HMS Opportune (G80)

Last updated

HMS Opportune (G80).jpg
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameOpportune
Ordered3 September 1939
Laid down28 March 1940
Launched21 February 1942
Commissioned14 August 1942
Motto
  • Felix oportunitate pugnae
  • "Happy at the chance of a fight" or "Fortunate in the timeliness of her fight"
Honours and
awards
  • Arctic (1942-45)
  • North Africa (1942)
  • Atlantic (1943)
  • North Cape (1943)
  • Normandy (1944)
FateScrapped on 25 November 1955
BadgeOn a Field Blue, an hour glass Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type O-class destroyer
Displacement1,610 long tons (1,640  t) (standard)
Length345 ft (105.2 m) (o/a)
Beam35 ft (10.7 m)
Draught13 ft 6 in (4.1 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range3,850  nmi (7,130 km; 4,430 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement176+
Armament

HMS Opportune was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was ordered from John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston on 3 September 1939 for the 1st Emergency Flotilla. She was commissioned on 14 August 1942. She was the second Royal Navy ship borne Opportune.

Contents

She served throughout the Second World War, mainly as an escort ship for convoys, and remained with the Royal Navy until the mid-1950s.

Service history

Convoy Duty 1942

Enemy action affected Opportune before she was even completed, as German bombing in 1940 severely damaged the shipyard and enemy action delayed the delivery of components. It was for these reasons that her completion was delayed until 1942.

When she was eventually launched, she was with the 17th Destroyer Flotilla with the Home Fleet. During trials, she assisted in escorting convoy PW-202 to Bristol.

Her first real duty was escorting the Arctic convoy PQ-18 to the Russian port at Murmansk. On 20 September, she was required to assist the destroyer Somali which had been torpedoed by the German U-boat U-703. Although the stricken ship was already being assisted by Ashanti, and although destroyers Eskimo, Intrepid and the naval trawler Lord Middleton were also on hand to assist the ship, the gales and rough seas proved too much for her and she sank on 24 September. Opportune helped transport some of Somali's survivors to Scapa Flow.

Operation Torch

In October 1942, Opportune escorted Fleet Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham on board the cruiser Scylla to Gibraltar in preparation for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. In preparation for the landings, she carried out three days of anti-submarine patrols in the Mediterranean Sea. On the day of the invasion itself, she was deployed as the escort for part of Force H and supported their role in the operation.

After ten days, she returned to Home Waters, escorting the battleship Duke of York and aircraft carrier Victorious to Scapa Flow. En route, Fairey Swordfish and Albacore aircraft from the carrier Victorious attacked the U-boat U-517. It was damaged and forced to surface, upon which its crew were taken prisoner by Opportune. The U-boat later sank, while 52 survivors of the 53-strong crew were taken to Greenock for transport to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Convoy Duty 1943

She resumed her Arctic convoy escort role after arriving at Scapa Flow and continued in this capacity from December 1942 through to March 1943. During this period, she escorted convoy JW 53 through extremely tough weather and earned salvage money when she rescued the stricken merchantman John H. B. Latrobe from a German minefield.

In March, Opportune was assigned to the 5th Support Group for Atlantic convoy defence. Just over a month after being reassigned, on 25 April, she helped sink the U-boat U-203 with the destroyer Pathfinder and aircraft from the carrier Biter. On 12 May, she once again attacked a U-boat, this time U-456 which was never seen again and is presumed to have been sunk. She continued in the Atlantic convoy defence duties as well as fleet duties in the Northwest Approaches for some months. On 14 September, this included escorting the Prime Minister to Canada for the Québec Conference of 1943.

In October 1943, Opportune was part of Operation Leader, escorting several Royal Navy ships and the US aircraft carrier USS Ranger in attacks on German positions in Bodø, Norway.

Sinking Scharnhorst

"Gentlemen, I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded to-day"

Admiral Fraser, after his victory in the Battle of North Cape.

In December, she was once again escorting convoys to the Soviet Union through the long Arctic nights. When, on 25 December, the German battleship Scharnhorst was reported to be hunting convoy JW 55B, Opportune was deployed to join the battle. She was present at the Battle of North Cape, when Scharnhorst came under repeated fire from numerous Royal Navy warships. The German ship proved a tough opponent, and although she was outnumbered, outgunned and blinded by a direct hit to her radar, she managed to elude her pursuers for many hours. Most of the British capital ships had fired all of their torpedoes so the destroyers Opportune, Musketeer, Virago and Matchless closed in and fired a total of nineteen torpedoes at Scharnhorst, scoring six hits. The ship finally keeled over and sank. The relentlessness of Scharnhorst's fight was noted and respected by the victorious British commanding officers.

Normandy Landings

In the new year, she was once again in Arctic convoy escort duty until March, when she was deployed in counter E-boat operations in preparation for the Normandy Landings, which would take place a few months later. She still escorted Arctic convoys, but she was being prepared for the invasion. In April, when she was recalled for a boiler clean and minor re-fit, she was permanently assigned to Task Force 27 in the English Channel.

During a disastrous full scale rehearsal of the Utah Beach landing on 28 April, Opportune engaged German E-boats which had sighted and engaged eight US landing craft on their way to the Slapton Sands. The E-boats escaped after deploying a smokescreen, but over 638 US servicemen were killed in their attack. Many casualties were US Army personnel who were not properly trained and had difficulties with the life-jackets and other equipment, and drowned whilst awaiting rescue. The disaster nearly caused D-day itself to be cancelled, as it was thought some ten soldiers with full knowledge of the operation could have been captured by the Germans, it was only the subsequent discovery of their bodies which saved the operation.

