Triton class

Triton class
General data
Ship type :	Submarine
Construction series:	T-class
Navy :	Royal Navy
Builders :	Cammell Laird ( Birkenhead ) Chatham Dockyard ( Chatham ) Scott's Shipbuilduilding ( Greenock ) Vickers-Armstrong ( Barrow )
Units:	15th
Technical specifications
Crew :	62 men
Displacement :	surfaced: 1325  ts submerged: 1573 ts
Length :	83.97 m
Width:	8.11 m
Draft :	3.60 m
Drive  :	Diesel engines : 2500  HP (1864  KW ) Electric motors : 1450 HP (1081 KW)
Speed :	surfaced: 15.25  kn (28  km / h ) submerged: 8.75 kn (16 km / h)
Driving range  :	popped up: 8000  NM (14816 km) at 10 kn submerged: 80 NM (148 km) at 4 kn
Fuel supply:	132 ts
Diving depth :	90 m
Armament
Artillery :	1 × 4  ″  L / 40 (102 mm) deck gun
Air defense :	3 ×  .303 ″ (7.7 mm) MG
Torpedoes :	10 × 21 ″ (533 mm) tubes 6 in the bow 2 in the bow external 2 amidships externally facing forward 16 torpedoes or 18 sea ​​mines

The Triton-class was the first sub-assembly of the British T-class submarines . In the literature, the term Triton class is sometimes used to describe the entire T class.

The 15 submarines were built between 1936 and 1940 and used by the Royal Navy during World War II . The last boat in the class was scrapped in 1947.

Building history and structural features

→ Main articles : Submarine class T (Royal Navy) #Development and construction  and Submarine class T (Royal Navy) #Constructive features

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Royal Navy decided to build a new class of ocean-going submarines. The planned class of ships was intended to replace the unreliable submarines of the O , P and R classes .

The Admiralty required a sea endurance of at least 42 days and a strong armament. As a result of the London Fleet Conference of 1930 , Great Britain had 16,500 ts of tonnage available for new submarines. In order to be able to build as many boats as possible with the permitted tonnage, the boats were designed smaller than their predecessors.

The construction of a prototype was commissioned with the 1935 naval construction program at Vickers-Armstrong. The HMS Triton was launched the following year, launched in 1937 and entered service on November 9, 1938. The new building was superior to its predecessor in many respects. The surface speed was lower than that of the older British submarines due to the smaller diesel engines due to the tonnage.

By November 1938, 14 more submarines had been laid down. The Royal Navy put the last unit into service in January 1941.

In the test phase, the HMS Thetis sank on June 1, 1939 during a test drive in the River Mersey . The accident claimed 99 lives. The wreck was later lifted, repaired, and put into service in 1940 under the name HMS Thunderbolt . The name Thetis was no longer given to the T-Class.

Comparison of prototypes and series production

→ Main article : "Technical data of the construction lots of the T-class in comparison" in the article submarine class T (Royal Navy)

The series production was a little smaller than the prototype. Several submarines such as the Tigris and the Torbay were later equipped with the additional stern torpedo tube typical of the third construction lot .

	HMS Triton	Serial production
Displacement (emerged):	1330 ts	1325 ts
Displacement (submerged):	1585 ts	1573 ts
Length over all:	84.20 m	83.97 m

Shipyards

→ Main article : "Shipyards" in the article submarine class T (Royal Navy)

The submarines were built at four different shipyards in England and Scotland .

Shipyard	units
Cammell Laird in Birkenhead (England)	4th
Chatham Dockyard ( Chatham Naval Yard ) in Chatham, England	2
Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.in Greenock (Scotland)	3
Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness (England)	6th
	15th

Active units

→ Main article : "Active units" in the article submarine class T (Royal Navy)

When the war began, the Royal Navy only had three Triton-class units. However, new units were continuously added, so that the number increased to 10 submarines by the time the fighting in Norway took place. In 1940 four boats were lost, which could be replaced by four new ones. In 1941 there was a loss and the last influx. In the two following years two units were lost. At the end of the war in August 1945, the Royal Navy still owned six Triton-class submarines . All remaining boats were scrapped by 1947.

