E and F class
_Exmouth_in_leaving_the_port_of_Bilbao_in_1936.jpg) The Exmouth , leader of the E group, leaving 1,936 Bilbao with Basque refugees
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The E- and F-Class was a ship class of destroyers of the Royal Navy (RN). It consisted of two subclasses with eight destroyers each and a slightly larger flotilla leader . The 18 ships of the two groups were built between 1933 and 1935 at ten British shipyards.
In World War II, ten ships were lost. Three were given to the Royal Canadian Navy and one to the Greek Navy . RN and RCN separated their units shortly after the end of the war. The Fame , which was sold to the Dominican Republic in 1949 and renamed Generalissimo in 1949 and then Sanchez in 1962 , remained in service the longest . In 1968 she was scrapped as the last ship in the class.
History of the class
The dimensions of the destroyers of the E and F class largely corresponded to their predecessors. However, they had improved and enlarged superstructures and for the first time carried both equipment for anti-submarine defense and a mine detection facility. In order to avoid a feared loss of speed, they had an improved hull shape, which was selected after extensive research.
Two of the destroyers were delivered as mine layers.
The two leaders of the subgroups were enlarged again and were improved replicas of the A-class Codrington with five 120 mm guns.
Mission history
The destroyers of the E group, including the ships completed as miners, formed the 5th destroyer flotilla with the Flotilla Leader Exmouth , which was assigned to the Home Fleet . Shortly before the start of the Second World War, the ships were replaced by the newly arriving K-class destroyers .
The eight destroyers of the F group formed the “6th Destroyer Flotilla” with the Faulknor after the acceptance by the RN, also in the Home Fleet . This flotilla moved from September 1935 to April 1936 because of the Abyssinia crisis between Great Britain and Italy to Gibraltar . In May 1939, the flotilla was renamed the "8th Destroyer Flotilla" when the flotillas of the tribal destroyers , which had previously been numbered separately , were classified in the numbering system.
Ten units of the class were lost in World War II. The first loss in the war was on January 21, 1940, the Flotilla Commander Exmouth , which was sunk by a submarine in the Moray Firth . In 1940 the Escort and Esk were also lost. In July 1941, the Fearless was torpedoed in the Mediterranean by Italian torpedo bombers and had to be abandoned. In 1942 Electra and Encounter were lost in the fight against Japanese cruisers in the Java Sea, as well as Foresight in the Mediterranean by Italian torpedo bombers and Firedrake by a German submarine in the North Atlantic. On October 23, 1943, the Eclipse sank after a mine hit in the Aegean Sea. The last loss in the war was the Fury , which ran aground off Normandy on June 21, 1944 after being hit by a mine and was irreparably damaged.
During the war, the Royal Navy gave the Fortune in May 1943 and the Express in June to the Royal Canadian Navy , which they used as HMCS Saskatchewan and Gatineau , respectively . In February 1944, the RCN also received the Foxhound , which was renamed HMCS Qu'appelle .
The Greek Navy also received a destroyer of the class with the Echo in April , which continued to serve as Navarinon .
RN and RCN separated their units shortly after the end of the war. After 1949 only remained
- HMCS Gatineau ex Express , in reserve since 1946, only scrapped in 1956;
- the Greek Navarinon ex Echo , 1956 returned to the RN and canceled;
- and the Fame sold to the Dominican Republic , which was sold in Generalissimo in 1949
and then renamed Sanchez in 1962 . In 1968 she was scrapped as the last ship in the class.
The E- and F-class destroyers
| Surname | Shipyard | start of building | Launch | finished | Final fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E group | |||||
| Exmouth (H02) | Portsmouth Dockyard | 05/15/33 | 7.02.34 | 11/9/34 | Flotilla commander , sunk by the German submarine U 22 in the Moray Firth on January 21, 1940 . |
| Echo (H23) | Denny | 03/20/33 | 10/22/34 | 2.06.32 | April 1944 Greece handed over as Navarinon , 1956 returned to the Royal Navy, sold for demolition. |
| Eclipse (H08) | Denny | 22.03.33 | 04/12/34 | 11/29/34 | ran into a mine on October 23, 1943 off Kalymnos , Greece and sank. |
| Electra (H27) | Hawthorn Leslie | 03/15/33 | 02/15/34 | 09/13/34 | sunk by the Japanese light cruiser Jintsu on February 27, 1942 in the Battle of the Java Sea . |
| Encounter (H10) | Hawthorn Leslie | 03/15/33 | 03/29/34 | 2.11.34 | self- sunk on March 1, 1942 after severe damage by the Japanese heavy cruisers Ashigara and Myōkō in the battle in the Java Sea. |
| Escapade (H17) | Scotts | 3/30/33 | 1/30/34 | 08/30/34 | Scrapped in 1946. |
| Escort (H66) | Scotts | 3/30/33 | 03/29/34 | 10/30/34 | torpedoed on July 8, 1940 by the Italian submarine Guglielmo Marconi and sunk while being towed on July 11. |
| Esk (H15) | Swan Hunter | 3/24/33 | 3/19/34 | 09/28/34 | Mine-layer, sunk on August 31, 1940 near the Dutch island of Texel after being hit by a mine . |
| Express (H15) | Swan Hunter | 3/24/33 | 05/29/34 | 2.11.34 | handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Gatineau in June 1943 , scrapped in 1956. |
| F group | |||||
| Faulknor (H62) | Yarrow's | 07/31/33 | 06/12/34 | 11/9/34 | Flotilla leader, scrapped in 1946. |
| Fame (H78) | Vickers Armstrongs, Tyne | 5.07.33 | 06/28/34 | 04/26/35 | Handed over to the Dominican Republic in 1949 as ' Generalisimo' , renamed Sanchez in 1962, sold for demolition in 1968. |
| Fearless (H67) | Cammell Laird | 5.07.33 | 06/28/34 | 04/26/35 | Torpedoed by Italian torpedo bombers in the Mediterranean on July 12, 1941 and abandoned on July 23, 1941. |
| Firedrake (H79) | Vickers Armstrongs, Tyne | 5.07.33 | 06/28/34 | 05/30/35 | sunk by U 211 on December 16, 1942 . |
| Foresight (H68) | Cammell Laird | 07/21/33 | 06/29/34 | 05/15/35 | Torpedoed and abandoned by Italian torpedo bombers in the Mediterranean on August 12, 1942. |
| Forester (H74) | White | 05/15/33 | 06/28/34 | 04/19/35 | sold for demolition in January 1946 |
| Fortune (H70) | John Brown | 07/28/33 | 08/29/34 | 04/27/35 | Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Saskatchewan in May 1943 , decommissioned in January 1946 |
| Foxhound (H69) | John Brown | 08/15/33 | 10/12/34 | 06/21/35 | Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Qu'appelle in February 1944 , decommissioned in January 1946 |
| Fury (H76) | White | 05/19/33 | 09/10/34 | 05/18/35 | on June 21, 1944 ran into a mine off Normandy and was irreparably damaged. |
