HMS Legion was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She entered service during the Second World War, and had a short but eventful career, serving in Home waters and the Mediterranean. She was sunk in an air attack on Malta in 1942. The ship had been adopted by the British civil community of the Municipal Borough of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in November 1941.
The Mediterranean U-boat Campaign lasted from about 21 September 1941 to 19 September 1944 during the Second World War. Malta was an active British base strategically located near supply routes from Europe to North Africa. Axis supply convoys across the Mediterranean Sea suffered severe losses, which in turn threatened the fighting ability of the Axis armies in North Africa. The Allies were able to keep their North African armies supplied. The Kriegsmarine tried to isolate Malta but later it concentrated its U-boat operations on disrupting Allied landing operations in southern Europe.
HMS Blean was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was named after the Blean Beagles Hunt at the village of Blean just north of Canterbury. She had the shortest career of any of the Hunt-class destroyers.
HMS Firedrake was an F-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, she spent much time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict.
HMS Marigold was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 September 1940 and was sunk by an Italian air-dropped torpedo on 9 December 1942.
HMS Lively was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War, and was sunk in the Mediterranean in an air attack on 11 May 1942.
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 Martin was an M-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, launched at the Tyneside yard of Vickers-Armstrongs on 12 December 1940. She had a busy but brief wartime career, being sunk by the German submarine U-431 on 10 November 1942 off Algiers.
HMS Lightning was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 22 April 1940 and sunk on 12 March 1943 by German Motor Torpedo Boat S-55.
HMS Tynedale was a Hunt-class destroyer of the first subgroup which served during the Second World War. She was sunk by U-593 on 12 December 1943.
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.
German submarine U-593 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 17 December 1940 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as yard number 569, launched on 3 September 1941 and commissioned on 23 October under Kapitänleutnant Gerd Kelbling.
HMS Calpe was a British Royal Navy Type II Hunt-class destroyer escort. Built as a result of the outbreak of World War II, Calpe escorted convoys during the war and participated in the Dieppe Raid. Calpe is an old name for Gibraltar. Collaborating with USS Wainwright on 13 December 1943, she assisted in the sinking of German U-boat U-593. Calpe was loaned and then sold to the Danish Navy, remaining active until she was scrapped in Sweden in 1966.
HMS Blankney was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and was the first and so far only warship to bear the name. She was laid down on 17 May 1940 at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland, launched on 19 December 1940 and commissioned on 11 April 1941.
The second HMS Exmoor (L08), ex-HMS Burton, was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy in commission from 1941 to 1945. She was a member of the second subgroup of the class, and saw service during much of World War II. She later served in the Royal Danish Navy as HDMS Valdemar Sejr.
HMS Wishart (D67) was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II. She spent most of her wartime career based at Gibraltar, engaged in convoy defence, but also served in various naval and military operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
HMS Viscount was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I and in World War II.
The second HMS Wivern, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.
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 Puckeridge was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and first and so far only warship to bear the Name. The vessel was ordered on 4 September 1939 as part of the 1939 wartime emergency program. She was laid down on 1 January 1940 at the J. Samuel White yard, East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, launched on 6 March 1941 and commissioned on 30 July 1941.
United Kingdom
