Arthur Hezlet - Second World War

Second World War

Hezlet was serving on the submarine HMS H43 at the outbreak of the Second World War, but quickly became First Lieutenant aboard the submarine HMS Trident. By early 1940, he was engaged in operations in the Norwegian Sea, as the Germans launched their occupation of Norway. He was mentioned in dispatches. Following the military disaster in Dunkirk, Trident was re-positioned in the English Channel to assist in repulsing an expected German attempt at invasion of mainland Britain.

In 1940, Hezlet passed the "perisher" exam to become a submarine commanding officer, and took command of the obsolete coastal submarine HMS H44 in December. He was then sent to Malta as a "spare CO". He commanded the submarine HMS Unique, one of the "Fighting" 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta from 1941 to 1944. The flotilla helped sink over 1,000,000 tonnes of Axis shipping. Hezlet was awarded the DSC for sinking the 11,000 tonne Italian troopship Esperia. He also commanded HMS Ursula on six patrols, and HMS Upholder on one patrol.

Hezlet returned to the UK in September 1941, with Ian McGeoch as his first lieutenant, to take command of Trident again. In May 1942, he was involved in protecting convoys to North Russia. He sank the German ore carrier Hoedur, and picked up survivors from sunk merchant vessels. He also operated on the surface as escort vessel for the large convoy PQ16, and was mentioned in dispatches again. He became a special training officer on the banks of the River Clyde in September 1942, at the informally named "HMS Varbel", training the crews of midget submarines to attack the German battleship Tirpitz. He invented the "Hezlet Rail", bar and strap that kept men aboard the vessel. He was mentioned in dispatches after commanding the towing submarine HMS Thrasher.

Hezlet then took command of the submarine HMS Trenchant, based at Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He undertook long-range patrols in the Indian and Pacific oceans, earning him his first Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He sunk the long-range German U-boat U-859, on 22 September 1944, near the Sunda Strait, as a result of Enigma intelligence information. The Trenchant also sank numerous Japanese submarine chasers, landing craft, coasters and a minelayer.

His crew conducted the last attack by two-man "chariot" submarines, on the Japanese-held harbour of Phuket in Thailand.

On 8 June 1945, Hezlet took Trenchant into shallow mined water in the Banka Strait off Sumatra, to intercept Japanese heavy cruiser Ashigara. Despite being attacked by the Japanese destroyer Kamikaze, five out of eight torpedoes that he fired hit Ashigara, which quickly sank. It was the largest Japanese warship sunk by a Royal Navy warship during the war. Hezlet was ordered to Subic Bay in the Philippines, where he was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit by U.S. Admiral James Fife, Jr.. He was also awarded a bar to his DSO. Ordered to return to the UK, he ended the war as he began it, serving on a submarine.

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