January 1, 1939 1 July 1, 1939 2 September 1, 1939 3 January 1, 1940 7th April 9, 1940 10 July 1, 1940 10 January 1, 1941 10 June 22, 1941 11 July 1, 1941 11 December 7, 1941 10 January 1, 1942 10 July 1, 1942 9

November 8, 1942 8th January 1, 1943 8th July 1, 1943 6th July 10, 1943 6th January 1, 1944 6th June 6, 1944 6th July 1, 1944 6th January 1, 1945 6th May 8, 1945 6th July 1, 1945 6th August 15, 1945 6th January 1, 1946 3

Mission history

→ Main article : Submarine class T (Royal Navy) # History of operation  and history of the submarine class T (Royal Navy)

1939

Since the range of the British reconnaissance aircraft of the type Avro Anson was not enough, the few existing submarines were after the war began off the Norwegian coast to educate and to protect the British naval blockade used. Due to planning errors, the crews were not equipped with sufficient winter-proof clothing and suffered from the inhospitable conditions of the North Atlantic in the autumn and winter months.

On September 10th, during a mission 28 nautical miles south-southwest of Stavanger , a serious error occurred . The O-class boat Oxley had left its patrol area as a result of a navigation error and was approaching the Triton , which tried several times to contact the unidentified submarine but received no response. After the Oxley did not respond to a flare, the Triton attacked with two torpedoes. Only the commander and one other seaman survived the attack. Four days later, the British submarine Sturgeon attacked its sister boat Swordfish in a similar situation , but missed the target. As a result of the incidents, the Admiralty increased the distances between the patrol areas of British submarines from 4 to 16 nautical miles.

In the following months of the war, the British naval reconnaissance received modern, long-range American Lockheed Hudson reconnaissance aircraft, with which the Norwegian coast could be monitored from the air. This allowed the British submarines to be withdrawn from the Norwegian coast and used closer to the opposing coasts in the Skagerrak and the German Bight . The period up to April 1940 is also known as the seat of war due to the defensive behavior of the Anglo-French allies on the Western Front . In order not to provoke the German naval command, the submarines were also used cautiously. Torpedo attacks without warning on enemy transport ships were expressly prohibited. Merchant ships should be strictly controlled according to international price law . The British leadership feared another all -out submarine war , which had already brought the United Kingdom into serious difficulties at times during the First World War .

1940

Due to the limitations and also the small number of operational Triton boats, despite frequent patrols, the first combat success of the submarine class did not occur until March 25, 1940, when HMS Truant controlled the German cargo steamer Edmund Hugo Stinnes 4 off Jutland and then with torpedoes sunk.

On April 9, 1940, a new phase of the war began with the German company Weserübungen . In the then largest triphic operation in war history, German units occupied Denmark almost without a fight and conquered the most important ports of Norway in a few days despite resolute resistance. The British side was prepared for the attack and stationed all available submarines along the expected approach routes of the invasion fleet before the attack. On April 8th, Trident sank the tanker Stedingen . On the same day Triton attempted an unsuccessful torpedo attack against the cruisers Emden , Lützow and Blücher . On the evening of the day of the invasion, Truant managed a successful torpedo attack against the light cruiser Karlsruhe . The German warship was badly damaged and sunk three hours after the attack by the German torpedo boat Greif . The following day the Triton boats were able to record three more successes, but also suffered the first loss. While Triton sank two German transporters and an auxiliary patrol boat , Thistle was torpedoed by a German submarine. Another Triton boat was lost in April, Tarpon . The fighting in Norway, especially the Battle of Narvik , dragged on into June. In the clear waters of the North Sea, submerged submarines can be seen from the air in daylight at a depth of up to 30 m when the sea is calm. In addition, diesel-electric submarines at that time had to charge their accumulators while surfaced, and usually did so under cover of darkness. The ever shorter nights made British submarine missions off Northern Norway more difficult and, in view of the increasing local German air superiority at the beginning of the polar day ( Narvik is over 200 km north of the Arctic Circle !), Made them more and more dangerous in summer and basically impracticable in midsummer. In addition, at that time the German defense was able to decipher 30–50% of British radio traffic.

On May 10, the case of Gelb started the war in Western Europe. After Italy entered the war on June 10 and the French defeat on June 22, more and more patrols led off the French Atlantic coast and into the Mediterranean . Triton boats sank several fishing vessels and transport ships, as well as a submarine and a seaplane tender, in the Bay of Biscay by the end of the year .

In the Mediterranean, the attack area against merchant ships was initially limited to a strip of 30 nautical miles off the coasts of Italy and Libya in order to protect neutral shipping traffic. Four Italian freighters and one tanker were sunk here between September and the end of the year. In return, two more Triton boats were lost. With the poor exchange ratio of opposing and own losses, the Triton boats were in a relatively good position compared to the other British submarines in the Mediterranean. In total, British submarines sank only nine enemy ships and one submarine in the Mediterranean in 1940. Including the two Triton boats, nine British submarines were lost in the Mediterranean during the same period.

1941

In January, the HMS Torbay, the last submarine of the class, was put into service. In November a submarine was lost in the Mediterranean.

