Do the following true short stories illustrate the tender side of the Silent Service? The Reindeer While on operations fighting German forces in the Arctic Circle, in August 1941 the crew of the T-class submarine HMS Trident was given a gift of a female reindeer by a Soviet naval admiral in Murmansk. The CO of Trident, Commander Geoffrey Sladen DSO, DSC, had mentioned to the Admiral that his wife had trouble pushing her pram through the snow in England and the Russian responded, “what you need is a reindeer!” Because it was a gift, Sladen did not want to seem rude by refusing it. The reindeer,…
