HMS Taurus (P339): Engaging Cavalry From the Sea

Constructed at Barrow

HMS Taurus was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness, laid down on 30 September 1941, launched on 27 June 1942 and commissioned on 3 November 1942, a T-class submarine that would go on to serve across the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in a properly varied war.

A Ramming in the Aegean

In March 1943, Taurus sank the French merchant Clairette, the Spanish merchant Bartolo and the Italian merchant Derna by gunfire and torpedo, and that June she turned her attention to Greek waters, sinking seven Greek sailing vessels by gunfire in a single action off Piscopi on 11 June, and even ramming an eighth.

In one especially unusual episode during her coastal operations, she bombarded a small port and found herself engaging a Bulgarian cavalry unit, an odd sight for a submarine crew more used to shipping targets than mounted troops.

Sinking a Japanese Submarine

Redeployed to the Far East, Taurus achieved her most significant success on 12 November 1943, torpedoing and sinking the Japanese submarine I-34 off Penang, along with two tugboats, a barge and the salvage vessel Hokuan I-Go. Mines she laid off Penang in April 1944 went on to damage the Japanese submarine I-37 and sink the transport Kasumi Maru, a lingering harvest from a single minelaying patrol.

A Long Retirement Under Two Flags

Taurus survived the war and was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948, serving under the name Dolfijn before returning to British control in December 1953. She served a further seven years under her original name before being sold for scrap in April 1960, broken up at Dunston, a fittingly long career for a boat whose war had ranged from Greek islands to Bulgarian cavalry to Japanese submarines.