HMS ''Tapir'' (P335) was a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

British T-class submarine The Royal Navy's T class (or ''Triton'' class) of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the Odin-class submarine, O, Parthian-class submarine, P, and Rainbow-class submarine, R classes. Fifty-three members of the class ...

, 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, w ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

. 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 ''Tapir'', after the

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

Career

As HMS ''Tapir''

The submarine was laid down on 29 March 1943, and launched on 21 August 1944. Commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30 December of that year, she led a distinguished career for such a late entry into the war, torpedoing the

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submarine U-486 in the

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, to the north-west of

Bergen, Norway Bergen (, ) is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 2025 the population is 294 029 according to Statistics Norway. The municipali ...

at position on 12 April 1945.

HNLMS ''Zeehond''

On 18 June 1948, she was deemed surplus to requirements, and was loaned to the Netherlands for a period of five years, being commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS ''Zeehond'' (P335) on 12 July 1948. Together with ''O24'' and ''HNLMS Van Kinsbergen'', she visited

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

in 1949. Gravity measurements were taken during the trip (the first Dutch ones following the war). The ''Zeehond'' conducted a long snorkel trip on the way back. She was transferred back to the Royal Navy on 15 July 1953, finally being re-commissioned and renamed ''Tapir'' on 16 December of that year.HNLMS Zeehond (2)
dutchsubmarines.com HMS ''Tapir'' was scrapped at

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

in December 1966.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tapir (P335) British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1944 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Zwaardvisch-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom