| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | T |
| Pennant | P 332 |
| Built by | Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.) : John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) |
| Ordered | 20 Dec 1941 |
| Laid down | 10 Nov 1942 |
| Launched | 25 Feb 1944 |
| Commissioned | 12 Jun 1944 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| History | Named by Sir Winston Churchill. Took part in escape trials in 1962, a series of trials off Malta into escape from a submarine at extreme depths - seven men attempted to escape from Tiptoe at 260 feet. On 10 January 1964 HMS Tiptoe runs aground in the Clyde, coincidentally right in front of the house of the area's senior naval officer. HMS Tiptoe was damaged in a collision with HMS Yarmouth on 13 July 1965. Tiptoe was at periscope depth 10 miles SE of Portland Bill. Repaired at Cammell Laird. Starred in the film "We Dive at Dawn", co-starring John Mills. Tiptoe was the last T-class submarine in service. Her anchor is at Blyth, commemorating Blyth's links with submarines. Scrapped at Portsmouth in 1979. |
Commands listed for HMS Tiptoe (P 332)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. Peter Robert Helfrich Harrison, DSO, DSC, RN | 15 Apr 1944 | 24 Apr 1945 |
| 2 | Lt. Richard Lionel Jay, RN | 24 Apr 1945 | Oct 1945 ? |
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Noteable events involving Tiptoe include:
10 Jun 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs her builders yard at Barrow bound for Holy Loch.
11 Jun 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Holy Loch for a period of trails and training.
10 Sep 1944
With her training completed HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Holy Loch for her builders yard at Barrow to make good defects.
11 Sep 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at her builders yard at Barrow.
24 Sep 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Barrow for Holy Loch.
1 Oct 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Holy Loch bound for Plymouth.
3 Oct 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Plymouth.
4 Oct 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Plymouth for Portland.
5 Oct 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Portland for Portsmouth. At Portsmouth she will be fitted with new equipment before her deployment to the Far East.
25 Oct 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) is docked.
15 Nov 1944
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) is undocked.
12 Jan 1945
After trials with the new radar equipment HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Portsmouth bound for Portland where she arrives later this day.
13 Jan 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Portland for the Far East. The first leg of the trip is to Gibraltar.
For the daily positions of HMS Tiptoe during this passage see the map below.
HMS Tiptoe passage U.K. - Trincomaleeclick here for bigger map
19 Jan 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Gibraltar.
23 Jan 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Gibraltar bound for Malta.
27 Jan 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Malta.
4 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Malta bound for Port Said.
8 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Port Said.
10 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) transits the first part of the Suez Canal and arrives at Ismailia.
11 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Ismailia bound for Aden.
16 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Aden.
18 Feb 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Aden bound for Trincomalee.
1 Mar 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) arrives at Trincomalee.
13 Mar 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) departs Trincomalee for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the West coast of Burma and off the Andaman Islands. She is to proceed to Fremantle, Australia afterwards.
For the daily positions of HMS Tiptoe during this patrol see the map below.
HMS Tiptoe 1st war patrolclick here for bigger map
13 Apr 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) ends her 1st war patrol, that was uneventful, at Fremantle.
21 Apr 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) is put on the slipway at Fremantle.
22 Apr 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt.Cdr. P.R.H. Harrison, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) is put back in the water.
6 May 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) departs Fremantle for her 2nd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Flores Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS Tiptoe during this patrol see the map below.
HMS Tiptoe 2nd war patrolclick here for bigger map
9 May 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) calles at Exmouth Gulf to be topped off with fuel.
15 May 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) sinks a Japanese coaster with gunfire in Dompo Bay, Sumbawa, Netherlands East Indies.
(All times are zone -9)
1330 hours - Sighted a coaster of about 100 tons anchored and probably aground. She was very difficult to see being camouflaged with matting and the branches of palm trees. Only the stern and part of the side were visible.
1454 hours - Surfaced in position 08º20'S, 118º19'E for gun action, range to the target was 3000 yards.
1504 hours - The target caught fire after 19 hits. 32 rounds were expended.
1530 hours - Dived in position 08º17'S, 118º21'E. (see map)
17 May 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) sinks a Japanese coaster with gunfire at Sepeh, Sumbawa Island, Netherlands East Indies.
(All times are zone -9)
1200 hours - A 200 tons coaster was spotted was spotted inside Sepeh harbour. Decided to sink it with gunfire.
1307 hours - Surfaced for gun action, range was 2000 yards. Fired 11 rounds for 9 hits before the target was ablaze from stem to stern. Ran on the surface for 40 minutes to clear the harbour.
1351 hours - Dived in position 08º28'S, 119º08'E. Set course to the Northward. (see map)
1 Jun 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Tobi Maru (983 GRT, built 1929, former Dutch Tobelo) in the Java Sea off Matasiri Island in position 04º53'S, 115º48'E.
(All times are zone -9)
1338 hours - Masts were spotted bearing 190 degrees. Lt. Jay commenced an attack. The target was estimated to be 2300 tons. During the approach on the target it was out of sight for about 20 minutes because of rain. After the target came in sight again it was noticed that she must have been stopped for some time. Also the target was steering erratically. When the target finally began steering a steady course Lt. Jay fired three stern torpedoes at 1525 hours. The target was hit by one torpedo in the engine room and began to sink stern first.
