HMS Stratagem (P234)

HMS Stratagem
History
Class and type:	S class submarine
Name:	HMS Stratagem
Builder:	Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down:	15 April 1942
Launched:	21 June 1943
Commissioned:	9 October 1943
Fate:	Sunk 22 November 1944
General characteristics
Displacement:	814–872 long tons (827–886 t) (surfaced) 990 long tons (1,010 t) (submerged)
Length:	217 ft (66 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draught:	11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:	14.75 kn (16.97 mph; 27.32 km/h) (surfaced) 8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) (submerged)
Complement:	48 officers and men
Armament:	7 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (6 forward, 1 aft; 13 torpedoes), 1 × 3 in (76 mm) deck gun, 1 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon, 3 × .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns

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HMS Stratagem was an S-class submarine of the Royal Navy, and part of the Third Group built of that class. She was built by Cammell Laird and launched on 21 June 1943. So far she has been the only ship to bear the name Stratagem.

Career

She served in the Pacific for most of her short career, where she sank the Japanese tanker Nichinan Maru and unsuccessfully attacked the German submarine U-181.

Sinking

Stratagem left Trincomalee on 10 November 1944 to patrol in the vicinity of Malacca where it was believed the Japanese were loading ships with bauxite ore. On 19 November she attacked and sank the tanker Nichinan Maru, but on 22 November she was spotted by a Japanese aircraft. She attempted to dive and escape but the aircraft directed the sub-chaser CH 35 to where it had dived. CH 35 launched depth charges, the first of which caused the submarines bow to strike the bottom. The submarine was plunged into darkness and the forward part began to flood. Attempts to shut the watertight door to the forward compartment failed and the crew were forced to abandon the ship. Ten of her crew were taken prisoner, of whom only three survived captivity.