The main focus of the Triton boats shifted more and more to the Mediterranean. The bases were in Gibraltar in the west, on the besieged island of Malta in the center and in Alexandria in the east. In June the Truant , Triumph , Taku , Tetrarch and Torbay were stationed in Alexandria.

During 1941, the Triton boats sank 22 cargo ships, four tankers, six auxiliary warships, 30 sailing ships and two submarines in the Mediterranean.

The most successful unit was the newly commissioned HMS Torbay . The submarine sank three tankers, 11 sailing ships and one submarine off the Greek islands. The commander Lt. CD. Anthony Miers also committed several war crimes with the murder of prisoners of war and castaways.

A smaller part of the Triton boats continued to be used in the Bay of Biscay and off the Norwegian coast. The bases were in England, Scotland and, after the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, also in Poljarny in northwestern Russia . Seven freighters, a tanker, an auxiliary warship and a submarine were sunk off the Norwegian coast and in the Bay of Biscay.

1942

The Pacific War began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the Japanese invasion of the Malay Peninsula initiated the following day .

Due to the serious situation in the Mediterranean and the uninterrupted German submarine attacks in the Atlantic, the Royal Navy was initially only able to release limited forces for the new theater of war, which also included submarines. In February, the HMS Truant attacked the Japanese light cruiser Nagara off Bali in the Dutch East Indies , but missed the target. The submarine sank two in Malakka Street in April and another Japanese cargo ship in July.

In the entire year, only one freighter was sunk in the North Sea. An important success came in February when the Trident attacked the two German heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer with ten torpedoes west of Kristiansund . The Prinz Eugen was hit and very badly damaged.

In the Mediterranean, the Triton boats continued to fight against the Axis supply lines for the war in North Africa . The submarines sank four freighters, four sailing ships, two tankers, three auxiliary warships and one submarine. The Axis' increasingly organized anti-submarine defense sank two Triton-class submarines in the course of the year.

1943

Until the Axis troops surrendered in North Africa in May, the Triton boats continued to fight their supply routes from Europe. After the end of the war in North Africa and the Allied landing in Sicily in July , the areas of operation of the British submarines in the Mediterranean relocated to the southern French coast in the west, which was occupied by Germany in November 1942, and the Greek islands, which were also occupied by Germany, in the east. The Triton boats sank 13 freighters, 11 sailing ships, four auxiliary warships and two trawlers. Two other boats of the class were also lost.

In January, the HMS Thunderbolt, together with the Tempest-class boat HMS Trooper and the Taciturn-class boat HMS P311, participated in the spectacular attack on the recently commissioned light cruiser Ulpio Traiano , known as Operation Principle . The T-class boats transported manned Chariot torpedoes in front of the port of Palermo , which sank the Italian warship with sticky mines.

1944-1947

The Allied victories of 1943 were followed by the Allied landings in Brittany and on the Côte d'Azur in 1944 , which decided the war in the Mediterranean. The few remaining Trident boats suffered no further losses. In 1944 they sank a few enemy ships in the Mediterranean Sea and off Norway.

In the last year of the war, several smaller Japanese units were sunk in Asia.

At the end of the war in August 1945, six Triton-class units were still in active service with the Royal Navy. All six submarines were decommissioned and scrapped by 1947.

Battle successes (selection)

→ Main article : History of the submarine class T (Royal Navy)

The 15 Triton-class boats achieved most of their fighting successes in the Mediterranean. It is noteworthy that the British submarines stood out as submarines and sank a total of five Italian submarines.

