Last War Patrol of HMS Terrapin

[Music] there are thousands of stories of the vast war at sea during the second world war gripping stories of heroism and of terror and sometimes even of a boredom stories of enemies sought and enemies found and desperate life or death battles often between small ships far from home on her seventh war patrol the crew of the british submarine hms terrapin suffered the terror of battle grievously damaged in enemy territory far from home sometimes the drama of war is not just in the fight but in the desperate struggle to make it back alive the last war patrol of hms terrapin deserves to be remembered hms terrapin was one of 53 british t-class submarines ordered in 1941 and commissioned in january 1944 she was one of the last of the t-class boats to see significant service during the second world war she began her first patrol in march off of southern norway but by the end of april was assigned to the far east proceeding through the mediterranean and the suez canal between july of 1944 to the end of march 1945 the boat conducted five war patrols from a base in sri lanka before being moved to australia she left for her seventh war patrol from fremantle on may 3 1945 assigned to patrol the java c the t-class were diesel electric designed during the 1930s to replace the o p and r classes t-class submarines were built around the restrictions of the washington naval treaty which limited the total tonnage of submarines allowed and thus were deliberately built small initially aiming for a displacement of only one thousand tons although the class would evolve greatly over the course of the war because of the requirements of the treaty several compromises had to be made but the t-class was generally designed to combine long-range endurance with a powerful armament of eight 21-inch forward-facing torpedo tubes giving the class a large protruding bow tear pin was 276 foot six inches long had a beam of 25 foot six inches a maximum surface speed of 15.5 knots in a range of 4 500 nautical miles the normal crew compliment of hms terrapin was 61 and since august of 1944 she was under the command of lieutenant robert henry brunner who had been awarded the distinguished service cross in april terrapin entered the java sea via the lombok strait on may 11th crewman george cudden told the bbc that crossing the strait represented risk the japanese maintained quite intensive patrols in the strait from their base at limbaugh on lombok since it was known to be the route by which submarines from fremantle entered the java sea in addition to naval patrols there was a constant risk from the air con said the terrapin was twice attacked by aircraft after clearing the strait the boat ran into difficulty running aground off of java on the 15th she was only able to extricate herself by according to her report blowing 15 700 gallons of fuel from the external tanks and firing two bowed torpedoes while going full of stern still terrapin found success seeking two enemy vessels a motor lugger and a coal carrying schooner on the 17th two days later and a quarter after one in the afternoon brunner cited the mass and upper works of a ship west of what was then called batavia now jakarta runner moved terrapin in to make an attack the vessel turned out to be a small freighter but as terrapin moved to within six thousand yards runner reported that two escorts were seen one on each beam of the target brother didn't identify the type of escort although they would have been small coastal vessels such as the type d escort ship outfitted with depth charges for anti-submarine warfare runner tried to run to the port corridor of the nearest escort but could not get a good firing solution with his bow tubes so he turned firing the spread of three torpedoes from the stern at 2 500 yards but brunner recorded no torpedo hits were heard after the expected running time so all torpedoes must have missed cutting speculated the sea was glassy calm and the periscope or the torpedo tracks were probably observed since the target was seen to turn away terrapin was now in trouble her torpedoes had missed those escorts which now knew that she was there cudden told the bbc the escorts turned toward us and came at high speed down those torpedo tracks the submarine's best chance was to go deep but there was a problem cudden told the bbc the estimated death water in the chart was 150 feet and terrapin attempted to go to 100 feet but hit the bottom where there proved to be only 57 feet of water her screws could be heard thrashing the silt loudly and the motors were stopped quickly the depth charges started exploding gunner reported five depth charges were dropped close causing some minor damage cutting said all the lights were down and the sonar stopped training ten minutes later the log notes five more depth charges were dropped very close resulting in serious damage amongst that damage to the pressure hull forward cutting described the damage the port side forward buckled to a distance of 15 inches terrapin had few options runner reported it was obvious the escort knew exactly where terrapin was but attempting to escape but only made them a better target despite the damage runner decided to stay in the bottom and not make any noise trying to escape with the hope of escaping after dark that plan assumed the terrapin would survive until then and if it did would still be able to move terrapin was in bad shape couldn't explain the forward part of the main pumping and flooding line was crushed the tube space was evacuated and its watertight doors shut leaks occurred in the ford auxiliary machinery