1953: HMS Tactician

February 24, 2020

By AHNZ

It was not until August 1953 that New Zealand was first officially visited by a military submarine. That boat was HMS Tactician, a World War II T Class model.

Of course, New Zealand had been unofficially visited by German and Japanese subs prior to this in an unfriendly way. The first submarine in our waters was New Zealand made and the remains still exist. In August 1873 the New Zealand Submarine Gold Mining Co had constructed the Platypus as a means of extracting gold from deep rivers¹. Although it did not work out commercially, the idea seems to have been quite practical and the trials a success.

HMS Tactician

All T Class subs appear to have been given names that start with T. Of the three such that visited New Zealand, Tactician was the first. The British sub left Australia for New Zealand on 8 August, 1953², giving our military some exercise but in particular offering the public some goodwill.

New Zealand, and the British Empire was in need of some steadying after the hardships of WW2. Five years before, New Zealand had done as it was told and created its own citizenship in the act of extinguishing British Citizenship for its people. By the end of the decade British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan put the writing on the wall with his Wind of Change speech; The Empire’s days were winding up. Yet for now, in 1953, we were still trying to hold it together. It was the year a New Zealander proved its worth by sending its son to conquer Everest for the Empire. Also the year our Monarch physically visited this country for the first time. Even the USA sent their Vice President, Richard Nixon, to make friends with the New Zealanders in October of the same year. Yet as J.K. Baxter observed in his poetry, the post-war years had started to go sour for ‘we’ Brits. It was more than could be fixed by a friendly submarine.

“Do you know if this is a picture of HMS Tactician. Taken in Milford Sound New Zealand in 1953, a friend has just put it on Facebook.  The photo was taken by his father and he would be interested to know.” – Fred Singleton

“Tactician did a goodwill tour all round New Zealand, calling in a lot of the different ports.  Commander H.R. Clutterbuck was in charge.”- Nancy Phillips

I was Scratcher in Tactician in 1953 and yes we did the Kiwi jaunt that year. There were only the three T’s out here then Tactician,  Thorough and Telemachus. So assuming the year given is right that is definitely Tactician (she was the only one with the gun turret the others were open to the  weather) but I can’t work out what the white Bridge is all about as it was a time when every effort was being put into camouflage. All my tiddly white seizings on the main Aerial had to be blackened and in those days we had guard rails so all my white stanchions went black we had been shown a picture of a boat at 90 Ft and it looked like a lit up XMAS tree.”- Ray Jamieson

Ref. Norm of The Chief Stoker’s Log (2016)

The above remarks refer to the colour image above but a second picture emerged last week in Christchurch. The photo sold on Trade Me for $81.00. It’s not proven but in my opinion it’s the same occasion shown in both pictures- Tactician at Milford Sound. (Military celebrity following in the footsteps of Kitchener.)

—

1 Ref. The first and last Kiwi submarine; Q&M

2 Ref. Submarine Prepares for New Zealand Exercises; Sydney Morning Herald

Ref. HMS Tactician (P314); Wikipedia

Image ref. B&W photo of sub at Milford Sound; Photo listed on Trade Me by WillandJoe, Feb 2020; Modified by AHNZ

Image ref. Colour photo of sub at Milford Sound; Shared by a friend of Fred Singleton to Norm of The Chief Stoker’s Log (2016); Up Periscope; Submarines Australia

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