HMS ''Tantalus'' was a British

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

of the third group of the ''T'' class. She was built as ''P318'' by

Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

, Barrow, and launched on 24 February 1943. So far she has been the only ship of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

to bear the name ''Tantalus'', after the mythological

Tantalus Tantalus ( ), also called Atys, was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing ambrosia from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he ...

, son of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Service

''Tantalus'' served in the Far East for much of her wartime career. She sank the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n tug ''Kampung Besar'', and the Malaysian ''Pulo Salanama'' in April 1944; she went on to sink the

Japanese army The , , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct t ...

cargo ships ''Amagi Maru'' and ''Hiyoshi Maru'', the Japanese cargo ship ''Hachijin Maru'', the Japanese coaster ''Palang Maru'', the Japanese fishing vessel ''Taisei Maru No. 12'', a Japanese tug and three barges, an unknown Japanese vessel, and a Siamese sailing vessel, whilst claiming to have damaged a second. ''Tantalus'' also damaged a tug and the Japanese submarine chaser ''Ch 1''. She also attacked, but missed the Japanese submarine '' I-166'', which was sunk later that day by HMS ''Telemachus''. ''Tantalus'' survived the war and continued in service with the Royal Navy, finally being scrapped at Milford Haven in November 1950.HMS Tantalus
Uboat.net

References

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External links

IWM Interview with Hugh Mackenzie, who commanded HMS ''Tantalus'' from 1943 to 1945
British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1943 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom {{UK-mil-submarine-stub