>>182472 cont... SERVICE The Group III T-class submarines were completed rather late in the war, if at all. Quite a number of them were commissioned too late to be employed in the war, some even being completed only after the termination of hostilities. TABARD, TALENT (iii), TARN, TEREDO, THERMOPYLAE, TIRELESS, TOKEN, TRUNCHEON all missed active service in the war, and THOR, TIARA were even sold for scrap before com-pletion although having already been launched. After trials and working up in Home waters, the earlier boats of the Group went to the Mediterranean. In July 1943, the Mediterranean boats (TACTICIAN, TALLY-HO, TAURUS, TEMPLAR, TRESPASSER) were ordered to the Indian Ocean. The other boats (TACITURN, TANTALUS, TANTIVY, TAPIR, TELEMACHUS, TERRAPIN, THOROUGH, THULE, TIP-TOE, TOTEM, TRADEWIND, TRENCHANT, TRUCULENT, TRUMP, TUDOR, TURPIN) were conver-ted or directly completed for service in the tropics before leaving Home waters. Among the aforementioned submarines, TRUCULENT was the only boat which spent a substantial period of time in Home waters before going east, and THULE was em-ployed in air-conditioning experiments until dispatched to the Indian Ocean. The Group III T-class boats achieved not a few successes against enemy warships notwithstanding the fact they entered the war rather late: Submarines TRUCULENT (Alexander) U 308 04.06.43 North Atlantic TAURUS (Wingfield) I 34 12.11.43 Off Penang TALLY-HO (Bennington) UIT 23 15.02.44 Malacca Straits TELEMACHUS (King) I 166 17.07.44 Off Penang TRENCHANT (Hezlet) U 859 23.09.44 Off Penang TAPIR (Roxburgh) U 486 12.04.45 Off Norway cont... pg 384 Carried out in Royal Dockyards between 1949 and 1956, the reconstructions in-cluded the following: the pressure hull was cut in two at the after end of the engine room and lengthened (20 ft in TABARD, TIPTOE, TRUMP, TRUNCHEON; 14 ft in THERMOPYLAE, TOTEM, TURPIN; 12 ft in TACITURN) by a section containing a second pair of electric motors and a fourth battery compartment. Clutches were arranged in such a way that propulsion was altered from direct to Diesel-electric drive. The twin 6 cylinder Admiralty-pattern Diesel engines had their power in-creased by 300 BHP 12 & through supercharging. The gun armament and all external torpedo tubes were taken out, and the bows were reshaped. Hull and casing were streamlined, and all external fittings were removed or made re-tractable. The bridge structure was shaped into a large fin, housing two improved periscopes, two Radar masts, two Snort masts and a wireless mast. TABARD and TRUMP had the bridge incorporated into the streamlined fin, the remaining six boats had a small bridge placed low in front of the fin.
