HMS ''Terrapin'' was a British

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

of the third group of the ''T'' class. She was built as ''P323'' by

Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

, Barrow and launched on 31 August 1943. So far she has been the only ship of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

to bear the name ''Terrapin'', after the animal of that name. Apart from a brief period in home waters off the Scandinavian coast, ''Terrapin'' served in the Far East for much of her wartime career.

Service

Though only commissioned on 22 January 1944, she had a comparatively active career. In March 1944 she attacked a German convoy off

Flekkefjord is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira are lo ...

, Norway, torpedoing and damaging the German catapult ship , and the German tanker ''Wörth'' (the former Dutch ''Omala''). The ''Schwabenland'' was grounded at Sildeneset in Abelnes harbour to prevent her from sinking and the ''Wörth'' was towed to port. ''Terrapin'' was then assigned to the Pacific Far East in mid 1944. She opened her career by bombarding Japanese installations at Gunung Sitoli (Nias Island), western Sumatra. She also sank a Japanese coaster with gunfire and damaged another. She went on to sink the Japanese auxiliary netlayer ''Kumano Maru'', the Japanese minesweeper ''W 5'', and ten Japanese sailing vessels, damaging another. ''Terrapin'' often operated with HMS ''Trenchant'', and together they sank the Japanese tanker ''Yaei Maru No.6'', the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper ''Reisui Maru'', the Japanese submarine chaser ''Ch 8'', a fishing vessel and seven coasters. ''Terrapin'' herself sank another small craft with gunfire. ''Terrapin'' was damaged on 19 May 1945 by depth charges from Japanese escort vessels while attacking an escorted tanker. With the assistance of the American submarine USS ''Cavalla'', she was escorted and returned to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, Australia. After inspection ''Terrapin'' was declared a constructive total loss on return to harbour and was later scrapped in June 1946.HMS Terrapin
Uboat.net

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terrapin (P323) British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1943 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Lost submarines of the United Kingdom Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in May 1945