Author Topic: HM Submarine Tradewind (1943 - 1955)  (Read 2277 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine Tradewind (1943 - 1955)
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2021, 10:08:12 PM »

HMS Tradewind was a Chatham-built T class submarine which saw service during the Second World War and played an important role in the post-war development of British submarines.


HMS Tradewind's Crest:





As a T class boat, in common with her many sister submarines, she was large for her day and powerfully armed. On completion she was armed with 11 21 inch torpedo tubes. Six were in the bow and could be reloaded from inside the submarine. A further two were above the bow and being external to the pressure hull, could not be reloaded at sea. There were a further two external tubes amidships, plus one in the stern. In addition to this, she carried a 4 inch gun and a 20mm Oerlikon gun.


She was laid down on No 7 slip on 11th February 1942, was launched into the Medway on 11th December 1942 and was commissioned at Chatham on 18th October 1943, with Lieutenant-Commander S L C Maydon DSO and Bar RN in command. Between then and 29th January 1944, she was on sea trials and working up at Holy Loch. Also during this time, she had a new battery fitted. After that, she was sent to Lerwick and commenced her first war patrol off the coast of Norway from there and this ended there on 19th February 1944. From there, she returned to Holy Loch for a short period of maintenance.


On 12th March, HMS Tradewind departed Holy Loch bound for the far east and after making a short patrol off the coast of Portugal, arrived in Trincomalee on 21st May.


On 3rd June 1944, she spend the day exercising with the Indian Sloop-of-War HMIS Cauvery and the Royal Navy frigates HMS Lossie, HMS Findhorn and HMS Nadder.


On 8th June 1944, she departed Trincomalee for her second war patrol. She was to perform a special operation and to reconnoitre the west coast of Sumatra and the islands off it. On 19th June, she snatched a chinese and 2 javanese from a Prau to be returned to Trincomalee for interrogation. On 27th June, she bombarded oil storage tanks near Sibolga, Sumatra but no visible damage was done and her 2nd war patrol ended without further incident on 3rd July 1944 at Trincomalee.


On 22nd July, HMS Tradewind started her 3rd war patrol from Trincomalee, to patrol the Malacca Straits. She was depth-charged there by enemy patrol vessels on 7th August, suffering no damage or casualties. Her war patrol ended on 16th August at Trincomalee without further incident.


After a period of maintenance at Trincomalee, the submarine departed on 8th September for her 4th war patrol, with orders to capture a junk and use it to conduct a special operation in addition to patrolling along the south and west coasts of Sumatra. On 15th September, HMS Tradewind captured the crew of a sampan (five natives and a monkey). The sampan was heavily loaded with seedlings and coconuts. The vessel was in too poor a condition to be of any use, so it was sunk by ramming. The following day, HMS Tradewind's crew boarded a Japanese sailing vessel, the Bintang Pasisir, which appeared to be loaded with nutmeg and cinammon bark. In view of the apparently benign nature of the cargo, the vessel was left unharmed. Later that day, HMS Tradewind's crew boarded another sailing vessel, the Sinar Boelanm loaded with a cargo of cement, rice, paper and a prisoner. The prisoner was taken aboard HMS Tradewind and the remaining crew were allowed to go in their own boat. The vessel was sunk by a demolition charge. On examining the papers from the Bintang Pasisir, it transpired the vessel was actually carrying 300 sacks of cement, eight 'pieces of iron' and ten barrels of nails intended for the enemy, so HMS Tradewind closed with the vessel again. The vessels crew, realising the game was up, abandoned ship and HMS Tradewind then sank it with gunfire. On 18th September, there occurred one of the most terrible tragedies of the 2nd World War, involving a huge loss of life. On that day, HMS Tradewind torpedoed and sank the Japanese Army cargo ship Junyo Maru. Unbeknown to Lt Cdr Maydon, the vessel was carrying 4200 Javanese slave labourers and 2300 allied POWs, en route from Batavia to Padang. 5620 lives were lost. The war patrol ended on 4th October, back in Trincomalee.


On 22nd October, she started her 5th war patrol from Trincomalee. Ordered to patrol the northern entrance to the Malacca Strait and in the Andaman Sea. She was also ordered to lay mines, which she did on 30th October, off the Mergui Archipelago, Burma. On 8th November, she sank 4 Japanese sailing ships with gunfire and two days later, accounted for another two. This patrol ended on 5th November at Trincomalee.


On 5th December, following docking at Trincomalee, she departed Trincomalee with orders to patrol off the west of Sumatra and proceed to Fremantle, Australia at the end of the patrol. On Christmas Eve 1944, her 6th war patrol ended on schedule at Fremantle. The patrol went without incident as a result of very heavy weather.


On 1st January 1945, it was reported that the Japanese vessel Kyokko Maru had sunk after hitting one of the mines HMS Tradewind had laid on her 5th war patrol.


On 12th January 1945, she started her 7th war patrol from Fremantle, with orders to patrol the South China Sea, with a new commander, Lt J Nash DSC RN. On 6th February, she attacked a convoy off the Malayan East Coast, without success. On 10th, she attacked another convoy, again without success and this time she was depth charged by the convoy escort, suffering broken light bulbs but no serious damage or casualties. This patrol ended without further incident on 26th February at Fremantle.


On 22nd March, she departed Fremantle for her 8th war patrol, ordered to patrol the Gulf of Siam. On 8th April, HMS Tradewind sank a lugger and 2 tongkangs with gunfire. On 28th, she torpedoed and sank the Japanese Takasogo Maru. On 3rd May, she unsucessfully attacked a Japanese Coaster. The patrol ended without further incident on 11th May at Fremantle.


On 5th June 1945, HMS Tradewind departed Fremantle with orders to return to the UK for refit. After making stops in Aden, Port Said, transiting the Suez Canal, Gibraltar and Portsmouth, HMS HMS Tradewind returned home to Chatham on 6th September 1945.


Between September 1945 and September 1946, she was converted at Chatham into an acoustic trials submarine. Her external torpedo tubes were removed, along with all other external fixtures, including guns. Her conning tower was faired over and some of her torpedo tubes were also blanked off, along with a general streamlining of her hull. In addition to this, she was fitted with a snort, enabling her to run her diesel engines and recharge her batteries while running submerged at periscope depth. Here are 'before and after' pictures of HMS Tradewind.








HMS Tradewind was then used for a long series of trials, the results of which were used to design the subsequent conversions of T and A class boats, as well as being incorporated into the designs of the later Porpoise and Oberon class submarines. HMS Tradewind therefore became the prototype for all post-war British non-nuclear submarine designs up to the Upholder class of the late 80s/early 90s.


HMS Tradewind was broken up in Charlestown in November 1955, with her descendants serving in the Royal Navy and other navies until the early 21st century.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.