Summary
HMS Tapir (P335) was a Second World War British T-class submarine, built by Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Tapir, after the animal.
 HMS Tapir
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Tapir |
| Ordered | 1941 |
| Builder | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
| Laid down | 29 March 1943 |
| Launched | 21 August 1944 |
| Commissioned | 30 December 1944 |
| Fate | Transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1948 |
| Badge |  |
 Netherlands | |
| Name | HNLMS Zeehond (P335) |
| Commissioned | 12 July 1948 |
| Fate | Returned to the Royal Navy in 1953 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Tapir |
| Commissioned | 16 December 1953 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1966 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 276 ft 6 in (84.28 m) |
| Beam | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
| Draught |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| 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 |
|
Career edit
As HMS Tapir edit
The submarine was laid down on 29 March 1943, and launched on 21 August 1944. Commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30 December of that year, she led a distinguished career for such a late entry into the war, torpedoing the German submarine U-486 in the North Sea, to the north-west of Bergen, Norway at position 60°44′N 04°39′E / 60.733°N 4.650°E on 12 April 1945.[1]
HNLMS Zeehond edit
On 18 June 1948, she was deemed surplus to requirements, and was loaned to the Netherlands for a period of five years, being commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Zeehond (P335) on 12 July 1948. Together with O24 and HNLMS Van Kinsbergen, she visited Curaçao in 1949. Gravity measurements were taken during the trip (the first Dutch ones following the war) and the Zeehond conducted a long snorkel trip on the way back. She was transferred back to the Royal Navy on 15 July 1953, finally being re-commissioned and renamed Tapir on 16 December of that year.[2]
HMS Tapir was scrapped at Faslane in December 1966.
References edit
- 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.
- 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.