final RN submarine to be posted in Australia, departing in January 1969. She was sold off and broken up for scrap in August 1971.
HMS A3 was an A-class submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She sank in 1912. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
ORP Sokół was a U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. Shortly after launching in September 1940 she was to be commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Urchin, but instead was leased to the Polish Navy due to a lack of experienced submarine crews. A sister boat to Dzik, both boats operated in the Mediterranean from Malta, where they became known as the "Terrible Twins".
HMS Safari was a third batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Commissioned in 1942, she was assigned to operate in the Mediterranean Sea. During the course of the war, Safari sank twenty-five ships, most of which were Italian.
HMS Stonehenge was an S-class submarine of the third batch built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1943, she made her initial patrol off Norway and was then transferred to the Far East, where she conducted two war patrols, during which she sank two Japanese ships. On her second patrol, Stonehenge disappeared with all hands and was declared overdue on 20 March 1944. The most probable cause of her sinking is that she hit a mine, but her wreck has never been found.
HMS Splendid was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. She was laid down on 7 March 1941 and launched on 19 January 1942. After an initial patrol through the Bay of Biscay to Gibraltar, Splendid conducted two patrols in the Mediterranean Sea; one was abandoned after technical problems and on the other she sank two Italian ships. On her next patrol, the submarine attacked two Italian convoys, sinking an Italian destroyer in the second attack. Based in Algiers, the boat operated north of Sicily, sinking six Italian ships, including two tankers and two heavy merchant ships. Splendid was detected by a German destroyer on 21 April 1943 while patrolling off Naples, Italy; the submarine was attacked with depth charges by the destroyer and forced to surface, after which she was scuttled and her surviving crew members taken prisoner. She was the most successful British submarine by tonnage sunk between November 1942 and May 1943.
HMS Sickle was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1942, she made her initial war patrol off the Norwegian coast. Sickle then sailed to Gibraltar, from where she conducted one patrol, then to Algiers, French North Africa. From 10 May to 10 October, the boat patrolled the Gulf of Genoa five times and sank a German submarine as well as three minesweepers and an escort ship. She then moved to Beirut, French Lebanon, and conducted two patrols in the Aegean Sea, sinking three caïques and a merchant ship, in addition to landing resistance operatives in Greece.
HMS Stratagem was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1943, she made her first war patrol off Norway before she was sent to the Far East, where she conducted three war patrols. On her second, she shelled installations on a Japanese-held island. Her only success came on her last patrol, when she torpedoed and sank a Japanese oil tanker. Soon after, she was spotted by aircraft and depth charged by a destroyer. She was forced to surface, and was scuttled to prevent her capture. Ten crew members escaped the sinking submarine and were taken prisoner, of whom only three survived the war.
HMS Syrtis was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Completed in 1943, Syrtis spent most of her career in the Arctic, off Norway, other than a single patrol in the Bay of Biscay,
HMS Sea Rover was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in July 1943, she conducted one war patrol off Norway, before being re-assigned to the Pacific theater. Arriving in February 1944, the boat conducted several patrols in the Strait of Malacca, sinking one transport, one gunboat, one merchant, three sailing vessels, two coasters, and one lighter. During this time, she was attacked several times by aircraft and surface ships; in one attack, she took on two tons of water from leaks caused by depth charges. Sea Rover collided with an Australian corvette in December 1944, and she was sent back to England, then the United States, for repairs. After the war ended, the boat was sent back to England, placed in reserve, then sold for scrap in October 1949.
HMS Sea Nymph was a S-class submarine of the third batch built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in July 1942, she spent the majority of her career patrolling the waters off Norway in the North Sea, then was sent to the Pacific but was forced back due to technical problems.
HMS Seadog was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in September 1942, she spent most of her career in Arctic waters, off Norway, but sank only one German ship in 13 patrols. In January 1945, she was redeployed to the Far East, meeting more success. On her first patrol in the area, the submarine rescued four American airmen. After two patrols, she and her sister ship HMS Shalimar sank five sailing vessels, two coasters, a barge, a tugboat and a Japanese tank landing ship. After the war ended, Seadog was sent back to England, placed in reserve, then sold for scrap in December 1947. She was ultimately broken up in August 1948.
HMS Shalimar (P242) was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in April 1944, she conducted one war patrol off the Orkney Islands, then was assigned to the Pacific theater, arriving there in September. The submarine conducted one war patrol off the Nicobar Islands, destroying several small ships with gunfire. During her next three patrols in the Strait of Malacca, Shalimar sank twelve sailing vessels, eleven landing craft, four coasters, three lighters, three tugboats, and one minesweeper. After the war ended, the boat was sent back to England, placed in reserve, then sold for scrap in July 1950.
HMS Sportsman was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1942, she spent most of the war serving in the Mediterranean Sea. After an initial patrol off Norway, she sank the heavy transport Général Bonaparte in the Mediterranean in 1943 and missed a French oil tanker. She was heavily damaged after a mistaken attack by an Allied bomber, and was sent east after repairs to participate in operations in the Black Sea. After the operation was cancelled, Sportsman patrolled the Aegean Sea, sending several Greek and German ships to the bottom. She sank the German transport SS Petrella in early 1944 despite it being clearly marked as a prisoner-of-war ship, killing 2,670 out of 3,173 Italians aboard. Sportsman sank several more ships, and suffered minor damage when she was detected and sighted while attempting to attack a convoy.
HMS Snapper was a second-batch S-class submarine built during the 1930s for the Royal Navy. Completed in 1935, the boat participated in the Second World War. Snapper is one of the 12 boats named in the song "Twelve Little S-Boats".
HMS Unrivalled (P45) was a U-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The boat has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to ever bear the name Unrivalled. Completed in 1942, the boat spent most of the war in the Mediterranean. She sank a number of small merchant ships and naval auxiliaries, but major success eluded her during the war. Too small and slow for the post-war environment, Unrivalled was scrapped in 1946.
HMS P222 was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Commissioned in 1942, the boat had an uneventful first war patrol in the Alboran Sea. She intercepted the Vichy French merchant ship SS Mitidja in July, then provided protection for an Allied convoy to Malta in Operation Pedestal the next month. The navy intended that she was to be sighted on the surface by enemy aircraft to discourage potential attacks by surface warships. Though P222 did not encounter enemy forces, the convoy arrived at its destination on 15 August after sustaining severe losses. She then reconnoitred along the coast of Algeria in advance of Operation Torch, and was attacked by a French patrol ship, but sustained no damage.
HMS H28 was a British H-class submarine built by Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness, as part of the Batch 3 H-class submarines. She was laid down on 18 March 1917 and was commissioned on 29 June 1918. H28 was the only British submarine to see active service in both World Wars, and was finally scrapped in 1944.
HMS B10 was one of eleven B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1906, she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet, before the boat was transferred to the Mediterranean six years later. After the First World War began in 1914, B10 played a minor role in the Dardanelles Campaign. The boat was transferred to the Adriatic Sea in 1916 to support Italian forces against the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was anchored in Venice when it was bombed by Austro-Hungarian aircraft on 9 August; B10 was sunk by one of their bombs and became the first submarine to be sunk by an aircraft in history. Salvaged by the Italians, she caught fire while under repair and became a constructive total loss. Her hulk was subsequently sold for scrap.
HMS Proteus was a Parthian-class submarine designed and built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering in Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 18 July 1928, launched on 22 August 1929 and completed on 17 June 1930. Like other submarines in her class she served on the China Station before the war. In the Second World War, mainly based at Alexandria in the Mediterranean, Proteus sank 15 enemy vessels and damaged several others during her service.