HMS Taurus (P339)
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HMS ''Taurus'' 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 ...
T-class
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 ...
, 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.


Career


As HMS ''Taurus''

The submarine was laid down on 30 September 1941, and launched on 27 June 1942. ''Taurus'' was commissioned on 3 November 1942 with the
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
P339. She served in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
and the Pacific
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 ...
during the
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 ...
. Whilst serving in the Mediterranean, she sank the small French merchant ''Clairette'', the Spanish merchant ''Bartolo'', the Italian merchant ''Derna'', the French tug ''Ghrib'' and two barges, the Portuguese ''Santa Irene '', the small Italian tanker ''Alcione C.'', the Italian sailing vessel ''Luigi'', twenty eight Greek sailing vessels, and the small Greek ship ''Romano''. She also damaged a further two sailing ships and the Greek merchant ''Konstantinos Louloudis''. It was during this period off the Greek coast she had the unusual distinction of engaging a Bulgarian cavalry unit while bombarding a small port. She was transferred to the Far East to operate against the Japanese, where she sank the Japanese submarine , two Japanese tugboats and a barge and the Japanese salvage vessel ''Hokuan I-Go''. She also laid a number of mines, which damaged the Japanese submarine and sank the Japanese transport ship ''Kasumi Maru''. Having survived the war, ''Taurus'' was transferred to 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 ...
on 4 June 1948 and commissioned into service the same day. She was renamed ''Dolfijn''.


As HNLMS ''Dolfijn''

''Dolfijn'' had a relatively quiet career, making a number of cruises before being decommissioned on 7 November 1953 and transferred back to 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 ...
.HNLMS ''Dolfijn''
at dutchsubmarines.com


As HMS ''Taurus'' again

''Dolfijn'' was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 December 1953 and her name returned to the original HMS ''Taurus''. She served for another seven years before being sold to be broken up for scrap in April 1960.


References


Publications

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External links


IWM Interview with Mervyn Wingfield, who commanded HMS Taurus from 1942 to 1944
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taurus (P399) British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1942 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Zwaardvisch-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom