The submarine was laid down on 30 September 1941, and launched on 27 June 1942. Taurus was commissioned on 3 November 1942 with the pennant number P339. She served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific Far East during the Second World War. Whilst serving in the Mediterranean, she sank the small French merchant Clairette, the Spanish merchant Bartolo, the Italian merchant Derna, the French tug Ghrib and two barges, the Portuguese Santa Irene , the small Italian tanker Alcione C., the Italian sailing vessel Luigi, twenty eight Greek sailing vessels, and the small Greek ship Romano. She also damaged a further two sailing ships and the Greek merchant Konstantinos Louloudis. It was during this period off the Greek coast she had the unusual distinction of engaging a Bulgarian cavalry unit while bombarding a small port.[1]
She was transferred to the Far East to operate against the Japanese, where she sank the Japanese submarine I-34, two Japanese tugboats and a barge and the Japanese salvage vessel Hokuan I-Go. She also laid a number of mines, which damaged the Japanese submarine I-37 and sank the Japanese transport ship Kasumi Maru.
Having survived the war, Taurus was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948 and commissioned into service the same day. She was renamed Dolfijn.[2]
As HNLMS Dolfijnedit
Dolfijn had a relatively quiet career, making a number of cruises before being decommissioned on 7 November 1953 and transferred back to the Royal Navy.[3]
As HMS Taurus againedit
Dolfijn was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 December 1953 and her name returned to the original HMS Taurus. She served for another seven years before being sold to be broken up for scrap in April 1960.
IWM Interview with Mervyn Wingfield, who commanded HMS Taurus from 1942 to 1944
Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Taurus (P339).
January 01, 1970
taurus, p339, other, ships, with, same, name, taurus, hnlms, dolfijn, taurus, second, world, class, submarine, built, vickers, armstrong, barrow, hnlms, dolfijn, taurushistory, united, kingdom, namehms, taurus, buildervickers, armstrong, barrow, laid, down30, . For other ships with the same name see HMS Taurus and HNLMS Dolfijn HMS Taurus was a Second World War T class submarine built by Vickers Armstrong Barrow HNLMS Dolfijn ex HMS TaurusHistory United Kingdom NameHMS Taurus BuilderVickers Armstrong Barrow Laid down30 September 1941 Launched27 June 1942 Commissioned3 November 1942 FateTransferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948 Badge Netherlands NameHNLMS Dolfijn Commissioned4 June 1948 Decommissioned7 December 1953 FateReturned to Royal Navy on 7 December 1953 United Kingdom NameHMS Taurus Recommissioned8 December 1953 FateScrapped April 1960 General characteristics Class and typeT class submarine Displacement1 290 tons surfaced 1 560 tons submerged Length276 ft 6 in 84 28 m Beam25 ft 6 in 7 77 m Draught12 ft 9 in 3 89 m forward 14 ft 7 in 4 45 m aft PropulsionTwo shafts Twin diesel engines 2 500 hp 1 86 MW each Twin electric motors 1 450 hp 1 08 MW each Speed15 5 knots 28 7 km h surfaced 9 knots 20 km h submerged Range4 500 nautical miles at 11 knots 8 330 km at 20 km h surfaced Test depth300 ft 91 m max Complement61 Armament6 internal forward facing 21 inch 533 mm torpedo tubes 2 external forward facing torpedo tubes 2 external amidships rear facing torpedo tubes 1 external rear facing torpedo tubes 6 reload torpedoes 1 x 4 inch 102 mm deck gun 3 anti aircraft machine guns Contents 1 Career 1 1 As HMS Taurus 1 2 As HNLMS Dolfijn 1 3 As HMS Taurus again 2 References 3 Publications 4 External linksCareer editAs HMS Taurus edit The submarine was laid down on 30 September 1941 and launched on 27 June 1942 Taurus was commissioned on 3 November 1942 with the pennant number P339 She served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific Far East during the Second World War Whilst serving in the Mediterranean she sank the small French merchant Clairette the Spanish merchant Bartolo the Italian merchant Derna the French tug Ghrib and two barges the Portuguese Santa Irene the small Italian tanker Alcione C the Italian sailing vessel Luigi twenty eight Greek sailing vessels and the small Greek ship Romano She also damaged a further two sailing ships and the Greek merchant Konstantinos Louloudis It was during this period off the Greek coast she had the unusual distinction of engaging a Bulgarian cavalry unit while bombarding a small port 1 She was transferred to the Far East to operate against the Japanese where she sank the Japanese submarine I 34 two Japanese tugboats and a barge and the Japanese salvage vessel Hokuan I Go She also laid a number of mines which damaged the Japanese submarine I 37 and sank the Japanese transport ship Kasumi Maru Having survived the war Taurus was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 4 June 1948 and commissioned into service the same day She was renamed Dolfijn 2 As HNLMS Dolfijn edit Dolfijn had a relatively quiet career making a number of cruises before being decommissioned on 7 November 1953 and transferred back to the Royal Navy 3 As HMS Taurus again edit Dolfijn was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 December 1953 and her name returned to the original HMS Taurus She served for another seven years before being sold to be broken up for scrap in April 1960 References edit Submariners Winton John London Constable 2000 ISBN 0094802203 OCLC 44058886 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link HMS Taurus Uboat net HNLMS Dolfijn at dutchsubmarines comPublications editColledge J J Warlow Ben 2006 1969 Ships of the Royal Navy The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy Rev ed London Chatham Publishing ISBN 978 1 86176 281 8 Hutchinson Robert 2001 Jane s Submarines War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day London HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 00 710558 8 OCLC 53783010 External links editIWM Interview with Mervyn Wingfield who commanded HMS Taurus from 1942 to 1944 nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Taurus P339 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title HMS Taurus P339 amp oldid 1142034008, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
