HMS Telemachus (P321): A Single Torpedo, Ninety-Four Seconds

Laid Down at Barrow

HMS Telemachus was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness, launched on 19 June 1943 and commissioned on 25 October 1943 under Commander William Donald Aelian King, known to history as Bill King, a submarine commander who would later become famous as a solo round-the-world yachtsman.

Sinking I-166

After a work-up patrol in the Norwegian Sea, Telemachus deployed to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo from July 1944 and, on 17 July, achieved her defining moment of the war. She sighted the Japanese submarine I-166 off One Fathom Bank in the Malacca Strait at 07:08, and twelve minutes later fired six torpedoes from a range of 2,300 yards.

A single torpedo struck home, and an explosion was heard just 94 seconds later; the Japanese submarine's commanding officer and several crew members survived the sinking, a rare moment of mercy amid the ruthless efficiency of the attack itself.

Further Far East Service

Telemachus went on to transfer to the 8th Submarine Flotilla based at Fremantle in Western Australia, conducting special operations near Singapore that included agent insertion, a South China Sea patrol, and a final patrol cut short by engine trouble that required a medical evacuation.

A Long Posting to Australia

After the war, Telemachus deployed to Sydney in December 1949 and spent nearly a decade there, supporting Royal Australian Navy anti-submarine training. She returned to British waters on 9 December 1959 and was finally scrapped at Charlestown on 28 August 1961, closing out the career of a submarine commanded by one of the more colourful characters in Royal Navy history.