Trenchant under her captain Commander
Arthur Hezlet,
DSO,
DSC acted in the Far East mostly off South East Asia against Japanese shipping sinking a range of vessels both transports and warships, using her torpedoes, gun and also by ramming. She often operated in company with her sister,
HMS Terrapin. On 23 September 1944 she sank the German submarine
U-859 in the Straits of Malacca, by torpedoes. 11 of the crew were taken aboard as
prisoners of war. On 27 October 1944,
"Chariots" carried into action by
Trenchant sank a Japanese Army cargo ship, the
Sumatra Maru in
Phuket harbour,
Siam. Her most
significant action during the war was on 8 June 1945, when she sank the
Japanese cruiser Ashigara at a range of 4,000 yards with five out of eight torpedoes fired. The action in the
Bangka Straits earned her commander a second
DSO and the US
Legion of Merit, and the ship the
battle honour "Malaya 1944-45". The
Ashigara had been carrying some 1,600
Japanese Army troops and
materiel. ==References==