HMS Stratagem (P234)
 HMS Stratagem | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | S class submarine |
| Name: | HMS Stratagem |
| Builder: | Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead |
| Laid down: | 15 April 1942 |
| Launched: | 21 June 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 9 October 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk 22 November 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 814–872 long tons (827–886 t) (surfaced) 990 long tons (1,010 t) (submerged) |
| Length: | 217 ft (66 m) |
| Beam: | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Speed: | 14.75 kn (16.97 mph; 27.32 km/h) (surfaced) 8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) (submerged) |
| Complement: | 48 officers and men |
| Armament: | 7 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (6 forward, 1 aft; 13 torpedoes), 1 × 3 in (76 mm) deck gun, 1 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon, 3 × .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns |
HMS Stratagem 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 21 June 1943. So far she has been the only ship to bear the name Stratagem.
Career
She served in the Pacific for most of her short career, where she sank the Japanese tanker Nichinan Maru and unsuccessfully attacked the German submarine U-181.[1]
Sinking
Stratagem left Trincomalee on 10 November 1944 to patrol in the vicinity of Malacca where it was believed the Japanese were loading ships with bauxite ore. On 19 November[2] she attacked and sank the tanker Nichinan Maru, but on 22 November she was spotted by a Japanese aircraft. She attempted to dive and escape but the aircraft directed the sub-chaser CH 35 to where it had dived. CH 35 launched depth charges, the first of which caused the submarines bow to strike the bottom. The submarine was plunged into darkness and the forward part began to flood. Attempts to shut the watertight door to the forward compartment failed and the crew were forced to abandon the ship.[3] Ten of her crew were taken prisoner, of whom only three survived captivity.[4]
References
- ↑ "HMS Stratagem (P 234)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
- ↑ These sources says it was 19 November 1944:
- Cressman, Robert (2000). "Chapter VI: 1944". The official chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-149-3. OCLC 41977179. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
- "HMS Stratagem (P 234)". Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
- ↑ "Submarine Casualties Booklet". U.S. Naval Submarine School. 1966. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
- ↑ "Submarine losses 1904 to present day". RN Submarine Museum, Gosport. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
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