It was now that the reason for the targets strange behavior (stopping / erratic course)became apparent. She was having a rendezvous with an escort vessel that was coming from directly behind and now the escort closed in towards Tiptoe which went deep. In all 13 depth charges were dropped and all of them were fairly close. At 1650 hours the escort broke off the counter-attack. As a result of the counter attack all torpedo tubes were out of action due to air leaks. Also the Asdic was flooded as well as some minor damage to other things. (see map)
17 Jun 1945
HMS Tiptoe (Lt. R.L. Jay, RN) ends her 2nd war patrol at Fremantle.
16 Jul 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) departs Fremantle 3rd war patrol. She is to patrol with HMS Trump. She is to patrol in/off Sunda Strait. En-route she is to perform a sweep along the south coast of Java. The return trip to Fremantle will take her along the north coast of Java, throught Lombok Strait and back to Fremantle.
For the daily positions of HMS Tiptoe during this patrol see the map below.
HMS Tiptoe 3rd war patrolclick here for bigger map
31 Jul 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) attacks two Japanese 'sea trucks' with gunfire in the Sunda Strait. When an aircraft arrived at the scene the action had to be broken off.
(All times are zone -9)
1210 hours - Sighted two Northbound Seatrucks rounding Varkens Point in line ahead about 1000 yards apart.
1242 hours - Surfaced for gun action in position 05º55'5"S, 105º42'6"E abeam of the second sea truck. Range was 2000 yards. Both targets turned away and made for the islands. A small submarine chaser was sighted closing from the North. The submarine chaser had only a very small bow gun, nothing to worry about.
1246 hours - After firing 15 rounds, for only 3 hits (the sea trucks were difficult to see against the land) an aircraft was sighted so the action had to be broken off.
1248 hours - Dived. The chaser followed Tiptoe but no depth charges were dropped until 1601 hours when 3 very small depth charges were dropped but these were a least 5000 yards away. After this she lost contact and went off to the North-West and Tiptoe retired to the South-West. (see map)
2 Aug 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) and HMS Trump (A/Lt.Cdr. A.A. Catlow, RN) together destroy 2 Japanese seatrucks with gunfire in position 05º55'5"S, 105º40'E.
(All times are zone -9)
1430 hours - Received an enemy report from Trump on Asdics.
1435 hours - Sighted the masts of the ships reported by Trump.
1544 hours - Surfaced for gun action in position 05.51S, 105º37'8"E abeam of the leading seatruck. Range was 3000 yards. Trump was told on Asdics to join in. 60 Rounds were fired at the first seatruck before it was considered a total loss. In the meantime both seatrucks beached themselves.
Target was now shifted to the second seatruck and Trump also joined in. After another 60 rounds this target was also considered a total loss.
The first seatruck was of about 400 tons, the second one was of about 200 tons.
3 Aug 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant Tencho Maru (2608 GRT, built 1919) off the Sunda Strait in position 05º07'S, 106º05'E. The same ship was attacked earlier the same day by HMS Trump (Lt. A.A. Catlow, RN) but missed.
The convoy attacked the Tiptoe and Trump was made up of the merchants Tencho Maru, Fuyo Maru the repair ship Seiha Maru. They were escorted by the Japanese patrol boat PB-109. They had left Batavia the day before bound for Singapore.
(All times are zone -9)
1612 hours - Received an an enemy report from Trump on Asdics.
1640 hours - Sighted smoke to the Southward and started an attack.
1651 hours - Heard the first of a series of explosions indicating that Trump was at work. One minute later sighted an aircraft bombing Trump about 8 nautical miles away.
1654 hours - Sighted a mast among the smoke.
1801 hours - The enemy could now be seen to be a 4000 tons merchant ship followed by a 3000 tons tanker and two escorts. Continued the attack.
1843 hours - Fired four torpedoes at the 4000 tons merchant ship. Two and a half minutes after firing the last torpedo a torpedo-explosion was heard giving a runnig range of 2900 to 3500 yards.
1903 hours - Two depth charges exploded fairly close while Tiptoe was on the bottem at 40 feet.
1905 hours - One depth charge exploded very close.
1907 hours - One depth charge exploded a bit further off.
1913 hours - Yet another depth charge, this time quite close. The escort however was not in contact with Tiptoe which was still bottomed at 40 feet.
The escort was now circling Tiptoe and 'tapping' for all he was worth and at 1924 hours ran over Tiptoe dropping one depth charge that was way to close for comfort. Tiptoe now got off the bottom and ran away at full speed. The escort was still 'tapping' but did not come in for another attack.
1950 hours - Tiptoe came to periscope depth to find the enemy 6000 yards beam on.
2040 hours - Nothing in sight anymore.
2130 hours - Surfaced. (see map)
9 Aug 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) and HMS Trump (A/Lt.Cdr. A.A. Catlow, RN) together sink an unidentified Japanese oiler with gunfire in the northern part of the Sunda Strait in position 05º46'S, 106º27'E.
(All times are zone -9)
1657 hours - Sighted a Southbound ship. Contacted Trump by Asdic.
1804 hours - Surfaced in position 05º44'5"S, 106º26'6"E for gun action, as did Trump. Range to the target, a 800 tons coastal tanker, was 4000 yards. After 80 rounds, about 50% hit rate, the action was broken off. The target was considered a total loss.
1828 hours - Dived in position 05º45'5"S, 106º28'5"E. Noted that the target was now on fire. (see map)
21 Aug 1945
HMS Tiptoe (A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Jay, RN) ended her 3rd war patrol at Fremantle.
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