date
March 24, 1940	HMS Trident torpedoes and sunk before Jutland (Denmark) at 56 ° 42 '  N , 8 ° 4'  O the German cargo ship Edmund Stinnes 4 (2189 BRT ).
April 8, 1940	HMS Trident torpedoes and sunk to the south of Oslo fjord (Norway) at 58 ° 57 '  N , 10 ° 25'  O German tanker Stedingen (8036 BRT, ex Posidonia ).
April 9, 1940	HMS Truant torpedoes and damaged before Kristiansand (Norway) at 57 ° 55 '  N , 8 ° 14'  O German light cruiser Karlsruhe (6750 ts). The badly damaged cruiser was abandoned three hours later and sunk by the German torpedo boat Greif .
April 10, 1940	HMS Triton torpedoed and sank in the Kattegat at 57 ° 27 '  N , 10 ° 46'  E the German transport ships Friedenau (5219 BRT) and Wigbert (3648 BRT) and at 57 ° 50 '  N , 11 ° 22'  E the German auxiliary Patrol boat V1507 / Rau 6 (356 GRT).
April 11, 1940	HMS Triad torpedoes and sunk in Skagerrak south of Oslo fjord at 58 ° 30 '  N , 10 ° 35'  O German troop transport Ionia (3102 BRT).
April 23, 1940	HMS Tetrarch torpedoes and sunk in the Skagerrak at 58 ° 21 '  N , 10 ° 24'  O German U-Hunter UJ B / fail V (330 BRT).
June 16, 1940	HMS Tetrarch torpedoes and sunk southwest of Lista (Norway) at 58 ° 12 '  N , 6 ° 13'  O German tanker Samland (5978 BRT).
September 3, 1940	HMS Truant intercepts the German freighter Tropic Sea (5781 GRT). The former Norwegian ship was from the German on June 18, 1940 Handelsstörkreuzer Orion been applied in the South Pacific and was designed by the German prize crew in the face of the British submarine 235 nautical miles north-west of Cape Finisterre at 46 ° 30 '  N , 11 ° 30'  W scuttled .
September 22, 1940	HMS Truant torpedoed and sank the Italian cargo ship Providenza (8459 GRT) four nautical miles southeast of the Italian island of Ischia . HMS Tuna torpedoed and sank the German transporter Tirranna (7230 GRT) off the Gironde (France) 15 nautical miles southwest of Soulac-sur-Mer at 45 ° 19 ′  N , 1 ° 20 ′  W. The former Norwegian ship was on 10 June 1940 by the German Handelsstörkreuzer Atlantis 675 nautical miles east-south-east of Mauritius has been applied
September 24, 1940	HMS Tuna torpedoed and sank 35 nautical miles southwest of Saint-Nazaire (France) at 47 ° 1 ′  N , 3 ° 2 ′  W, the German seaplane tender Ostmark (1281 GRT).
December 15, 1940	HMS thunderbolt torpedoes and sunk southwest of the Gironde near Bordeaux (France) at 45 ° 25 '  N , 1 ° 22'  W Italian submarine Capitano Tarantini .
December 16, 1940	HMS Truant torpedoes and sunk east of Punta Stilo at 38 ° 28 '  N , 16 ° 44'  O Italian tanker Bonzo (8177 BRT).
April 2, 1941	HMS Tigris torpedoes and sinks the German tanker Thorn (5486 GRT) 25 nautical miles west of the Loire estuary (France ).
May 30, 1941	HMS Triumph damaged the Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb III (3667 BRT) with torpedoes off Benghazi (Libya) .
June 10, 1941	HMS Torbay torpedoed and sunk the Italian tanker Giuseppina Ghirardi (3319 GRT) in the Dardanelles .
June 27, 1941	HMS Triumph torpedoes and sunk near Marsa Matruh (Egypt) at 32 ° 5 '  N , 28 ° 47'  O the Italian submarine salpa (611 ts).
July 5, 1941	HMS Tigris torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of Bordeaux at about 45 ° 0 '  N , 4 ° 0'  W the Italian submarine Michele Bianchi . HMS Torbay torpedoes and sunk south of the Greek island Mykonos at 37 ° 21 '  N , 25 ° 20'  O the Italian submarine Jantina (599 ts).
August 22, 1941	HMS Trident torpedoes and sunk in Kvaenangenfjord at 70 ° 12 '  N , 21 ° 5'  O the German transport ship Prussia (3030 BRT).