space and in the control room jets of water sprayed inward blue flashes and loud thumps were heard as seawater contacted electrical equipment while the small fires were quickly extinguished couldn't notice that they diminished the finite supply of oxygen two of the submarine's all-important tanks the quick flooding tanks and the forward internal trimming tank were flooded leaving in question whether terrapin would again be able to surface more depth charges followed including what brummer described as one on each side of midships cotton wrote that a charge was heard to hit terrapin and slide down the hull presumably to rest on the bottom its depth apparently being overset the idea was terrifying depth charges are pressure sensitive so the explosion of another depth charge nearby could cause the one sitting right next to terrapin's hole to explode it must have been horrifying in the dark with the ventilation system shut down and the air growing stale and hot not knowing if the next pass by the escorts above would drop the depth charge that destroyed the ship cutting said that every crew member must have been in the same state of terror as myself no one said a word we all played at being hard man and the unforgivable thing was to show or admit to fear hard man in those days did not mean what it appears to mean today when it seems to mean throwing one's weight around and punching people in the face then it meant indifference real or pretended mostly i think the latter to hardship and danger finally though brunner wrote six more runs overhead followed but no more depth charges were dropped most likely he was nearly out of supply of these luck for terrapin as it saved her from destruction two more charges with bunner described as probably their last fell some five hours and ten minutes after terrapin had first sighted the enemy mast the two charges were he wrote again very close but caused no further damage finally at nearly eight in the evening brunner decided to risk surfacing the boat cudden said it was by no means certain that we would be able to do so in view of the flooding of the tube space terrapin blew its main ballast tank cut and said it was not initially possible to tell whether we were in fact surfacing since all depth gauges were smashed the sound of the sea splashing against our holes suggested we were at least partly on the surface though very much bow down the skipper cautiously opened the upper conning tower hatch if the escorts were still waiting terrapin would have been a sitting duck cudden said the gun's crew clamored out to the main gun though that would have availed us little if the escorts had seen us among the damage brenner listed pressure hole distorted forward and stove in on both sides and pressed the forward torpedo tubes all forward torpedo tube firing gear displaced and otherwise damaged the torpedo tubes were distorted and leaking through the bow caps the four hydroplanes were stiff to operate and could not be turned in azdek the anti-submarine detection system and hydrophones were defective forward periscope top glass fractured and tube-flooded after periscope almost useless several leaks in ballast and fuel tanks nonetheless battered issue was terrapin was still afloat and luck was with her brother wrote surfaced at full speed ahead saw the enemy just to bath the port beam range about 5 000 yards altered course and left the area at full speed terrapin was not sighted by the enemy decided to escape through santa straight but the straits were of course particular areas of japanese patrol inciting a ship that seemed to be blocking the sunday straight brunner decided to turn east and make for the lombok strait crossing the straight wall on the surface would be incredibly dangerous as the terrapin risk being seen by aircraft during the night the boat affected repairs enough to submerge but the boat was cut and said very heavy of midships and forward and he said she could not be allowed to go deep because of the leaks any crossing of the strait would be risky more so because the damage had disabled terrapin's radio and she could not report her position or request help radar was still operable powered by its own small generator cutting notes that terrapin detected aircraft several times and had to stop each time as the boat's wake would have been the most obvious to aircraft terrapin was crawling home but the dangerous longbox strait was still ahead and she was in enemy waters some 2 000 nautical miles from fremantle uss cavalla was a gato-class submarine the first class of submarines to be mass-produced by the united states commissioned in november 1944 cavallo was already known as the luckiest ship in the submarine service the title referred to the extreme amount of action the boat saw despite being commissioned so late in the war cavallo's first war patrol had started at pearl harbor on may 31 1944 when the command of lieutenant commander herman costler a 1934 graduate of the u.s naval academy just over two weeks later while still transiting to her patrol point in the eastern philippines cavalla had made a radar contact the submarine had happened to cross paths with a japanese task force on its way to engage the u.s fifth fleet in the battle of the philippine sea tracking the convoy two days later on june 19th cavalia fired a spread of six torpedoes sinking the japanese fleet carrier shokaku one of the six japanese carriers to participate in the attack on pearl harbor cavalla became known as the pearl harbor avenger was awarded the presidential unit citation her crew had only officially completed training 22 days earlier