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This story was told to Bob Reeves and added by Roz Carr in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Open Centre with the kind permission of Mr T Malloy.

Thomas ‘Tom’ Malloy was born in Hull on the 24th October, 1919 and was working permanent nights as a baker off Clarence Street, East Hull until he was called up, hostilities only, into the Royal Navy in 1940.
His first draft was to the cruiser HMS Dauntless, which was patrolling the Far East station. On returning to the UK he was drafted to HMS Dolphin for submarine training and subsequently to HM Submarine Tantalus, which was launched from Barrow in Furness in 1942. He served in the Atlantic and Far East theatres of war and it was following the Tantalus’s involvement in attempting to rescue and recover 400 commandos who had been previously dropped behind enemy lines, that Tom was recommended and awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. During this time the Tantalus did a 56 day patrol and was ordered not to sink any shipping for fear of giving her position away. They sent two soldiers ashore in a dinghy to liaise with the commandos but they soon returned telling the ship’s commander to get away as soon as possible. They had only just managed to dive when a Japanese destroyer went overhead. The commandos were all captured and beheaded in Changi Prisoner of War Jail and this is recorded in a book entitled ‘Heroes of Ramau’. Under the heading of ‘Submarine Tantalus made record patrol’ the following is taken from the Daily Express, date unknown, and unfortunately the cutting has succumbed to the ravages of time While operating in the Far East the HM Submarine Tantalus made the longest patrol ever by a British Submarine. Her commander, Lt Comm. H M Mackenzie DSO and bar of Inverness said ‘we had to be content with four sinkings’. ‘A Problem was the storage of provisions, because the Tantalus requires a good 10 tons of food for a patrol of this kind, and the question of storage exercised all our ingenuity’. Among many ships sunk by the Tantalus was a supply ship of 4,000 tons, which she stalked for 44 hours before firing the tornado which destroyed her. On another long chase the quarry was a ship which the Tantalus men called ‘Smokey Joe’ because of the black cloud she emitted. A torpedo stopped ‘Smokey Joe’ but two escorts dropped depth charges and the Tantalus had to wait 4 hours before finishing the job. On another patrol Tantalus had to endure depth charges in an attack which smashed lights and electrical instruments, and water poured in and the Tantalus was in danger of sinking. There was damage to the gyro and the compass, which caused further complications, but after makeshift repairs they were able to attack a convoy and probably sand two ships. Tom was on patrol with the last convoy from Gibraltar to the UK when he heard about VJ Day, but was in time to be home in Queen’s Gardens, Hull with his family for the celebrations. Tom was drafted to the Submarine Depot Ship Cyclops and then to York Army Barracks for demob, after which he took up employment trawling/fishing for 5 years and then got a job on the docks for the remainder of his working life.
During the war years Tom’s wife did her bit for the war effort by working at Ideal Standard making bomb casings. Medals awarded were Distinguished Service Medal, 1939-45 Star, Burma Star, Victory Medal and the International Submariners Medal.

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