HMS Sleuth (P261)

HMS Sleuth
Career
Class and type: S class submarine
Name: HMS Sleuth
Builder: Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down: 30 June 1943
Launched: July 6, 1944
Commissioned: 8 October 1944
Fate: broken up 1958
General characteristics
Displacement:814-872 tons surfaced
990 tons submerged
Length:217 ft (66 m)
Beam:23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draught:11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:14.75 knots surfaced
8 knots submerged
Complement:48 officers and men
Armament:6 x forward 21-inch torpedo tubes, one aft
13 torpedoes
one three-inch gun (four-inch on later boats)
one 20 mm cannon
three .303-calibre machine gun

HMS Sleuth was an S class submarine of the Royal Navy, and part of the Third Group built of that class. She was built by Cammell Laird and launched on July 6, 1944. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Sleuth.

Career

Sleuth operated in the Pacific Far East for most of her wartime career, often in company with her sister, HMS Solent. Together they sank fifteen Japanese sailing vessels and the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa 3.[1]

Sleuth survived the Second World War and continued in service. On 13 June 1952 she collided with the destroyer HMS Zephyr, while leaving Portland harbour. She put her stern through the side of Zephyr as she reversed out of her berth. Sleuth was eventually sold. She arrived at Charlestown on September 15, 1958 for breaking up.

References

  1. HMS Sleuth, Uboat.net

Coordinates: 4°50′S 115°40′E / 4.833°S 115.667°E