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B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
BISCAY
1943 - MALAYA
1943-4
The first
RN use by a warship built for naval service
although used by a hired trawler
during WW1. After completion of work-up in
Home waters she was deployed briefly
for patrol in the Bay of Biscay for
interception of U-Boats in transit to and
from French bases. She was then deployed in
the Mediterranean for attacks on
ships taking stores and personnel in support
of enemy military operations in
North Africa.
In August 1943 this submarine was
transferred to the Eastern
Fleet for service with the 4th Submarine
Flotilla with seven other submarines
for interception patrols. An early success
after her arrival was sinking of the
mercantile KISOGAWA MARU followed by the
Japanese cruiser KUMA which was
torpedoed and sunk off Penang on 11th January
1944. The next month she attacked
and sank the Ex Italian submarine GIULIANI (UIT230)
in the Malacca Straits on 15th followed by a
mercantile DAIGEN MARU six days
latter. Whilst attacking a convoy on February
24th she was damaged by the
Japanese Torpedo Boat KARI in a ramming
attack. Following repair to Ballast
tanks and forward planes,
in May she carried out a
minelay in the Malacca Straits (Operation
ML05) and sank another supply ship.
Before returning to base she carried out
Air-Sea Rescue duty during air attacks
on Sourabaya by
Eastern Fleet ships including the US
aircraft carrier SARATOGA (Operation TRANSOM).
Further patrols off the coasts
of Burma, Siam and Malaya were carried out in
July and August 1944 during which
three small ships were sunk by torpedo and a
sailing vessel by gunfire. In
September the Flotilla transferred from
Colombo to Trincomalee but patrol areas
remained unchanged and this submarine sank a
supply ship and a Submarine Chaser
in October.
On her final patrol before
leaving for UK was particularly
impressive. She carried out Air-Sea Rescue
duty during air attacks by Eastern
Fleet on Nicobar Islands including search for
survivors from crashed aircraft
and then took part in an operation to
intercept Japanese submarines on passage
from Penang to Singapore. She carried out an
attack on one off Singapore which
failed after which she landed an intelligence
party During the rest of this
patrol she sank an Auxiliary minelayer (Wa4)
by torpedo and made successful
attacks on 10 junks by surface gunfire. The
boat returned to Trincomalee and
took passage to UK on 23rd November 1944 with
an outstanding reputation as a
successful patrol submarine. Her Commanding
Officer was Commander L W A
Bennington RN.
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