HMS Stratagem (P234): One Victory, Then Scuttled Days Later

The Build: Birkenhead

HMS Stratagem was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, laid down on 15 April 1942, launched on 21 June 1943 and commissioned on 9 October 1943, a third-batch S-class submarine that went on to serve in the Far East against Japan.

Three Quiet Patrols

Stratagem's first three war patrols brought little in the way of results. Her first, off the Andaman Islands in June and July 1944, saw her attack three Japanese merchant vessels without a confirmed kill.

Her second, west of Siam in July and August 1944, found no targets at all, and her third, in the same area that September and October, was limited to shelling warehouses and buildings on Great Coco Island rather than any ship action.

A Single Success in the Malacca Strait

On her fourth patrol, in the Strait of Malacca in November 1944, Stratagem finally found her mark: on 19 November she torpedoed and sank the Japanese tanker Nichinan Maru, a vessel of 1,945 tons, the only confirmed victory of her entire career.

Lost Days Later

That success proved short-lived. Just three days later, on 22 November 1944, Stratagem was detected by Japanese aircraft and subjected to a depth-charge attack by the submarine chaser CH 35. Forced to the surface by the damage, she was scuttled by her crew rather than allow her capture.

Ten of her men were taken prisoner, and of those, only three survived the remainder of the war, a notably painful loss ratio that stands as a sober reminder of just how unforgiving captivity in Japanese hands could be for Allied submariners.