British T-class submarine

HMS Thorn
Class overview
NameT class
Operators
Preceded byGrampus class
Succeeded byU class
Completed53
General characteristics
TypeSubmarine
Displacement
  • 1,290 tons surfaced
  • 1,560 tons submerged
Length276 ft 6 in (84.28 m)
Beam25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Draught
  • 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m) forward
  • 14 ft 7 in (4.45 m) aft
Propulsion
Speed
  • 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) surfaced
  • 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced with 131 tons of fuel[1]
Complement48
Time to activate1938–1969 (RN)
Armament

The Royal Navy's T class (or Triton class) of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P, and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they played a major role in the Royal Navy's submarine operations. Four boats in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy were known as the Zwaardvisch class.

At the start of the Second World War the T class was together with the British S and U class, Dutch O 21 class and German Type VII class one of the most advanced submarine classes in service at the time.[2]

In the decade following the war, the oldest surviving boats were scrapped and the remainder converted to anti-submarine vessels to counter the growing Soviet submarine threat. The Royal Navy disposed of its last operational boat in 1969, although it retained one permanently moored as a static training submarine until 1974. The last surviving boat, serving in the Israel Sea Corps, was scrapped in 1977.

  1. ^ Warship III, T Class Submarines, Lambert, p125
  2. ^ van den Pol (1989), p. 352.