HMS ''Tradewind'' 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 ''P329'' at

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

, and launched on 11 December 1942. she is 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 have been named ''Tradewind'', after the

trade wind The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

Second World War service

She spent most of her wartime career operating against the Japanese in the Far East, attacking enemy shipping and laying mines. She sank nine Japanese sailing vessels, and two small unidentified Japanese vessels, a Japanese tug and the Japanese merchant tanker ''Takasago Maru''. The Japanese merchant cargo vessel ''Kyokko Maru'' was sunk after hitting a mine laid by ''Tradewind''. Her most infamous sinking was of the Japanese army cargo ship '' Junyō Maru'' which was headed for

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, on 18 September 1944. Unbeknown to the Commanding Officer of ''Tradewind'', Lt.Cdr.

Lynch Maydon Lieutenant-Commander Stephen Lynch Conway Maydon (15 December 1913 – 2 March 1971) was a British Navy officer and politician who had a brief career in government. Maydon's father John, after whom Maydon Wharf in Durban is named, was a membe ...

, the Japanese ship was carrying 4,200 Javanese slave labourers and 2,300 Allied

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

from

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

Padang Padang () is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. With a Census population of 1,015,000 as of 2022, it is the 16th most populous city in Indonesia and the most populous city on the west coast of Sumatra. Th ...

. 5,620 people died in the sinking.

Post-war service

''Tradewind'' survived the war and was modified in July 1945-September 1946 to become an acoustic trials submarine, and used for tests. The modifications included the removal of external torpedo tubes and guns, the bridge was faired, the hull streamlined and some internal torpedo tubes blanked over. Measurements made using ''Tradewind'' were used to overhaul several of the ''T'' class boats to increase their ability to act stealthily against Soviet submarines and surface ships. In 1953 she took part in the

Fleet Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.Souvenir Programme, ''Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953'', HMSO, Gale and Polden She was scrapped at Charlestown on 14 December 1955.

References

Publications

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External links

* http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.2558 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tradewind (P329) British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1942 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Royal Navy ship names