HMS Derwent was a Hunt-class Type III escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers-Armstrongs, in Barrow-in-Furness, and served during the Second World War. In March 1943, she was badly damaged while anchored in Tripoli harbour by aircraft and beached to prevent her from sinking. Temporarily repaired and towed to England, further repair work was halted in January 1945, and she was broken up for scrap in 1947.
Derwent was one of seven Type III Hunt-class destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy on 4 July 1940, as part of the 1940 War Emergency Programme.[3] The Hunt class was meant to fill the Royal Navy's need for a large number of small destroyer-type vessels capable of both convoy escort and operations with the fleet. The Type III Hunts differed from the previous Type II ships in replacing a twin 4-inch (102mm) gun mount by two torpedo tubes to improve their ability to operate as destroyers.[4][5]
The Type III Hunts were 264ft 3in (80.54m) long between perpendiculars and 280ft (85.34m)overall, with a beam of 31ft 6in (9.60m) and draught of 7ft 9in (2.36m). Displacement was 1,050 long tons (1,070t)standard and 1,490 long tons (1,510t) under full load. Two Admiralty three-drum boilers raising steam at 300psi (2,100kPa) and 620°F (327°C) fed Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines that drove two propeller shafts, generating 19,000shp (14,000kW) at 380 rpm. This gave a design maximum speed of 27kn (50km/h; 31mph).[6]345 long tons (351t) of oil fuel were carried, giving a range of 3,700nmi (6,900km; 4,300mi) at 15kn (28km/h; 17mph).[7]
Derwent completed acceptance trials, calibrations and worked-up with her crew during May 1942, before joining convoy WS19P in Clyde for Atlantic passage.
In August 1942, Derwent was part of the escort for the Malta relief convoy WS21S during Operation Pedestal, being assigned as part of Force X, which was intended to escort the convoy from Gibraltar, through the Sicilian Narrows to the vicinity of Malta, where escort duties would be taken over by Malta based-ships.[11][12][13][lower-alpha 1] On the evening of 12 August, the cruisers Nigeria and Cairo and the tanker Ohio were torpedoed by the Axum. Derwent, together with the destroyers Bicester and Wilton escorted the damaged Nigeria back to Gibraltar.[11][15]
On 19 March 1943, while anchored in Tripoli harbour, Libya, Derwent was hit by a pattern-running torpedo, claimed to be dropped either by an Italian aircraft,[18] or by a German Ju 88 of KG 30, KG 54 or KG 77. The freighter Ocean Voyager (7,174 grt), and the Greek steamer Vavara (1,654 grt) were also sunk during this attack.[19]Derwent sustained major damage being holed on the port side causing flooding in her Boiler Room and six fatal casualties.[17]
She was beached to stop her from sinking, temporarily repaired and towed to England. More repairs were carried out in HM DockyardDevonport but the decision was taken to suspend work in January 1945, and she was reduced to the reserve and scrapped in 1947.
English, John (1987). The Hunts: A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-44-4.
Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0-85177-146-7.
Lenton, H.T. (1970). Navies of the Second World War: British Fleet & Escort Destroyers Volume Two. London: Macdonald & Co. ISBN0-356-03122-5.
Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN1-85367-117-7.
Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell; Olynyk, Frank; Bock, Winfried (2016). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: Volume Three: Tunisia and the End in Africa: November 1942 – May 1943. London: Grub Street. ISBN978-1-910690-00-0.
HMS Jaguar was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in September 1939, she was present at the Dunkirk evacuation the following year, during which Jaguar was damaged by dive bombers. She later served in the Mediterranean and was involved in several actions there. She was torpedoed off the coast of Egypt on 26 March 1942 and sunk.
HMS Hursley was a Second World War Type II Hunt-class escort destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is the only Royal Navy ship to have carried this name. Hursley is a village in Hampshire. Commissioned in 1942, she served in the Mediterranean, before being transferred to the Hellenic Navy in November 1943 and renamed Kriti. She took part in the landings in Sicily, Anzio, and southern France, and remained in Greek service until 1959.
HMS Orwell was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that entered service in 1942 and was broken up in 1965.
HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The O-class were intermediate destroyers, designed before the outbreak of the Second World War to meet likely demands for large number of destroyers. They had a main gun armament of four 4.7 in guns, and had a design speed of 36 kn. Onslow was ordered on 2 October 1939 and was built by John Brown & Company at their Clydebank, Glasgow shipyard, launching on 31 March 1941 and completing on 8 October 1941.
