HMS Taku (N38)
 HMS Taku in Malta harbour in January 1943 | |
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead |
| Laid down: | 18 November 1937 |
| Launched: | 20 May 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 3 January 1940 |
| Fate: | Sold to be broken up for scrap in November 1946 |
| Badge: |
 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | British T class submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,090 tons surfaced 1,575 tons submerged |
| Length: | 275 ft (84 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m) forward 14 ft 7 in (4.45 m) aft |
| Propulsion: | Two shafts Twin diesel engines 2,500 hp (1.86 MW) each |
| Speed: | 15.25 knots (28.7 km/h) surfaced nine knots (20 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots (8,330 km at 20 km/h) surfaced |
| Test depth: | 300 ft (91 m) max |
| Complement: | 59 |
| Armament: | Six internal forward-facing torpedo tubes Four external forward-facing torpedo tubes Six reload torpedoes 4 inch (100 mm) deck gun |
HMS Taku was a British T class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was laid down on 18 November 1937 and was commissioned on 3 October 1940.
Career
Taku served in home waters and the Mediterranean. In April 1940, she mistook HMS Ashanti for a German destroyer and fired several torpedoes at her. All the torpedoes missed. In an attack on a German convoy in May, she damaged the German torpedo boat Möwe, and in November, launched a failed attack on the German tanker Gedania.
Assigned to the Mediterranean in 1941, she scored numerous kills, including the Italian merchantmen Cagliari and Silvio Scaroni, the Italian passenger/cargo ship Caldea, the German munitions transport Tilly L. M. Russ, the Italian auxiliary minesweeper Vincenso P., the Italian tankers Arca and Delfin, and the Greek sailing vessels Niki, Lora and a small vessel which was unidentified. She also attacked, but failed to hit the German merchant ship Menes and the Italian tanker Cerere.
Reassigned to operate off the Scandinavian coast in 1944, Taku sank the German merchantmen Rheinhausen and Hans Bornhofen, and badly damaged the German freighter Harm Fritzen. In March she attacked a convoy, but missed her target, the ex-Norwegian Kriegsmarine transport Moshill.[1]
Taku struck a mine in April 1944, and was damaged. After the end of the war, she was sold for scrap in November 1946 and broken up in South Wales.[2]
References
- ↑ Lawson, Siri Holm. "M/S Moshill". Warsailors.com. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
- ↑ HMS Taku, Uboot.net
Publications
- 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.
- Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010.
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