August 30, 1941	HMS Trident torpedoes and sunk near Lopphavet at 70 ° 35 '  N , 21 ° 45'  O German transporter Donau II (2931 BRT) and Bahia Laura (8561 BRT).
October 4, 1941	HMS Talisman torpedoes and sunk northeast of Kea at 37 ° 45 '  N , 24 ° 35'  O French passenger ship Gautier (8194 BRT).
October 23, 1941	HMS Truant torpedoes and sunk in the street of Otranto at 39 ° 52 '  N , 19 ° 0'  O the German cargo ship Virginia S. (3885 BRT).
October 25, 1941	HMS Triumph torpedoes and sunk in Saronic three nautical miles north-west of the Greek island Patroklou at 37 ° 41 '  N , 23 ° 53'  O Italian freighter Monro (6703 BRT).
December 11, 1941	HMS Talisman torpedoes and sunk 60 nautical miles west-south-west of the ionic island Schiza at 36 ° 23 '  N , 20 ° 33'  O Italian cargo ship Calitea (4013 BRT). HMS Truant engages north of Crete at 35 ° 29 '  N , 24 ° 11'  O Italian Torpedoboot Alcione with torpedoes. The Alcione is badly damaged, aground and later declared a total loss.
February 23, 1942	HMS Trident torpedoed the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen west of Kristiansund and severely damaged it.
March 5, 1942	HMS Torbay torpedoed and sank the Italian transport ship Maddalena G. (5212 GRT) off the Greek island of Corfu .
April 1, 1942	HMS Truant torpedoes and sunk in Malaya road at 5 ° 42 '  N , 98 ° 57'  O Japanese cargo ships Yae Maru (6780 BRT) and Shunsei Maru (4939 BRT).
April 20, 1942	HMS Trident torpedoes and sunk in Svefjord at 64 ° 38 '  N , 10 ° 49'  O German transporter Hödur (5368 BRT).
July 3, 1942	HMS Truant torpedoes and sunk in the Malay road at 5 ° 42 '  N , 98 ° 57'  O Japanese military transport Tamon Maru No. 1 (3019 GRT).
December 6, 1942	HMS Tigris torpedoes and sunk before Algeria at 38 ° 10 '  N , 8 ° 35'  O the Italian submarine Porfido .
December 7, 1942	HMS Tuna , a British special forces unit, lands in the Gironde estuary. During the operation known as Operation Frankton , six German ships are mined in the port of Bordeaux . Only two of the twelve landed soldiers survived the special mission.
December 14, 1942	HMS Taku sunk five miles north of the Greek island Macrosini at 37 ° 52 '  N , 24 ° 6'  O Italian tanker Dolphin (5322 BRT) with torpedoes.
January 3, 1943	HMS Thunderbolt and HMS Trooper transport several manned Chariot torpedoes in front of the port of Palermo, which are sinking the Italian light cruiser Ulpio Traiano there .
January 21, 1943	HMS Tigris torpedoes and sunk in the street of Otranto 25 nautical miles west of Sazan at 40 ° 32 '  N , 18 ° 45'  O Italian freighter Citta di Genova (5413 BRT).
February 26, 1943	HMS Torbay torpedoed and sunk the Spanish freighter Juan de Astigarraga (3561 GRT) off San Remo (Italy ). On the same day, the French freighter Oasis (1327 GRT) was sunk 30 nautical miles south of Cape Mele at 43 ° 27 '  N , 8 ° 8'  E.
February 28, 1943	HMS Torbay sinks the Italian transport ship Ischia (5101 GRT) with torpedoes off Portofino (Italy) .
March 12, 1943	HMS Thunderbolt torpedoed and sank the French (in German service) freighter Esterel (3100 GRT) off Cape San Vito (Sicily ).
March 22, 1943	HMS Tribune torpedoed and damaged 10 nautical miles northwest of Cape Suvero (Italy) at 39 ° 14 '  N , 15 ° 59'  O the German tanker President Mr. Schmidt (9103 BRT).
March 28, 1943	HMS Torbay torpedoes and put off Cape Scalea (Italy) at 39 ° 5 '  N , 15 ° 46'  O French freighter Lillios (3680 BRT).
February 7, 1944	HMS Taku sinks the German freighter Rheinhausen (6298 GRT) with torpedoes 20 nautical miles north of Stavanger (Norway) .

