HMS Taurus (P399)

HNLMS Dolfijn, ex HMS Taurus
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Taurus
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow
Laid down:	30 September 1941
Launched:	27 June 1942
Commissioned:	3 November 1942
Fate:	Transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948
Badge:
Netherlands
Name:	HNLMS Dolfijn
Commissioned:	4 June 1948
Decommissioned:	7 December 1953
Fate:	returned to Royal Navy on 7 December 1953
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Taurus
Recommissioned:	8 December 1953
Fate:	Scrapped April 1960
General characteristics
Class and type:	T-class submarine
Displacement:	1,290 tons surfaced 1,560 tons submerged
Length:	276 ft 6 in (84.28 m)
Beam:	25 ft 6 in (7.77 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 Twin electric motors 1,450 hp (1.08 MW) each
Speed:	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h) surfaced 9 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:	61
Armament:	6 internal forward-facing 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 2 external forward-facing torpedo tubes 2 external amidships rear-facing torpedo tubes 1 external rear-facing torpedo tubes 6 reload torpedoes 1 x 4-inch (102 mm) deck gun 3 anti aircraft machine guns

HMS Taurus was a Second World War T-class submarine, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow.

Career

As HMS Taurus

The submarine was laid down on 30 September 1941, and launched on 27 June 1942. Taurus was commissioned on 3 November 1942 with the pennant number P399. She served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific Far East during the Second World War. Whilst serving in the Mediterranean, she sank the small French merchant Clairette, the Spanish merchant Bartolo, the Italian merchant Derna, the French tug Ghrib and two barges, the Portuguese Santa Irene , the small Italian tanker Alcione C., the Italian sailing vessel Luigi, twenty eight Greek sailing vessels, and the small Greek ship Romano. She also damaged a further two sailing ships and the Greek merchant Konstantinos Louloudis.

She was transferred to the Far East to operate against the Japanese, where she sank the Japanese submarine I-34, two Japanese tugboats and a barge and the Japanese salvage vessel Hokuan I-Go. She also laid a number of mines, which damaged the Japanese submarine I-37 and sunk the Japanese transport ship Kasumi Maru.

Having survived the war, Taurus was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948 and commissioned into service the same day. She was renamed Dolfijn.^[1]

As HNLMS Dolfijn

Dolfijn had a relatively quiet career, making a number of cruises before being decommissioned on 7 November 1953 and transferred back to the Royal Navy.^[2]

As HMS Taurus again

Dolfijn was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 December 1953 and her name returned to the original HMS Taurus. She served for another seven years before being sold to be broken up for scrap in April 1960.

References

1. HMS Taurus, Uboot.net
2. , dutchsubmarines.com

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.

External links

• IWM Interview with Mervyn Wingfield, who commanded HMS Taurus from 1942 to 1944