B a t t l
e H o n o u r
ATLANTIC
1945
First RN use of the name when given to this submarine in
place of Pennant Number P319. On completion of work-up in Home
waters she took passage to join the 4th Submarine Flotilla in Ceylon
as part of the Eastern Fleet This deployment part of the
reinforcement of the RN presence in the Indian Ocean which had been
agreed by the Admiralty in August of 1943 to increase the
effectiveness of British submarines in the war against Japan.
She was
primarily used to carry out patrol in the Malacca Straits area
including Andaman and Nicobar islands and
coasts of Burma and Siam where she began her operational service in
late 1943. During her first patrols she had no remarkable successes
and in June 1944 she carried out a minelay (Operation MLO11) in the
Malacca Straits before providing an Air-Sea Rescue service during
air attacks by the Eastern Fleet on Port Blair in the Andaman
Islands with HM Submarine CLYDE. The submarine transferred with the
Flotilla from Colombo to Trincomalee in July but continued patrols
in the same areas. She later moved with the Flotilla to Fremantle
which significantly lengthened the time taken on passage and
involved refuelling at a new base in Exmouth Gulf. She sank a supply
ship in the Malacca Straits during September and the next month on
22nd one of her torpedoes which had surfaced after running out of
fuel after an attack caused sinking of a Japanese corvette which ran
into the floating missile. On 26th of the same month she sank eight
schooners carrying ore in the Malacca Straits. On a subsequent
patrol in December she was deployed with the Dutch submarine
ZWAARDVISCH for a patrol in the Lombok Straits and both submarines
came under heavy depth charge attack by Japanese warships and had to
abandon the patrol.
Her last
patrol whilst with the Flotilla was in the Sunda Strait when she sank three small craft by
surface gun attack but also ran aground in the harbour at Pajang, Java when she attempted to carry out
attack on shipping. She was only able to come clear after
discharging four bow torpedoes and extensive use of engines. The
destruction charges had been placed and all Classified documents collected for destruction.
This submarine arrived at Trincomalee after this alarming experience
on 14th February 1945 and then returned to UK. The award of Battle
Honour ATLANTIC 1945 requires investigation and possibly relates to
an incident during passage from Gibraltar. Commanding Officer was
Lieut. Cdr. HS Mackenzie RN. |