Kujawiak in 1942 | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Oakley |
Builder | Vickers-Armstrongs, Tyne |
Laid down | 22 November 1939 |
Launched | 30 October 1940 |
Fate | Transferred to Poland 3 April 1941 |
Poland | |
Name | ORP Kujawiak |
Commissioned | 17 June 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by mine on 16 June 1942, near Malta |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type II Hunt-class destroyer |
Displacement |
|
Length | 85 m (279 ft) |
Beam | 9.5 m (31 ft) |
Draught | 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) |
Propulsion | powered by 2 shaft steam turbines 19,000 hp (14,200 kW) |
Speed | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
Range |
|
Complement | 160 |
Armament |
|
ORP Kujawiak was a British Type II Hunt-class destroyer escort, originally ordered as HMS Oakley.
Kujawiak was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at the company's High Walker yard on the River Tyne. Her keel was laid down on 22 November 1939 and she was launched on 30 October 1940 as HMS Oakley but on completion in June 1941 she was renamed and commissioned into the Polish Navy.
Kujawiak was sunk on 16 June 1942 after running into a German MT 14 minefield near Malta while participating in Operation Harpoon. 13 Polish sailors died and 20 were wounded.
The ship was ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Programme as HMS Oakley on 4 September 1939 from Vickers-Armstrongs High Walker Yard on the Tyne who laid her down on 22 November 1939 with the yard number of J4145. Her engines were to be constructed by Parsons. She was launched on 30 October 1940 under her British name but on 3 April 1941 it was decided to transfer her together with HMS Silverton to the Polish Navy. On her completion on 17 June 1941 she was commissioned as ORP Kujawiak. [1]
On 18 June Kujawiak came under attack by German aircraft whilst on passage from Tyne to Scapa Flow to work-up for operational service with ships of Home Fleet. Fire from the aircraft hit the 4-inch ready-use ammunition which exploded causing one fatal casualty. After completing her work-up on 25 July she joined the 15th Destroyer Flotilla based at Plymouth for local convoy escort and patrol duties.
Later that year on 23 October Kujawiak deployed with fellow Polish destroyer ORP Krakowiak for escort of inward Convoy SL89 during final stage of passage in Irish Sea from Freetown into Liverpool. On 22 December she sailed from Scapa Flow as part of Force J to carry out landings on the Lofoten Islands as part of Operation Claymore. Two days later on 27 December the destroyer sustained slight damage from a near miss during air attacks.
In early June 1942 Kujawiak was nominated for loan service with the Home Fleet as part of the escort for the planned relief convoy to Malta (Operation Harpoon). On 6 June she joined military Convoy WS19S in the Northwest Approaches as part of Ocean Escort for passage to Gibraltar. She joined Force X at Gibraltar on 12 June whose task was to escort the Harpoon convoy through the Sicilian Narrows to Malta. On 14 June the convoy came under heavy and sustained air attacks during which the cruiser Liverpool was damaged. The following day the air attacks continued and Kujawiak was in action with Italian warships attempting to intercept and attack the convoy. [2]
Near midnight on 16 June, while entering Grand Harbor, Malta Kujawiak sustained major structural damage forward after detonating a mine while going to the aid of Badsworth after she had struck a mine. Kujawiak sank before a successful tow could be achieved.
On 22 September 2014 a Polish expedition (Shipwreck Expeditons Association) discovered the location of the wreck of Kujawiak. [3] Further dives were made in 2015 and 2017 with the latter recovering the ship's bell which has been passed to the Maritime Museum of Malta for conservation and display. [4] The Maltese government has declared the wreck site a war grave and prohibited unauthorised diving [5]
HMS Edinburgh was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, which served during the Second World War. She was one of the last two Town class cruisers, which formed the Edinburgh sub-class. Edinburgh saw a great deal of combat service during the Second World War, especially in the North Sea and the Arctic Sea, where she was sunk by torpedoes in 1942.
Operation Harpoon was one of two simultaneous Allied convoys sent to supply Malta in the Axis-dominated central Mediterranean Sea in mid-June 1942, during the Second World War. Operation Vigorous was a west-bound convoy from Alexandria and Operation Harpoon was an east-bound convoy operation from Gibraltar.
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 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 Fury was an F-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 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 1936–1939, she spent time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. The ship escorted the larger ships of the fleet during the early stages of World War II and played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Fury was sent to Gibraltar in mid-1940 and formed part of Force H where she participated in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir and the Battle of Dakar. The ship escorted numerous convoys to Malta in 1940–41 and Arctic convoys during 1942.
HMS Lance was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She entered service during World War II, and had a short but eventful career, serving in Home waters and the Mediterranean Sea. She was damaged in two consecutive air attacks at Malta in 1942. She was towed back to Britain, declared a constructive total loss and was scrapped. She had been adopted by the civil community of Bexley and Welling, Kent in November 1941.
HMS Kimberley was a K-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served in the Second World War and survived it, being one of only two of the K-class to do so. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Kimberley, after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape, site of the Siege of Kimberley in the Second Boer War. She was adopted by the civil community of Eastwood, Kimberley and Selston, Nottinghamshire in 1942 after a successful Warship Week campaign for National Savings.
HMS Arrow was an A-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers-Armstrongs at their Barrow-in-Furness between 1928 and 1930, being launched on 22 August 1929. Arrow served in the Mediterranean Fleet in the 1930s, rescuing refugees and taking part in neutrality patrols during the Spanish Civil War.
HMS Badsworth(pennant number L03) was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Badsworth's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Cammell Laird laid down her keel at their Birkenhead yard on 15 May 1940, as Admiralty Job No. J3260. After a successful Warship Week national savings campaign in March 1942, Badsworth was adopted by the civil community of Batley, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The ship was named after a fox-hunt in Yorkshire.
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 Avon Vale(pennant number L06) was an escort destroyer of the Hunt Type II class. The Royal Navy ordered Avon Vale's construction three days after the outbreak of the Second World War. John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd laid down her keel at their Clydebank yard on 12 February 1940, as Admiralty Job Number J1569. After a successful Warship Week national savings campaign in February 1942, Avon Vale was adopted by the civil community of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
HMS Bicester(pennant number L34) was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Bicester's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Hawthorn Leslie & Co. laid down her keel at their Tyne yard on 29 May 1940, as Admiralty Job Number J4210. The ship was named after a fox hunt in Oxfordshire.
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.
The second HMS Hambledon was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy in commission from 1940 to 1945. She was a member of the first subgroup of the class, and saw service throughout World War II.
HMS Witch (D89) was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.
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 Whitehall, pennant number D94, later I94, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War.
HMS Hurworth was a Second World War Type II Hunt-class escort destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She spent most of her career in the Mediterranean. She was lost to a mine in the Aegean Sea in 1943.
HMS Southwold was a Type II British Hunt-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during World War II. She served in the Mediterranean for a few months until she was sunk off Malta in March 1942.
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.