Losses in World War II

→ Main article : "Losses in World War II" in the article Submarine Class T (Royal Navy)

In the Second World War, a total of nine Triton-class submarines were lost to enemy action. Two units sank in the North Sea and seven in the Mediterranean.

boat	date	comment
HMS Thistle	April 10, 1940	HMS Thistle was sunk 20 nautical miles west of Stavanger at 59 ° 0 '  N , 5 ° 0'  E by the German submarine U 4 . There were no survivors.
HMS Tarpon	April 14, 1940	HMS Tarpon has been missing off the Norwegian coast since April 22, 1940. It may have been sunk on April 14, 1940 by the German M 6 minesweeper with depth charges. Another explanation is that she was sunk on April 10, 1940 west of Jutland at 56 ° 43 '  N , 6 ° 33'  E by the German submarine trap Schiff 40 / Schürbek . The entire crew was killed.
HMS Triad	October 15, 1940	HMS Triad was torpedoed and sunk south of the Gulf of Taranto at 38 ° 16 '  N , 17 ° 37'  E by the Italian submarine Enrico Toti . There were no survivors.
HMS Triton	December 18, 1940	HMS Triton goes missing in the southern Adriatic . The Triton was probably sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Clio on December 18 . Another possible explanation is that the Triton ran into an Italian sea ​​mine in the Strait of Otranto . There were no survivors.
HMS Tetrarch	November 2, 1941	HMS Tetrarch left its base in Malta on October 26th for an overhaul. But she did not reach Gibraltar , where she was expected on November 2nd. She probably ran into a sea mine in the Strait of Sicily at the end of October . The entire crew was killed.
HMS triumph	January 14, 1942	HMS Triumph left its base in Alexandria on December 26, 1941 to land a command near Athens , which happened on December 30 and was reported by radio. There has been no news of the boat since then. Presumably the Triumph ran into a sea mine near Milos . The Royal Navy declared the submarine missing on January 14, 1942. The entire crew was killed.
HMS talisman	September 17, 1942	HMS Talisman left Gibraltar on September 10th. On September 15, she reported the sighting of a submarine off the Algerian coast. Since then there has been no contact with the talisman . She probably ran into a sea mine in the Strait of Sicily on September 17th. The submarine was declared missing on September 18, 1942. There were no survivors.
HMS Tigris	March 10, 1943	HMS Tigris left its base in Malta on February 18 to patrol southwest of Naples . She was expected in Algiers on March 10th , where she never arrived. Since then, the submarine has been counted as missing. It was probably six nautical miles south of February 27, Capri by the German U-hunter UJ-2210 sunk. Other theories suggest that the Tigris in the Gulf of Tunis was sunk by a mine hit. There were no survivors.
HMS Thunderbolt	March 14, 1943	HMS Thunderbolt was sunk by the Italian corvette Cigogna off San Vito lo Capo ( Sicily ) . There were no survivors.

