HMS Truant (N68) was a T-class

British T class submarine

The Royal Navy's T class of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they played a major role in the Royal Navy's submarine operations...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong

Vickers Armstrong

Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927...

, Barrow

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

 and launched on the 5 May 1939.

Career

Truant had a relatively active career, serving in the main naval theatres of war, Home waters, the Mediterranean and the Pacific Far East.

Home waters

Truant's first major victory came when she torpedoed and damaged the German light cruiser Karlsruhe

German cruiser Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe was a light cruiser of the German K class in World War II, the other ships in class being and . The K class were the first cruisers of the German navy to employ electric arc welding techniques and a newly designed triple gun turrets were installed...

, which disabled both engines and power stations. The Karlsruhe had to be scuttled with two torpedoes by the German torpedo boat Greif. Truant later attacked the British merchant Alster, unaware that it had been recently captured from the Germans, but fortunately her torpedoes missed. She also intercepted the German merchant Tropic Sea. The Tropic Sea had formerly been in Norwegian service, but had been captured by the German armed merchant cruiser Orion in the South Pacific. The Tropic Sea was scuttled by the German prize crew in the Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...

.

Truant had a narrow escape, when she was attacked by HMS Clyde

HMS Clyde (N12)

HMS Clyde was an ocean-going submarine of the River Class. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched on 15 March 1934. Building was completed on 12 April 1935.-Service history:...

, who had mistaken her for an enemy submarine. Fortunately, Clyde's torpedoes missed.

Mediterranean

Assigned to the Mediterranean in mid 1940, Truant went on to sink a number of enemy ships, including the Italian merchants Providenza, Sebastiano Bianchi and Multedo, the Italian tankers Bonzo and Meteor, the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V 62 / Vanna, the Italian passenger/cargo ship Bengasi and the German merchant Virginia S. Truant also damaged the small Italian tanker Prometeo and the Italian torpedo boat Alcione, which was later declared a total loss. She also unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchants Utilitas, Silvia Tripcovich, Bainsizza and Arborea, the small Italian tanker Labor and the German merchant Bellona.

Far East

Truant was assigned to operate in the Far East, against Japanese shipping in 1942. She torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ships Yae Maru and Shunsei Maru and the Japanese army cargo ship Tamon Maru No.1. She also attacked the Japanese light cruiser Nagara

Japanese cruiser Nagara

was the lead ship of her class of light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was named after the Nagara River in the Chūbu region of Japan.-Background:...

, but the torpedoes missed their target. She was also prominent in the Battle of Badung Strait

Battle of Badung Strait

The Battle of Badung Strait was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the night of 19/20 February 1942 in Badung Strait between the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command and the Imperial Japanese Navy...

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Post war

Truant survived the war and was sold to be broken up for scrap on 19 December 1945. She was wrecked in December 1946 whilst en-route to the shipbreakers.