on may 28th not quite a year later on may 21 1945 cavallo was 31 days into her fifth war patrol in the south java sea koster's report described the patrol as arduous legal had not yet cited a single target worthy of a torpedo cavallo is headed to fremantle the end of a long and fruitless patrol but their luck had changed cavalla had sighted a naval vessel described as a disturber escort or gunboat cossler had to maneuver around some sailboats something which cost described as a little broken field running he was attempting what he called an end around angling for an angle of attack when suddenly a submarine was sighted on the surface the hunter had suddenly become the hunted as the submarine was not american and assumed to be japanese castle quickly reversed course hoping the submarine had not seen him but he wrote in the report he had already cited us the first target the destroyer escort the first vessel on the patrol that costello thought was worthy of a torpedo disappeared into a rain squall the submarine that had been sighted on the surface however began signaling with its searchlight the submarine that costler had assumed was japanese was in fact the crippled hms terrapin terrapin informed costs so that she was unable to dive or transmit costar knew the risk traveling through the lombok strait on the surface but the luckiest ship in the submarine service was not going to let her ally suffer that risk alone kosla wrote we man the 20 millimeter 40 millimeter and 250 caliber machine guns and prepared to assist terrapin in shooting it out with any plane that might make an appearance after the arduous patrol kosovo noted that my crew liked this but i was having a hard time building up enthusiasm cavallo was taking a risk and casa knew it maximum seed terrapin can make was 14 knots he noted best sustained speed 12 knots cavalla's fate was now tied to the crippled british submarine casa wrote that he asked terrapin if she needed anything or would like to send part of her crew over with us she replied in the negative george couldn't describe that exchange somewhat differently he told bbc the cavalla asks do any of your crew wish to come aboard for a bath and a rest the question might have been somewhat of a taunt u.s submarines could distill 2 000 gallons of water per day while the t-class submarines were known for a shortage of fresh water in fact cotton noted the shaking had stirred up the 18 months of sediment in the freshwater tanks and what came out of the taps was cloudy and colored a greyish yellow still cutting said terrapin co declined saying that morale was a hundred percent at four in the evening the pair looked as if they might have to test their guns against an airplane as a contact closed within 11 miles the plane didn't respond to iff meaning interrogation friend or foe suggesting it was an enemy plane but kosla wrote much to our relief the plane opened up and distanced from sight and radar the pair attempted to transit the straight after midnight costler was apprehensive his report read moon too bright c too calm sky too clear visibility too good there were tense moments cavallo made a radar contract and moot to avoid it but terrapin didn't get the message terrapin maintained course in speed he wrote must have passed fairly close to the contact but nothing happened so guess it was a sailboat by ten the next morning the parrot safely transited the strait it was only then the cavalla could come alongside terrapin and casa wrote to obtain all the dope on her troubles later that morning cavallo was able to make contact with its task force headquarters and report on terrapin's condition crew from kavala assisted with repairs and costler sent over a sea bag full of stocks and some cigars hoping they would give their morale and appetites a boost the pair of submarines made it safely to fremantle on may 27th for hms terrapin it was her last war patrol the damage was too great to be repaired in australia and in july she was sent back to england again transiting the suez canal but when she arrived at her home port in portsmouth she was determined to be too damaged for repair she was scrapped the following year upon arriving in fremantle the submarine tender hms maidstone sent a message to the officers and crew of kavala thank you for helping our small boat across the street vice admiral carol smith commander of submarine squadron 30 commended the officers and crew of kavala upon completion of another arduous patrol which provided no opportunity to afflict any damage to the enemy and for the excellent job of escorting hms terrapin she finished her sixth war patrol off of tokyo and joined the fleet that entered tokyo bay on august 31st placed in reserve she was reactivated and modernized in 1951 and not stricken from the naval register until 1969 since 1971 she has resided at sea wolf park on pelican island galveston texas where you can still visit her today the two submarines had seen very different experiences in their respective war patrols when they chance to encounter each other in may of 1945. sometimes the drama of war is not in the damage inflicted on the enemy but in the assistance that is rendered to a friend i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history got check out our community on thehistoryguyguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on cameo and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 86,311

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, wwii, submairines, uss cavalla, hms terrapin

Id: 0SnOM2HP4n0

Length: 15min 57sec (957 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 11 2022