Boats of the type

Between 1936 and 1942, 15 Triton-class submarines were built in four shipyards. Of these, nine units were sunk by enemy action between 1940 and 1943. Seven units were lost in the Mediterranean and two in the North Sea. The remaining submarines were decommissioned at the end of the war and scrapped until 1947.

HMS Triton
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No:	N15
Keel laying:	August 28, 1936	Launch:	October 5, 1937
Commissioning:	November 9, 1938	End of duty:	December 18, 1940
The Triton (see: Triton ) was used at the start of the war off the Norwegian coast, where she mistakenly sank the submarine HMS Oxley on September 10, 1939 . The Triton was later dispatched to the Mediterranean . She has been missing in the southern Adriatic since December 1940.
HMS Thunderbolt ex HMS Thetis
Builder:	Cammell Laird (Birkenhead)	No.:	N25
Keel laying:	December 21, 1936	Launch:	June 29, 1938
Commissioning:	October 26, 1940	End of duty:	March 14, 1943
The Thunderbolt ( English : lightning strike ) was originally named HMS Thetis (see: Thetis ) from the stack. The submarine sank on June 1, 1939 in the mouth of the Mersey during a test drive, where 99 people were killed. Only 4 men survived the accident. The boat was later raised and put into service under the name Thunderbolt . The Thunderbolt was sunk on March 14, 1943 near Sicily by the Italian corvette Cigogna .
HMS Trident
Builder:	Cammell Laird (Birkenhead)	No.:	N52
Keel laying:	January 12, 1937	Launch:	December 7, 1938
Commissioning:	October 1, 1939	End of duty:
The Trident (English: Trident ) was very successful against Norway, northern Russia, in the Bay of Biscay, used in the Mediterranean and East Asia. Her most notable combat success was certainly the torpedo attack on the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on February 23, 1942, in which the cruiser was badly damaged. The Trident was sold for scrapping on February 17, 1946 and broken up in Newport .
HMS Tribune
Builder:	Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock)	No.:	N76
Keel laying:	March 3, 1937	Launch:	December 8, 1938
Commissioning:	October 17, 1939	End of duty:
The Tribune (see Tribune ) was used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. It was sold for scrapping in July 1947 and demolished in Milford Haven, Wales.
HMS triumph
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No.:	N18
Keel laying:	March 19, 1937	Launch:	February 16, 1938
Commissioning:	May 2, 1939	End of duty:	January 14, 1942
The Triumph (see Triumph ) was used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. She has been missing in the southern Aegean since January 1942.
HMS Tarpon
Builder:	Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock)	No.:	N17
Keel laying:	October 5, 1937	Launch:	October 17, 1939
Commissioning:	March 8, 1940	End of duty:	April 14, 1940
The tarpon (see tarpon ) was used in the North Sea. She has been missing in the North Sea since April 22, 1940.
HMS Taku
Builder:	Cammell Laird (Birkenhead)	No.:	N38
Keel laying:	November 18, 1937	Launch:	May 20, 1939
Commissioning:	January 3, 1940	End of duty:
The Taku was used in the North Sea, Biscay and the Mediterranean. It was damaged by a sea mine in April 1944. The submarine was sold as scrap in November 1946 and then scrapped in Llanelly, Wales.
HMS Thistle
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No.:	N24
Keel laying:	December 7, 1937	Launch:	May 20, 1939
Commissioning:	4th July 1939	End of duty:	April 10, 1940
The Thistle (ger .: thistle ) was used in the North Sea. She was sunk on April 10, 1940 by the German submarine U 4 off Norway.
HMS Truant
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No.:	N68
Keel laying:	March 24, 1938	Launch:	May 5, 1939
Commissioning:	October 31, 1939	End of duty:
The Truant (English: truancy ) was used in the North Sea after the war began. On April 9, 1940, she sank the German light cruiser Karlsruhe in the Skagerrak . The submarine was later used in the Mediterranean and East Asia. It was sold for scrapping on December 19, 1945. The submarine sank in December 1946 while being transported for dismantling.
HMS Triad
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No.:	N53
Keel laying:	March 24, 1938	Launch:	May 5, 1939
Commissioning:	September 16, 1939	End of duty:	October 15, 1940
The Triad (see Triad ) was used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. She was sunk on October 15, 1940 off the Libyan coast by the Italian submarine Enrico Toti .
HMS Tigris
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard (Chatham)	No.:	N63
Keel laying:	May 11, 1938	Launch:	October 31, 1939
Commissioning:	June 20, 1940	End of duty:	March 10, 1943
The Tigris (see Tigris ) was used in the North Sea, Biscay and the Mediterranean. The submarine has been missing in the central Mediterranean since March 10, 1943.
HMS Tuna
Builder:	Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock)	No.:	N94
Keel laying:	June 13, 1938	Launch:	May 10, 1940
Commissioning:	August 1, 1940	End of duty:
The Tuna (ger .: tuna ) was used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. The submarine was sold as scrap on December 19, 1945 and demolished in Briton Ferry (Wales) in June 1946 .
HMS Tetrarch
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong (Barrow in Furness)	No.:	N77
Keel laying:	August 24, 1938	Launch:	November 14, 1939
Commissioning:	February 15, 1940	End of duty:	November 2, 1941
The tetrarch (see tetrarchy ) was used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. She has been missing in the Mediterranean since November 1941.
HMS talisman
Builder:	Cammell Laird (Birkenhead)	No.:	N78
Keel laying:	September 27, 1938	Launch:	January 29, 1940
Commissioning:	June 29, 1940	End of duty:	September 17, 1942
The talisman (see talisman ) was used in the Biscay and the Mediterranean. She has been missing in the Mediterranean since September 1942.
HMS Torbay
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard (Chatham)	No.:	N79
Keel laying:	November 21, 1938	Launch:	April 9, 1940
Commissioning:	January 14, 1941	End of duty:
The Torbay (see Torbay ) was used in the Mediterranean and East Asia. The submarine was sold for scrapping on December 19, 1945 and scrapped in Briton Ferry (Wales) in March 1947.

