Taku (N 38)
| Built By: | Cammell Laird (Mersey) |
| Build Group: | T 1 |
| Fate: | Heavily damaged by a mine in April 1944 and was retired from service. Scrapped in November 1946 at Llanelly. |
Taku (N 38)
Commanders
| 1940: | Lieutenant Commander Voltelin James Howard Van der Byl |
| 1940: | Lieutenant John Frederick Beaufoy Brown |
| 1940: | Lieutenant Hugh Bentley Turner |
| 1941: | Lieutenant Commander Peter Joseph Howell Bartlett |
| 1941: | Lieutenant Commander Edward Christian Frederic Nicolay DSO |
| 1941: | Lieutenant David Roger Oakeley Mott DSC |
| 1941: | Lieutenant Commander Jack Gethin Hopkins |
| 1942: | Lieutenant Arthur John Wright Pitt MID |
| 1943: | Lieutenant Edmund Charles Croswell DSC |
| 1944: | Lieutenant George Edward Hunt DSO DSC MID |
| 1945: | Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Nash DSC MID |
| 1945: | Lieutenant John Peter Angell DSC |
1940 - 2nd Flotilla.HMS Forth, Rosyth.
1941: Home Station.
1941-1943: Mediterranean.
1944: Home Station.
Sank or wrecked three vessels off Skudensnes, February 1943, a total of 14,000 tons.
Related Pages
On Monday 14th February 1941, HM Submarine Taku sailed quietly from Holy Loch in Scotland bound for Nova Scotia. She was under escort and commanded by Lieutenant Brown. No-one could possibly have imagined or foreseen what would happen in the days following this departure
Roll of Honour |
1
|
| Died: 14-04-1944 | |||||
| Stuart, Geoffrey Claude Edwards | |||||
| Lieutenant | Born: 27-02-1921 | Died: 14-04-1944 | Aged: 23 | ||
| from Newbury, Berkshire | |||||
| The First Lieutenant of Submarine HMS Taku was the son of James Arthur Penrhyn Stuart (Imperial Indian Police) and Norah Stuart. He served in Submarines from October 1941 in Dolphin, Parthian, P555 (IL), Storm (IL) and Taku (IL) from 28th January 1944 to 14th April 1944. He is reported to have died in an accident at Cold Ash, Newbury, Berkshire whilst on leave. He was the husband of Isobel Stuart (nee Newbold) of Birch Tree Cottage, Cold Ash who died in the same accident. |
|||||
Events
| 18-11-1937 | Laid Down |
| 20-05-1939 | Launched |
| 03-01-1940 | Completed |
| 17-04-1940 | While searching for 5 German destroyers reported to be in her area HMS Taku fires 4 torpedoes against the British destroyer HMS Ashanti. Luckily all torpedoes missed their target. |
| 08-05-1940 | HMS Taku attacks a German convoy with ten torpedoes and torpedoes and damages the German torpedo boat Möwe east of Denmark. After the attack Taku was depth charged for 10 hours. |
| 02-11-1940 | HMS Taku hit the the German tanker Gedania in the Bay of Biscay about 35 nautical miles south-west of Belle-Isle island with a dud torpedo. |
| 06-05-1941 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Cagliari in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 20 nautical miles north-north-west of Stromboli Island, Italy. |
| 11-06-1941 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the German munitions transport Tilly L.M. Russ at Bengasi, Libya. |
| 12-06-1941 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Silvio Scaroniin the Gulf of Syrte 70 nautical miles off Benghazi, Libya. |
| 13-07-1941 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the Italian passenger/cargo ship Caldea 10 nautical miles off the Bengasi lighthouse, Libya. |
| 15-07-1941 | HMS Taku sinks the Italian auxiliary minesweeper Vincenso P. about 25 nautical miles south-east of Auegia, Libya. |
| 15-08-1942 | HMS Taku attacks the German merchant Menes with 4 torpedoes about 90 nautical miles north-east of Benghazi, Libya. All 4 torpedoes missed their target. |
| 24-10-1942 | HMS Taku sinks a small Greek sailing vessel with gunfire west of Kos, Greece |
| 25-10-1942 | HMS Taku attacks the Italian tanker Arca off Chios, Greece. The torpedoes missed their target. |
| 26-10-1942 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the Italian tanker Arca south-west of Chios, Greece. |
| 27-10-1942 | HMS Taku sinks the Greek sailing vessel Lora with gunfire off Lemnos, Greece. |
| 31-10-1942 | HMS Taku fires four torpedoes against the Italian tanker Cerere about 10 nautical miles south of Cape Sounio, Greece. All torpedoes fired missed their target. |
| 14-12-1942 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the Italian tanker Delfin in the Aegean Sea about 5 nautical miles north of Macrosini island, Greece |
| 22-12-1942 | HMS Taku sinks the Greek sailing vessel Nikiwith gunfire in the Potidea Channel. |
| 07-02-1944 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Rheinhausen about 20 nautical miles north of Stavanger, Norway. |
| 12-02-1944 | HMS Taku torpedoes and heavily damages the German merchant Harm Fritzen off Stavanger, Norway. |
| 13-02-1944 | HMS Taku torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Hans Bornhofen in the Boknafjorden, 8 nautical miles south of Skudeneshavn, Norway. |
| 24-03-1944 | HMS Taku fires 5 torpedoes against the German merchant Moshill in a German convoy about 25 nautical miles west of Namsos, Norway, but missed. |
Comments
Comment by: David James on March 15, 2019
My father, Horace Walter James, served as a Warrant Engineer Officer on Taku during the latter part of WW2. He told me that, whilst on the submarine, Taku led other submarines into the Skagerrak to attack enemy shipping.
Whilst negotiating one of the minefields in the area, one of the hydroplanes snagged a mine mooring wire which they later thought must have been in close proximity to and caught one of the detonation horns. The resulting explosion apparently put one propeller shaft out of action and bent the other one.
This, according to my father, occurred in April 1944. All this was confirmed by a friend whilst we were both at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon, Plymouth, his father was navigating the second submarine (a small world). I don't know how long it took for the submarine to be returned to an operational state but my father remained on Taku for the rest of WW2.
Courtesy of my father, I do have a section of the voice pipe, crumpled by the explosion, mounted on the detonation plate of a 4in shell. Inscription "Mined Your Own Business - Skagerrak April 1944".
This form is for you to comment on, or add additional information to this page. Any questions will be deleted. If you wish to ask a question contact the Branch or the Webmaster using the Contact Us page or ask your question on our Facebook Page
