The Far East to the end of 1943

References
Patrolgram 21 War patrols in the Far East Oct - Dec 1943
Map 48 The Malacca strait Sep - Dec 1943

IN SEPTEMBER 1943, THE COLLAPSE OF ITALY meant that it was a time of victory in the Mediterranean. In the Indian Ocean, however, matters were at a very low ebb. The Eastern Fleet, reduced to one elderly battleship and a few cruisers and destroyers, was still based in East Africa and was far too weak to command the sea in the Bay of Bengal. It had to be content with guarding convoys coming round the Cape to India and the Middle East. The only attempt at an offensive anywhere in the area was by the army in the Arakan and this had ended in failure. As we have seen, the only naval force capable of operating offensively was the submarine flotilla of the Eastern Fleet, and even it was reduced in this month to a single boat. What was worse was that the Commanders on the spot were castigated by the Prime Minister for their inactivity, and they were being urged to make bricks without straw. With the surrender of the Italian Fleet and the disabling of Tirpitz by the X-craft, however, plans were at last being made to build up a fleet again. The subject of offensive operations in the area was discussed at the Quebec Conference in mid-August and it had been decided to appoint a Supreme Commander for South East Asia. The only concrete result was the despatch of six submarines from the Mediterranean, and at the end of the month the Admiralty directed that all new boats of the T and S-classes should be sent east. At the same time the C-in-C Eastern Fleet moved forward from Kilindini to Colombo. These moves promised that the nightmare period, in which our only defence against the Imperial Japanese Navy was the pressure of the Americans in the Pacific, might be coming to an end. The arrival of the submarine reinforcements meant that at least a continuous patrol could be established with some hope of detecting any offensive moves by the Japanese into the Indian Ocean.

Templar (Lieutenant DJ Beckley DSO RN), the first of the new reinforcements, arrived in Colombo at the end of September and was followed by Tactician (Lieutenant Commander AF Collett DSC RN), Taurus (Lieutenant Commander MRG Wingfield DSO RN), Tally Ho (Lieutenant Commander LWA Bennington DSO DSC RN) and Trespasser (Lieutenant Commander RM Favell RN) during October, bringing the strength of the Fourth Flotilla, with O24 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl WJ de Vries), up to six boats. Adamant was released from her duties at Kilindini and arrived at Colombo on 6th October escorted by six destroyers. As the only part of the Eastern Fleet capable of offensive action, the Fourth Submarine Flotilla had plenty to do. The purpose of submarines patrolling in the Malacca Strait had not changed. In addition to the reconnaissance function already referred to, the anti U-boat patrol off Penang had increased in importance, for now not only Japanese submarines were based there but also some German U-boats that had entered the Indian Ocean round the Cape. There were also Japanese light cruisers in the Malacca Strait based at Singapore and Penang. It continued to be important to try to prevent the Japanese from using the sea route by the Malacca Strait to supply their army in Burma and also to supply their garrisons in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The need to help with the intelligence required to plan offensive operations in the area continued and the landing and recovery of agents and of beach reconnaissance had to be done. Finally our submarines wished to assist the American submarines in the Pacific with their general campaign against Japanese shipping on which the enemy war effort depended. At the beginning of the war the Japanese had just over six million tons of merchant shipping. By September 1943, the US Submarines in the Pacific, now totalling one hundred boats, had sunk 2,248,000 tons. This campaign was assisted by plenty of radio intelligence. In September, there were 81 Ultra intercepts leading to 44 sightings and 13 attacks resulting in five ships being sunk and three damaged.

Templar wasted no time and was off on 9th October to patrol off Penang after less than a fortnight since her arrival in Colombo. She ran into bad visibility with frequent rainsqualls and her radar failed. She returned to Colombo on 31st October after a blank patrol. Tactician sailed on 18th October to relieve her and, except for a beach reconnaissance, she too saw nothing, returning to Colombo on 9th November. Both of these patrols were only of three weeks duration. These types of T-boat had, however, been specially modified for the Far East and were now capable of staying out for six weeks. Their range had been extended from the 6900 miles of the early T-class by carrying an extra 80 tons of fuel in their main ballast tanks giving them 11,100 miles. Their habitability was enormously improved by air conditioning and a distiller increased their fresh water supply. Nevertheless patrols of three weeks were considered enough for operations from Ceylon in the Malacca Strait.

O24 was off again on 25th October for a position between Penang and the One Fathom Bank. Before dawn on 31st, she sighted a merchant ship with an escort off the north coast of Sumatra and fired four torpedoes in a surface attack at a range of 3500 yards. The sea was phosphorescent and the torpedo tracks were clearly visible so the target was able to avoid them. On 1st November, O24 carried out a special operation in the area. This was probably the landing or recovery of an agent. Two days later during the afternoon she sighted a Kuma-class cruiser escorted by two destroyers and southbound for the One Fathom Bank. She fired four torpedoes at long range but one of them ran shallow and the cruiser took avoiding action. The destroyers went on with her and there was no counter attack. O24 left for Colombo, seeing nothing else except small craft, and arrived on 15th November suffering from a number of defects.

