| Built By: | Vickers (Barrow) |
| Build Group: | T 3 |
| Fate: | She was laid up at Portsmouth in 1972 after being taken out of commission September 1970 at Dolphin. Broken up in 1979. |
| 1944: | Lieutenant Commander | Peter Robert Helfrich Harrison | DSO DSC |
| 1945: | Lieutenant | Richard Lionel Jay | |
| 1949: | Lieutenant | Laurence Hugh Oliphant | DSC |
| 1957: | Lieutenant Commander | Geoffrey Bourne | MID |
HMS Tiptoe (pennant number P332) was built at Barrow and launched on February 25 in 1944. She was one of two submarines to be named by Winston Churchill.
Her long career includes a 1955 collision in with a coastal streamer in Tromso harbour.
She was also involved in escape trials off Malta in 1962, in 1964 ran aground in the Firth of Clyde and in 1965 collided with HMS Yarmouth.
The name was based on the ability to sneak up on someone undetected but the submarine also made links with the Royal Ballet and dancer Moira Shearer.
Tiptoe was eventually scrapped in Portsmouth in 1975 and the anchor went to Blyth, Northumberland. The Royal Navy naming committee was against Tiptoe claiming "it was derogatory to one of His Majesty's ships."
She was one of a number of boats which had an all welded hull which increased diving depth to 350ft, an increase of 50ft.
Because of expected use in tropical climates, Tiptoe was equipped with blowers to deal with the increased temperatures.
After completing training on 10 September in 1944, she returned to Barrow in order to correct some defects. By January 1945, she was equipped with new radar equipment and other equipment to prepare her for deployment in the Far East.
She arrived in Sri Lanka at the start of March 1945. Her first patrol was off the west coast of Burma and the Andaman Islands before heading onto Fremantle, Australia.
During a second patrol, from May 6, in the FlOtes Sea, she sank a Japanese coaster of around 100 tons with gunfire. The following day she sank another Japanese coaster with gunfire, this time around 200 tons. On June 1, she approached and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Tobi Maru near Matasiri.
The final action of Tiptoe's last war patrol was on August 9, when together with Trump, they destroyed an 800 ton coastal tanker in the northern part of the Sunda Strait.
During a royal inspection of the home fleet in 1947 by George VI, demonstrated diving and surfacingg along with the firing of her deck gun.
The submarine was used in filming the 1950 movie, Morning Departure. In 1952 a further cinematic link was made when ballet dancer Moira Shearer presented a pair of satin tubes ballet shoes to Tiptoe that she had worn in the 1948 film The Red Shoes.
Tiptoe made a 5 day vist to Barrow in early 1969 for the 25th aniversary of her launch
She was laid up at Portsmouth in 1972 after being taken out of commission September 1970 at Dolphin.
Roll of Honour |
1
|
| Barr, Ronald William |
|
|||||
| Telegraphist | ||||||
| 'The son of Percy Thomas Howard Barr (a night telephonist at the GPO) and Hilda Gladys Barr (nee Dew). In December 1944, Tiptoe was fitting out at Portsmouth in preparation for a deployment to the Far East. Ronald is reported to have died in the Royal Naval Hospital at Chatham, he had been suffering from tubercular meningitis, pulmonary tuberculosis and generalised miliary tuberculosis.' |
||||||
| 10-11-1942 | Laid Down |
| 25-02-1944 | Launched |
| 12-06-1944 | Completed |
| 15-05-1945 | HMS Tiptoe sinks a Japanese coaster with gunfire of Sumbawa Island, Netherlands East Indies. |
| 17-05-1945 | HMS Tiptoe sinks a Japanese coaster with gunfire of Sumbawa Island, Netherlands East Indies. |
| 01-06-1945 | HMS Tiptoe torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Tobi Maru in the Java Sea off Matasiri Island. |
| 31-07-1945 | HMS Tiptoe damages a Japanese coaster with gunfire off the Sunda Strait. |
| 03-08-1945 | HMS Tiptoe torpedoes and sinks the Japanese salvage vessel Tencho Maru off the Sunda Strait. |
| Length overall | 273 ft 6 inch |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 inch |
| Depth | 14 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 1422 tons (surface) |
| 1571 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | (i) 300 ft |
| Speed | Surface 15.25 knots (design) |
| Surface 15.25 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 9 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 8.75 knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Endurance | Surface: 7500 miles at 15.25 knots (design) |
| (ii) Surface: 8000 miles at 10 knots (service) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (design) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (service) | |
| Armament | 8 x 21 inch bow tubes (2 external) |
| 2 x 21 inch amidship tubes | |
| (17 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| 1 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon | |
| 3 x 0.303 inch machine-guns | |
| Complement | (peacetime) 5 Officers and 51 Ratings |
| (wartime) 6 Officers and 56 Ratings | |
| Notes | (i) This was increased to 350 feet in the all-welded boats. |
| (ii) T Class submarines serving in the Far East were modified to carry extra fuel, which increased endurance to 11 000 miles at 10 knots. |
11 pages added or updated in the last 2 month
Please help to maintain this site by reporting any Errors, Broken Links, Information or Site Issues on this page using this button
If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation. Or you can make a big one if you like :)
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.
| Length overall | 273 ft 6 inch |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 inch |
| Depth | 14 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 1422 tons (surface) |
| 1571 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | (i) 300 ft |
| Speed | Surface 15.25 knots (design) |
| Surface 15.25 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 9 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 8.75 knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Endurance | Surface: 7500 miles at 15.25 knots (design) |
| (ii) Surface: 8000 miles at 10 knots (service) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (design) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (service) | |
| Armament | 8 x 21 inch bow tubes (2 external) |
| 2 x 21 inch amidship tubes | |
| (17 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| 1 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon | |
| 3 x 0.303 inch machine-guns | |
| Complement | (peacetime) 5 Officers and 51 Ratings |
| (wartime) 6 Officers and 56 Ratings | |
| Notes | (i) This was increased to 350 feet in the all-welded boats. |
| (ii) T Class submarines serving in the Far East were modified to carry extra fuel, which increased endurance to 11 000 miles at 10 knots. |
11 pages added or updated in the last 2 month
Please help to maintain this site by reporting any Errors, Broken Links, Information or Site Issues on this page using this button
If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation. Or you can make a big one if you like :)
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.
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