The actual landings on 6 June were much less eventful. Opportune patrolled in the eastern stretches of the English Channel, guarding against a German naval attack. She didn't encounter a single hostile boat, although she did engage E-boats in July and August, while supporting operations in France.

Convoy Duty 1944 & 45

After the successful invasion of Normandy, Opportune was once again deployed to convoy defence in the Arctic and minelaying roles. She was occasionally deployed with Force 3 in operations off Norway. These duties continued into 1945 and through to the end of the war.

Postwar career

Opportune remained in service after VJ Day and deployed at Portsmouth for submarine training and Local Flotilla duties until 1950. She then refitted and joined the Nore Local Flotilla. The ship was placed in Reserve at Chatham Dockyard in November 1952. Transferred to Portsmouth in July 1953 she went on the Disposal List the next year. After sale to BISCO in November 1955 she arrived in tow at Milford Haven on 25 November to be broken-up by Thos. W. Ward. [1]

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Inglefield</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Inglefield was an I-class destroyer leader built for the Royal Navy that served during World War II. She was the navy's last purpose-built flotilla leader. She was named after the 19th century Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield (1820–1894), and is so far the only warship to carry the name of that seafaring family. In May 1940, her pennant number was changed to I02.

HMS <i>Ashanti</i> (F51) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Ashanti was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Following the style of her sister ships she was named for an ethnic group, in this case the Ashanti people of the Gold Coast in West Africa. She served in the Second World War and was broken up in 1949. She was the first of two Royal Navy ships to bear the name Ashanti.

HMS <i>Ardent</i> (H41) A-class destroyer ship

HMS Ardent was one of eight A-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1920s. The ship spent most of the 1930s assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. During the early months of the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, Ardent spent considerable time in Spanish waters enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict.

HMCS <i>Huron</i> (G24) Royal Canadian Navy destroyer

HMCS Huron was a Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and the Korean War. She was the first ship to bear this name, entering service in 1943. She was named for the Huron people. During the Second World War the vessel saw service in Operation Neptune in the Bay of Biscay and along the French coast in support of the invasion of Normandy and escorted convoys to the Soviet Union. Following the war, the ship was placed in reserve. The destroyer was activated in 1950 as a training ship, but with the onset of the Korean War, was modernized and deployed twice to Korea. Following the war, Huron reverted to a training ship and took part in Cold War-era North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) naval exercises until being paid off for the final time in 1963 and broken up for scrap in 1965.

HMS <i>Orwell</i> (G98) O-class destroyer converted to Type 16 frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Orwell was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that entered service in 1942 and was broken up in 1965.

HMS <i>Tartar</i> (F43) Tribal-class destroyer

HMS Tartar was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in most of the naval theatres of World War II. She had an eventful career, eventually receiving the nickname 'Lucky Tartar' due to her numerous escapes from dangerous situations. She was one of only four from the sixteen Royal Navy-operated Tribal-class destroyers to survive the war.

HMS <i>Faulknor</i> (H62) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Faulknor was the flotilla leader for the F-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. The ship had a particularly active operational role during World War II, being awarded 11 battle honours, and was known as "The hardest worked destroyer in the Fleet". She was the first ship to sink a German U-boat, took part in the Norwegian Campaign, served with Force H in the Mediterranean on the Malta Convoys, escorted convoys to Russia and across the Atlantic, and saw action during the invasions of Sicily, Italy and Normandy, and was at the liberation of the Channel Islands. She was then decommissioned and sold for scrap in late 1945.

HMS <i>Quail</i> (G45) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Quail was a Q-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War but her career lasted less than a year before she was damaged by a mine and withdrawn from active service.

HMS <i>Echo</i> (H23) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Echo was an E-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean theatres during World War II, before being transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1944, and renamed Navarinon, until scrapped in 1956.

HMS <i>Eclipse</i> (H08) E-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, in service from 1934 to 1943

HMS Eclipse was an E-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean theatres during World War II, until sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea on 24 October 1943.

HMS <i>Escapade</i> British E-class destroyer

HMS Escapade was an E-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion in 1934, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–1936 during the Abyssinia Crisis. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 she spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Escapade was assigned to convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol duties in the Western Approaches when World War II began in September 1939, but transferred back to the Home Fleet at the end of the year.

HMS <i>Laforey</i> (G99) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Laforey was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned in and served during the Second World War, and was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat in 1944. She had been adopted by the civil community of Northampton in November 1941.

HMS <i>Vivacious</i> (D36) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Vivacious (D36) was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.

HMS <i>Versatile</i> (D32) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Versatile (D32) was an Admiralty V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I, the Russian Civil War, and World War II.

HMS <i>Watchman</i> (D26) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Watchman was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I, in the Russian Civil War, and in World War II.

HMS <i>Windsor</i> (D42) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The third HMS Windsor (D42) was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I and in World War II.

HMS <i>Volunteer</i> (D71) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The fourth HMS Volunteer (D71), later I71, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.

HMS <i>Wivern</i> (D66) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The second HMS Wivern, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.

HMS <i>Worcester</i> (D96) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The eighth HMS Worcester, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II. She later served as an accommodation ship as the second HMS Yeoman.

HMS <i>Scorpion</i> (G72) WWII-era British Royal Navy destroyer

HMS Scorpion was an S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, the eleventh of her name, commissioned on 11 May 1943. Initially she was to be named Sentinel, but this was changed following the loss of the Dragonfly-class river gunboatScorpion in the Bangka Strait in February 1942. She served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, mostly in the Arctic Ocean, and fought in the Battle of North Cape. She was sold to the Netherlands in 1945 and scrapped in 1963.

References

  1. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 16. ISBN   0-9506323-9-2.

Publications