Viscount, the first Royal Navy ship of the name, was ordered either on 30 June 1916[1] or in July 1916[2] (sources differ) as part of the 9th Order of the 1916–1917 Naval Programme and was laid down by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Woolston, Hampshire, England,[3] on 20 December 1916. Although broadly similar, Viscount was one of only two V-Class destroyers built by Thornycrofts. HMS Viscount differed in a number of ways to other V-Class destroyers and was notably faster. Launched on 29 December 1917,[3] she was completed on 4 March 1918[3] and commissioned the same day.[1] Her original pennant number, F99, was changed first to G06[4] and then in April 1918 to G24;[2] it was changed to D92 during the interwar period.[3]
Service history
First World War
Upon completion, Viscount was assigned to the Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, in which she served for the rest of World War I.[2] Viscount rapidly gained a reputation as an exceptionally fast ship and successfully attacked and sank at least one German U-boat which was caught on the surface. HMS Viscount was signalled to attack at full speed. The U-boat spoilt the aim of Viscount's forward battery by submerging full-speed astern. Viscount steamed over the U-boat and destroyed it by depth charges. HMS Viscount also participated in several cruises/escorts to Murmansk and Archangel during this period. Other actions included the interception and seizing of Bolshevik-controlled Russian warships in support of White Russian forces.
When the United Kingdom entered World War II on 3 September 1939, Viscount was deployed with the 19th Destroyer Flotilla, based at Plymouth, for convoy escort and patrol duty in the English Channel and Southwestern Approaches. In January 1940, she was reassigned to the Western Approaches Command but continued her escort and patrol operations from Plymouth. On 7 January 1940, she and the destroyer Vanoc relieved two French warships as escort for Convoy HG 13 during the final leg of its voyage from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom; the destroyers Venetia and Volunteer and the trawlerArctic Ranger joined the escort on 8 January 1940, and Viscount detached from it on 10 January. On 18 February 1940, Viscount and Vanquisher relieved a French warship as the escort for Convoy HG 18 during the final portion of its voyage from Gibraltar to Liverpool, detaching to return to Plymouth when it arrived at Liverpool on 19 February 1940. On 8 April 1940, Viscount, the destroyers Vimy and Witch, and the Shoreham-classsloopRochester relieved a French warship as the escort of Convoy HG 25F for the last leg of its voyage from Gibraltar to Liverpool; although Vimy and Witch detached the next day, Viscount and Rochester stayed with the convoy until arrived at Liverpool on 11 April 1940. In April, Western Approaches Command moved its headquarters to Liverpool, and as a result Viscount's base was changed from Plymouth to Liverpool.[3]
In May 1940, Viscount's pennant number was changed to I92. That month, she was assigned to operations related to the Norwegian Campaign in the aftermath of the April 1940 German invasion of Norway and Denmark. On 17 May 1940, she joined the destroyers Diana and Veteran in escorting the aircraft carrierHMSGlorious from the River Clyde in Scotland to the Norwegian coast. On 7 June 1940, Viscount, the destroyers Antelope, Witherington and Wolverine, and the escort destroyer Atherstone departed the United Kingdom to meet a convoy of troopships that had been delayed by fog. Later that day, the destroyers rendezvoused with the troopships – carrying Allied personnel evacuated from Norway as the campaign there ended in the German conquest of the country – and the repair shipVindictive and took them under escort to the Clyde. The convoy came under attack by German aircraft on 8 June 1940, but the escorts drove the German planes off.[3]
Leaning against a depth charge thrower, the quarterdeck lookout on board HMS Viscount searches the sea for submarines, 1942 (IWM A13362)
Viscount continued on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic until June 1941, when she began conversion to a Long-Range Escort at Liverpool. With the conversion complete, she underwent post-conversion acceptance trials and, having passed them, performed work-ups in December 1941 to prepare for her return to convoy duty, which she did later that month.[3]
On 13 August 1942, Viscount was part of the escort of Convoy ONS 122 when it came under a series of sustained attacks by German submarines of the "Lohs" group. On 23 August, she intercepted communications from one of the submarines, got a fix on its location, detected it with asdic after it submerged, and attacked it. By the time attacks on ONS 122 ended, it had lost four ships and its escorts had damaged two German submarines.[3]
In October 1942, Viscount was part of the escort of Convoy SC 1 CW, which came under attack by 10 German submarines of the "Wotan" (Wōden) group. On 15 October, while defending the convoy, Viscount detected the submarine U-607 on radar and attacked her unsuccessfully.[3]Viscount then rammed and thereafter sank the submarine by gun fire and a heavy depth charge.[clarification needed]U-661 at 53°42′00″N035°56′00″W / 53.70000°N 35.93333°W / 53.70000; -35.93333 (U-615 sunk), which went down with the loss of her entire crew of 44.[1][3][8]Viscount suffered significant damage in the ramming and had to detach from the convoy and proceed to the United Kingdom for repairs.[3]
1943–1945
Viscount's repairs were completed in February 1943, and she rejoined the 6th Escort Group that month in time to join the escort of Convoy ONS 165, which came under attack from German submarines of the "Taifun" ("Typhoon") group.[3] In defense of the convoy, she depth charged and rammed the submarine U-201 in the North Atlantic at 50°50′00″N040°50′00″W / 50.83333°N 40.83333°W / 50.83333; -40.83333 (U-201 sunk).[1]U-201 sank with the loss of her entire crew of 49,[9] and Viscount again suffered significant damage, requiring repairs that lasted through April 1943.[3]
In May 1943, Viscount returned to North Atlantic convoy duty.[3] While escorting Convoy ONS 6 with the 6th Escort Group on 8 May 1943, she got a radio direction-finding fix on a German submarine and closed with it, sighting it at a range of 7,000 yards (6,400m). The submarine submerged, and Viscount attacked it with depth charges, but without success.[10]
Over the course of the summer of 1943, Viscount was detached for Operation Derange, consisting of offensive antisubmarine operations in the Bay of Biscay in which aircraft and ships cooperated in attacks on German submarines transiting the bay between their bases in German-occupied France and the Atlantic shipping routes. In September 1943, she took part in Operation Alacrity, joining the escort aircraft carrierHMSFencer, the destroyers HMSInconstant, HMSWhitehall, and HMSWrestler, and the Polish Navy destroyers ORPGarland and ORPBurza in forming the 8th Support Group to escort military convoys to the Azores as the Allies set up air bases there. She continued operations in support of Alacrity into October 1943.[3]
Viscount returned to Atlantic convoy duty in October 1943, continuing it without further major incident into the early weeks of 1945, when she also began convoy escort operations in British coastal waters. In order to free up her crew members to man newer, more modern escort ships, she was withdrawn from operations in February 1945 and decommissioned in March 1945.[3]
Decommissioning and disposal
Viscount was sold on 20 March 1945[5] to BISCO for scrapping by Clayton and Davie at Dunston. She arrived at the shipbreaker's yard on 27 May 1947.[3]
1 2 Colledge, J. J., Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the Fifteenth Century to the Present, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN0-87021-652-X, p. 367.
Cocker, Maurice. Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan. ISBN0-7110-1075-7.
Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-081-8.
Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-048-7.
March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC164893555.
Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1979). 'V' and 'W' Class Destroyers. Man o'War. Vol.2. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN0-85368-233-X.
Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Reviseded.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-119-2.
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