HMS Templar (P316)

HMS Templar was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, and launched on 26 October 1942 with the pennant number P316. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Templar, probably after the crusading order, the Knights Templar.

HMS Templar
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Templar
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow
Laid down	28 December 1941
Launched	26 October 1942
Commissioned	15 February 1943
Identification	Pennant number P316
Fate	Sunk as target 1954, scrapped July 1959
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	T-class submarine
Displacement	1,290 tons surfaced 1,560 tons submerged
Length	276 ft 6 in (84.28 m)
Beam	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Draught	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m) forward 14 ft 7 in (4.45 m) aft
Propulsion	Two shafts Twin diesel engines 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) each Twin electric motors 1,450 hp (1,080 kW) each
Speed	15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) surfaced 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range	4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) surfaced
Test depth	300 ft (91 m) max
Complement	61
Armament	6 internal forward-facing 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 2 external forward-facing torpedo tubes 2 external amidships rear-facing torpedo tubes 1 external rear-facing torpedo tubes 6 reload torpedoes 1 x 4-inch (102 mm) deck gun 3 anti aircraft machine guns

Service

Templar served in the Far East for much of her wartime career, where she sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Tyokai Maru and laid mines. She torpedoed and damaged the Japanese light cruiser Kitakami, and attacked the U-1062 but missed her with torpedoes.

She survived the war and continued in service with the Navy, finally being used as a target and sunk in Loch Striven, Scotland in 1954. She was salvaged on 4 December 1958 and arrived at Troon, Scotland on 19 July 1959 to be scrapped.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010.