by Mike McCabe
1/700 HMS/M Thrasher 1943 (Toms Modelworks/Loose Cannon)
I’m not usually one for submarines but a couple of years ago I found a kit which was at the time being produced by Tom’s Modelworks, although Loose Cannon have now taken it over. The kit has two British T-class submarines of World War 2, a type 1 and type 3, the differences being in the hulls, and sails. A while ago I read the following story (taken from Navy News) of two Victoria Crosses awarded to two crew members of HMS/M Thrasher, which immediately decided which particular submarine I would build.
‘On February 16, 1942, the submarine HMS Thrasher, commanded by Lt Hugh Mackenzie, was patrolling off the coast of Crete when she attacked and sank an enemy supply ship of 3,000 tons.
Before she had a chance to sip away Thrasher was herself attacked by the supply ship's escorts and supporting aircraft, at least one of which dropped a stick of bombs. Three of the enemy ships dropped depth charges - a total of 33 were recorded on the British submarine, "the majority too close to be pleasant," according to those on board. But when the attackers lost contact Thrasher took the opportunity to surface after dark and recharge her batteries. Keeping a close watch in case of further attack - the boat could be closed up in an emergency dive to 30ft deep within a minute.
As the submarine rolled in the swell, a strange banging sound was heard from the casing, so the boat's First Lieutenant, Lt Peter Roberts and PO Tommy Gould went on deck to take a look.
On the side of the casing, just in front of the boat's 4in gun platform, they found a jagged hole, and lying on the deck was a 100lb bomb, around 4ft long. Because of the profile of the hull, the bomb could not be dropped directly over the side, but would have to be carried to the bow - and that is what the two men did, cautiously wrapping the slippery, smooth bomb in a potato sack and carrying it 100ft along the wet casing, on the rolling submarine, where they rolled it carefully into the water as the boat went astern to keep clear.
The two men then did a quick check inside the casing - and found, to their horror, a second unexploded bomb, this time around 50lb, which had pierced the casing and was lying in a very inaccessible position against the pressure hull. If it had exploded, the submarine - still within easy range of the enemy as she was not far offshore - would either sink or be easy prey to aircraft and surface warships. The space between the pressure hull and the casing was cramped - headroom was about 3ft - and full of valves, pipes, ropes and other equipment, and the bomb could not be pulled back up out of the hole.
So, in the pitch dark, the two men entered a grating 20ft from the bomb and wriggled into the tight space, which flooded when dived. If the submarine had come under attack, both men would have quickly drowned with no hope of escape as their boat crash-dived.
By the dim light of a shaded torch, they approached the bomb, which appeared relatively undamaged, and the firing mechanism seemed to be still primed - there was a sinister twanging noise to be heard from inside the bomb every time it was disturbed. Tommy Gould lay flat and held the bomb in his arms, while Roberts pulled him slowly back towards the grating by the shoulders, negotiating the obstacles carefully as they went.
Progress was painfully slow, as the decks and bomb were very slippery, but after around 40 minutes they had reached the grating, and could take the second bomb to the bow and dispose of it.
Both men were awarded the VC.
In 1943, shortly after his investiture, he was asked what was going through his mind as he worked to remove each bomb. He replied: "I was hoping the bloody thing would not go off."
The Model
Having made the easy decision to build Thrasher as a small recognition of the remarkable bravery of these two men, I embarked on a little web research. After a short time I realised that a web search on ‘Thrasher’ could yield some rather peculiar results. Eventually I did find some information of a more naval nature and realised that a little correction work would be needed on the kit, which was however generally accurate for the purpose. The main corrections required were in the region of the rear facing external torpedo tubes, which were incorrectly shaped. I also replaced the gun barrel, although I would now use a smaller diameter piece of tubing (the kit was built about a year ago). The kit comes with a nice photoetch fret so it is mainly built out of the box. One thing missing which I had to attempt to replicate through painting were the lines of vents along the hull, I did this by spraying the hull black, masking off the line of the vents, overspraying the base colour and once this was dry removing the tape and picking out the hull in between the vents. I think it worked quite well although it is hard to see in the photos.
This is the only model around of a T-class submarine, although I know HP does a number of U class subs as well, for me it was a change and I would recommend the model as it is something a little different, and builds up pretty well out of the box.
