HMS Sleuth (P261): Rescuing Babies in the Java Sea

Birkenhead-Built

HMS Sleuth was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, launched on 6 July 1944 and commissioned on 8 October 1944, a third-batch S-class submarine that arrived in time to join the final, gruelling phase of the war against Japan in the Far East.

A Busy First Patrol

Sleuth's first war patrol, conducted in the Eastern Java Sea between April and May 1945 alongside her sister boat HMS Solent, combined hard fighting with an unexpected act of mercy.

On 26 April 1945 she sank the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa 3 by gunfire, and just three days later, on 29 April, her crew rescued a remarkable 51 people from a stricken merchant vessel, including nine women and six babies, a rescue that stands in sharp contrast to the destruction that otherwise filled her patrol reports.

Working together, Sleuth and Solent went on to account for fifteen Japanese sailing vessels between them.

Two More Patrols to War's End

Sleuth's second patrol took her off Banka Strait and east of Singapore in June and July 1945, where on 6 July she attacked a Japanese submarine without securing hits.

Her third patrol, in the Gulf of Siam that July and August, saw her sink numerous junks by gunfire and demolition charge before Japan's surrender brought her war to a close; on 13 August she also exchanged fire with an enemy aircraft without damage on either side.

A Postwar Collision and the End of Her Story

Sleuth remained in service after the war, and on 13 June 1952 collided with the destroyer HMS Zephyr while manoeuvring astern out of Portland harbour, striking the destroyer's side.

She survived the mishap and continued in service for some years afterwards before arriving at Charlestown on 15 September 1958 to be broken up, closing out a career that had run from Java Sea rescues to a home-waters prang with a destroyer.