HMS Paladin was a P-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War. She was built by John Brown and Co. Ltd., Clydebank. She saw action in the Mediterranean and Far East. After the war she was converted into a type 16 frigate and was eventually scrapped in 1962.
HMS Beaufort was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 17 July 1940 at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was launched on 9 June 1941 and commissioned on 3 November 1941. During the Second World War the ship served in the Mediterranean Sea, escorting convoys and covering landings. She was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1952 and scrapped in 1965.
HMS Wrestler (D35) was a V and W-class destroyer built by the Royal Navy during the First World War and active from 1939 to 1944 during the Second World War. She was the first Royal Navy ship to bear that name, and the only one to do so to date.
HMS Westcott (D47) was a Royal Navy Admiralty W-class destroyer that served in the Second World War. In the Second World War Westcott served in an anti-submarine role and escorted numerous Atlantic and Malta convoys.
HMS Zetland was a Royal Navy Type II Hunt-class destroyer, named after the Zetland Hunt.
HMS Partridge was a P-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The O-class were intermediate destroyers, designed before the outbreak of the Second World War to meet likely demands for large number of destroyers. They had a main gun armament of four 4.7 in guns, and had a design speed of 36 kn. Partridge was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Govan, Scotland shipyard, launching on 5 August 1941 and completing on 22 February 1942.
HMS Albrighton was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer built for the British Royal Navy. She entered service in February 1942, first carrying out an attack on German ships in the English Channel then taking part in the Dieppe Raid, rescuing survivors from the sinking destroyer HMS Broke. Albrighton was next assigned to search for and destroy the German auxiliary cruiser Komet, then escorted a convoy to Gibraltar in prevision of the Allied landings in North Africa. Between December 1942 and April 1943, she participated in the sinking of three more Axis ships with the First Destroyer Flotilla. During the Normandy Landings in June 1944, Albrighton served as a headquarters ship, then sank two German trawlers in the weeks after the invasion. After being converted to a destroyer in early 1945, she was damaged in a collision with a Landing Ship, then was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet. However, the war ended before she was deployed and Albrighton went into reserve.
HMS Atherstone was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched in late 1939 as the first of her class but was found to be unstable, and had to undergo significant modifications before entering service in March 1940.
HMS Brocklesby was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War, spending much of the time in the English Channel and Mediterranean, taking part in the Dieppe Raid in 1942, and the Allied landings in Sicily and at Salerno in 1943. After the war, she was used as a sonar trials ship until 1963, and was sold for scrap in 1968.
HMS Oakley was a Type II Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was originally to have been named Tickham, however she was renamed after her sister ship Oakley was transferred to Poland and was renamed ORP Kujawiak (L72). She entered service in May 1943, carrying out convoy escort, patrol and anti-shipping attacks for most of the rest of the Second World War. She was adopted by the Civil community of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire as part of Warship Week in 1942. In 1957, she was sold to the West German Navy, serving as a training ship for the German Naval Gunnery school until scrapped in 1972.
HMS Talybont was a Type III Hunt-class escort destroyer which served in the Royal Navy. She was launched in February 1943 and completed in May that year, serving for the rest of the Second World War. She took part in the Normandy Landings in June 1944, supporting the landings at Omaha Beach and the Pointe du Hoc. Post war she served in the Mediterranean before being reduced to reserve at the end of 1947. She was sold for scrap in 1961, with disposal completed by 1962.
HMS Airedale was a Hunt-class destroyer built for use by the British Royal Navy during the Second World War. She entered service in early 1942 as a convoy escort, being assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in May. Airedale was sunk while escorting a convoy from Alexandria to Malta on 15 June 1942 by Sturzkampfgeschwader 3.
HMS Cottesmore was a Hunt-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. The ship was built by the Scottish shipbuilder Yarrow at their Scotstoun, Glasgow shipyard in 1939–1940, being launched on 5 September 1940 and commissioning on 29 December that year.
HMS Limbourne (L57) was a Hunt-class escort destroyer, operated by the Royal Navy. She was sunk in action, off German-occupied Guernsey, on 23 October 1943.
HMS Easton was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. Easton was built by the shipbuilder J Samuel White in 1941–1942, being launched on 11 July 1942 and completed on 7 December 1942.
HNoMS Eskdale was an escort destroyer of the Type III Hunt class. The destroyer served with the Royal Norwegian Navy. It was sunk by enemy action in 1943.
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