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HMS/M Taurus leaves Barrow for trials, 1942 |
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On 13th November 1943, Taurus, under the command of Lt.Cdr. M.R.G. Wingfield, torpedoed and sank the Japanese submarine I34 on the surface in the Malacca Strait. She was escorted by a submarine chaser, which at once closed in to attack. The Taurus, diving deep, hit the bottom and her bows stuck in the soft mud. The submarine chaser dropped a pattern of depth charges round her, the explosions of which shook her bows free. After bouncing on the bottom once or twice, the Taurus came up to periscope depth for a look at her enemy. Wingfield decided to surface and engage her with his gun as she was too small to be worth a torpedo. He was put down again by a Japanese aircraft, which had been called to the scene, but not before he had severely damaged the submarine chaser. When Wingfield took a last look at her as the Taurus was going deep, she was already sinking. | |
There is a book about the Taurus, titled "Dark Seas Above", written by her Navigating Officer, Lt John F. Gibson, RNVR, in 1947. Published in 2000 by Tempus Publishing, Gloucester, ISBN 0-7524-2018-6. Highly recommended, it is a good first hand account of service in British wartime submarines. | |
 Commanding Officer Lt Cdr M.R.G. Wingfield, DSO, DSC, RN and Lt. J.F. Gibson RNVR, 1st Lt. |
 Taurus on return from the Far East |
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 Two more images of Taurus, very kindly passed to me by David Batchelor. His uncle, Albert Vernon "Buster" Burge, seen on the right end of this quartet of sailors on Taurus's conning tower, above. Not dated, but I believe it to be immediately post-war. |