literature

• Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 5th edition 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
• Robert Hutchinson: KAMPF UNDER WASSER - Submarines from 1776 to today , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X .
• Anthony Preston: The history of the submarines , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, German edition 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7 .
• Peter Padfield: Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939-1945 , Ullstein Taschenbuchverlag, Munich, 2000, ISBN 3-548-24766-0 .

Web links

Commons : Triton class  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• T-Class on uboat.net (English)
• British Submarines of Wold War Two (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The uboat.net gives 59 men for the crew strength of the 1st assembly group. Robert Hutchinson gives 62 men for the 1st assembly group. Erminio Bagnasco reports 56 men.
2. ↑ ^{a b} The uboat.net gives 1090 GRT for the above water displacement of all assemblies  . In addition, uboat.net specifies HMS Triton 1095 BRT for the prototype . Hutchinson gives 1325  ts . Bagnasco specifies 1330 ts for the HMS Triton and 1326 to 1327 ts for the 1st assemblies.
3. ↑ ^{a b} The uboat.net gives 1575 GRT for the underwater displacement of all assemblies. In addition, the uboat.net specifies HMS Triton 1579 BRT for the prototype . Hutchinson gives 1573 ts for the 1st assembly. Bagnasco specifies 1585 ts for the HMS Triton and 1523 to 1575 ts for assembly groups 1 and 2.
4. ↑ ^{a b} The uboat.net specifies 275  ft (83.82 m) for the length of all assemblies . Hutchinson gives 83.97 m for the 1st assembly. Bagnasco specifies 84.20 m for the prototype HMS Triton and 83.60 m for the 1st and 2nd assembly groups.
5. ↑ The uboat.net makes no statement about the width. Hutchinson gives 8.11 m for all assemblies. Bagnasco gives practically the same value for all submarines with 8.10 m.
6. ↑ The uboat.net and Hutchinson make no statement about the depth. Bagnasco gives 3.60 m for the first two assemblies.
7. ↑ The uboat.net and Bagnasco give an overwater speed of 15.25 kn for all assemblies. Hutchinson also specifies 15.25 kn for the 1st assembly.
8. ↑ The uboat.net and Bagnasco indicate an underwater speed of 9 kn for all assemblies. Hutchinson gives 8.75 kn for all assemblies.
9. ↑ The uboat.net does not give any information about the above water range. Hutchinson gives 8,000 nautical miles for the first and second assembly and 11,000 nautical miles for the third. He also mentions that the submarines of the first assembly HMS Torbay and HMS Trident also had a range of 11,000 nautical miles. Bagnasco gives 8000 nautical miles for the first and second assembly.
10. ↑ The uboat.net and Bagnasco make no statement about the underwater range. Hutchinson gives 80 nautical miles for all assemblies.
11. ↑ The uboat.net and Hutchinson do not give any information about the fuel supply. Bagnasco, who only differentiates between two assemblies and the prototype HMS Triton , writes that many boats of the second assembly were rebuilt and their fuel oil bunkers were enlarged from 132 to 230 ts.
12. ↑ The uboat.net and Bagnasco make no statement about the diving depth. Hutchinson gives 90 m.
13. ↑ HMS is the abbreviation for His / Her Majesty's Ship and the name prefix of British ships. HMS means His / Her Majesty's Ship .
14. ↑ The sources for the sinking of the EH Stinnes 4 are very contradictory: uboat.net claims that the steamer was sunk by HMS Truant on March 25, 1940 . www.wlb-stuttgart.de also mentions HMS Truant , but gives the date March 23, 1940 and as the commander of the submarine Lt.Cdr. Seale at. According to uboat.net, Seale was the commander of HMS Trident at this time . www.poseidon-schiffahrts-archiv.eu does not give an exact date, but assigns the sinking to HMS Trident . home.cogeco.ca ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. states March 24, 1940 as the date and HMS Trident as the submarine . 
15. ↑ Peter Padfield: The U-Boat War 1939-1945, p. 106 f.
16. ↑ Peter Padfield: "The U-Boat War 1939-1945", pp. 184/185.
17. ↑ Situation in June 1941 at www.wlb-stuttgart.de
18. ↑ ^{a b c d} The information on the combat success is based on a count of the data given for the individual submarines of the class in uboat.net and should therefore be viewed as an imprecise approximation or estimate.
19. ↑ Peter Padfield: "The Submarine War 1939-1945", p. 200 ff.
20. ↑ War crimes against castaways at www.wlb-stuttgart.de
21. ↑ Nagara on www.combinedfleet.com (English)
22. ↑ ^{a b} The uboat.net is contradictory, on the one hand it is written by the Admiral Scheer , in the next sentence the source means the Admiral Hipper .
23. ↑ ^{a b} The sources are contradicting the sinking of the Ulpio Traiano . Robert Hutchinson, www.wlb-stuttgart.de , regiamarina.net ( Memento of the original dated May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and www.schiffswrackliste.de give the 2./3. January 1943. www.marinearchiv.de gives the 2nd / 3rd June 1943, which is unlikely because the HMS Thunderbolt was lost in March. 
24. ↑ Tropic Sea at www.warsailors.com/homefleet (English)
25. ↑ Tirranna at www.warsailors.com/homefleet (English)
26. ↑ Capitano Tarantini ( Memento of the original of April 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.www.regiamarina.net. (English)  
27. ↑ Salpa ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.regiamarina.net (English)  
28. ↑ Michele Bianchi ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.regiamarina.net (English)  
29. ↑ www.regiamarina.net ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  
30. ↑ Porfidio  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.regiamarina.net (English)  
31. ↑ ^{a b} Hutchinson gives April 14, 1940 as the date of the loss of the HMS Tarpon . The uboat.net states April 10, 1940.
32. ↑ ^{a b} Enrico Toti ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.regiamarina.net (English)  
33. ↑ The uboat.net gives the reason for the loss of the HMS Tigris the attack by a German submarine hunter near Capri. Hutchinson cites a sea mine as the cause of the loss.
34. ↑ Hutchinson and Bagnasco do not provide any information on the launching of the T-class submarines. The information on launch runs comes from uboat.net .
35. ↑ The uboat.net states October 26, 1940 for the Thunderbolt to go into service. Hutchinson gives April 1940.
36. ↑ uboat.net writes that the Tribune was scrapped in July 1947. Hutchinson writes that it was sold in July 1947.
37. ↑ The uboat.net states that the Taku was commissioned on January 3, 1940. Hutchinson states October 3, 1940.

Remarks

1. ↑ The overview only shows the relationship between departures due to accident, scrapping or enemy action and additions due to new buildings. Shipyard stays for overhaul or modernization are not considered. As a result, the number of real operational submarines was lower.