HNLMS ''Zwaardvisch'' (S814) was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

's , which was based on the British T class. The submarine was originally ordered as HMS ''Talent'' (P322) and built 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. It served mainly in the Pacific against the Japanese during the war, operating under both British and US operational command in Ceylon and Australia. In 1950, the vessel was renamed HNLMS ''Zwaardvis''. She was sold and broken up for scrap in 1963.

Design and description

''Zwaardvisch'' was long, had a beam of and a draught of forward and aft. She displaced 1,290 tons surfaced and 1,560 tons submerged. Powered by twin

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, and twin electric motors, the submarine was capable of achieving while surfaced and submerged. She had a range of at surfaced, and could submerge . She had a complement of 61 personnel and was armed with six internal forward-facing 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, two external forward-facing torpedo tubes, two external amidships rear-facing torpedo tubes, one external rear-facing torpedo tubes, six reload torpedoes, a single QF 4 inch (100 mm)

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

and three anti-aircraft machine guns.

Operational history

The submarine was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 13 October 1942 and built by

, of Barrow. She was launched on 17 July 1943 as HMS ''Talent'', but was not commissioned into the Royal Navy, instead being transferred to the

on 23 March 1943, and commissioned into service on 23 November 1943. She was renamed ''Zwaardvisch'', Dutch for "

Swordfish The swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the Family (biology), family Xiphiidae. They ...

". She went on to lead a distinguished career. Under the command of Lieutenant Hendrikus Goossens, ''Zwaardvisch'' moved to

Rothesay Rothesay ( ; ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Wemyss Bay, which also offers an ...

the following month and began sea trials based out of

Holy Loch The Holy Loch () is a sea loch, part of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The "Holy Loch" name is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there after leaving Ireland. Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausole ...

until February 1944. Throughout late February and into March, the submarine undertook patrols into the Atlantic and then off the coast of Norway. Later, she attempted to find the before returning to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. A patrol to the Portuguese coast followed in May, after which she put into

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, where orders transferring the vessel to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

were received. Arriving in

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

, Ceylon, in July 1944, ''Zwaardvisch'' came under the operational control of the British

Far East Fleet The Far East Fleet (also called the Far East Station) was a fleet of the Royal Navy from 1952 to 1971. During the Second World War, the Eastern Fleet included many ships and personnel from other navies, including the navies of the Netherlands, ...

, and conducted a patrol through the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

, during which time she attacked several ships, including ''Kim Hup Soen'' and two Malaysian sailing vessels, mainly with her deck gun. Assigned to the British 8th Submarine Flotilla, ''Zwaardvisch'' operated out of

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, after September 1944, at which time she was placed under the operational command of the US fleet. In October, she also sank the Japanese guard boat ''Koei Maru'', the Japanese oceanographic research vessel ''Kaiyō No.2'' and the . She also damaged the . On 6 October 1944, she sank the German submarine with a spread of six torpedoes, hitting the U-168 twice, one torpedo detonating in the U-168's forward torpedo room. The submarine had been on a patrol around

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

when she received directions via radio to establish an ambush off Surabaya, where she subsequently torpedoed and sank ''U-168'', which had been on its way to Japan to transfer important military technologies. Afterwards it rescued some survivors of the ''U-168''. The final months of the war were spent in the South China Sea attacking Japanese merchantmen, and patrolling the

Lombok Strait The Lombok Strait () is a strait of the Bali Sea connecting to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side. Its narrowest point is at its southern opening, with a ...

. In February 1945, ''Zwaardvisch'' was attacked and damaged by a Japanese aircraft and had to return to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

the following month for repairs. Once these were complete, she returned to the Java Sea under the command of Lieutenant Jan van Dapperen, where she made further attacks on Japanese merchantmen throughout April and May before returning to Fremantle to repair faulty communications and weapons systems. Following the surrender of Germany in early May, the submarine returned to Britain to undertake further repairs in Dundee before transferring to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in August 1945. Apart from a voyage to the

Dutch West Indies The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the norther ...

in 1947, she had a relatively quiet postwar career, being renamed ''Zwaardvis'' in 1950. She was decommissioned on 11 December 1962, and was sold to be

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

for scrap on 12 July 1963.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zwaardvisch (P322) Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1943 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Zwaardvisch-class submarines World War II submarines of the Netherlands