Tally Ho sailed to patrol on 26th October and met air and surface anti-submarine patrols off Penang. She realised from their movements that the ships were using hydrophones but Tally Ho was undetected at a range of 600 yards. On 6th November she sighted a German U-boat leaving Penang and fired five torpedoes at a range of 1000 yards on a track of 120 degrees. One torpedo had a gyro failure and ran down Tally Ho's port side; the other four missed and the U-boat escaped. Two days later an anti-submarine trawler gained contact with Tally Ho, hunting her for two hours and dropping five patterns of depth charges causing minor damage. Shortly after shaking off the trawler, Tally Ho sighted a merchant ship leaving harbour and in a night surface attack, fired two torpedoes from 700 yards but one torpedo again circled narrowly missing Tally Ho and the other ran wide of the target. On 10th November off Langkawi Island in the early morning, a northbound ship was sighted and five torpedoes were fired at a range of 2500 yards, this time securing a hit and the target blew up and sank. No sooner had success been achieved than one of the torpedoes was heard returning on the starboard side and Tally Ho had to seek safety by diving deep. The ship was Kisogawa Maru of 1914 tons, a water carrier with a cargo of petrol or oil fuel. On 12th, at night when returning to base, Tally Ho sighted a U-boat but its escort, keeping an excellent lookout, saw her at 5000 yards and although Tally Ho turned away and dived, the escort pursued and dropped four depth charges. Later the same day another U-boat was seen inward bound but it altered course away and could not be attacked. Tally Ho returned to Colombo on 17th November and a Board of Enquiry was convened to investigate the three torpedo failures. Steps were then taken to ensure better maintenance. No doubt the problem was partly due to Adamant's long tour of duty looking after surface ships.

Taurus arrived from the Mediterranean on 12th October with her periscopes damaged during her last patrol in the Aegean. They were replaced in time to leave for patrol on 6th November. She arrived off Salang Island on the 11th and was ordered on to Penang. Before dawn on 13th she dived in a position four miles west of the south west corner of Penang Island. At 0454, a large U-boat was sighted in between rainsqualls and six torpedoes were fired at a range of 5000 yards. One hit was obtained sinking the Japanese I34 inward bound for Penang. This was the U-boat sighted by Tally Ho the day before. Taurus then moved south to the Sembilan Islands. She sighted a number of patrol vessels and in the early hours of 14th she was seen at a distance of eight miles and followed by a submarine chaser. Taurus dived when the enemy had closed to three miles but trimming was very difficult due to density layers and she ended up by hitting the bottom in 150 feet. As the submarine chaser was still closing she stayed there and two depth charges were dropped causing minor damage. After two hours, Taurus decided to surface and fight it out with her gun. As she was leaving the bottom the submarine chaser attacked again with depth charges damaging the telemotor system and putting her rudder, hydroplanes, periscopes and depth gauges out of action. Taurus continued to surface and engaged the enemy at a range of 1000 yards with her four-inch gun, steering on her main engines during the battle. After putting the enemy's gun out of action and securing hits on her bridge and engine room, she was about to close and finish her off when an aircraft appeared. Taurus' defects had by now been remedied and she dived and retired to seawards. Anti-submarine trawlers then came in sight and dropped depth charges but did not gain contact again. Taurus then took up a position off Salang Island and on 17th obtained permission to reconnoitre Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. On 20th she was ordered to intercept a ship off Blundell Island. She sighted the ship but could not get within range. She got back to Colombo on 26th November.

Trespasser, the last of the batch of reinforcements from the Mediterranean, left for patrol on 10th November. She patrolled off Diamond Point in Sumatra at first, sighting a convoy of three ships escorted by two submarine chasers on 22nd. She fired three torpedoes at a range of 1000 yards but the enemy saw them coming and took avoiding action. Trespasser was then ordered across to Penang but only saw anti-submarine patrols there. On 24th she was sent to patrol off Car Nicobar and three days later sighted a Japanese seaplane carrier entering the lagoon. On 28th she fired six torpedoes at a range of 4700 yards at a merchant ship escorted by a trawler but was defeated by her zigzag. Trespasser returned to Colombo on 3rd December.

Adamant had had a minor refit at the shipyard in Colombo and on 3rd December the Fourth Submarine Flotilla base was shifted to Trincomalee. This shortened the passage time to the patrol areas by two days but recreational amenities were not so good as at Colombo. Arrangements were made for submarine crews to go up to Diyatalawa, 4000 feet up in the hills, for their rest periods between patrols. On 6th December, Captain HMC Ionides RN arrived to relieve Captain RMG Gambier RN as Captain(S) Fourth Submarine Flotilla. Captain Ionides