H-class (Royal Navy)

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H-Class from 1934 Royal Navy
Technical specifications
Ship type : destroyer
Displacement : 1,340 ts HMS Hardy : 1,465 ts
Length: 323 ft (98.5 m) HMS Hardy : 337 ft
Width: 33 ft (10.05 m) HMS Hardy : 34 ft
Draft : 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m) HMS Hardy : 12 ft 9 in
Drive : 2 steam turbines with a total of 34,000 PS HMS Hardy : 38,000 PS
Speed: 36 kn
Range: 5,530 nautical miles at 15 kn
Crew: 145 men HMS Hardy : 175 men
Armament:
(as a new building)
4 × 4.7 in (120 mm) Mk IX guns
HMS Hardy : 5 × 4.7 in
Brazilian ships : 3 × 4.7 in

8 x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Fla - MGs
2 × fourfold 21 in (533 mm) torpedo - tubes
20 water bombs

The H-Class was a class of eight destroyers built for the British Royal Navy as part of the 1934 naval program. A ninth ship, HMS Hardy , had a slightly different design to serve as a flotilla commander .

Six identical ships were under construction at British shipyards for the Brazilian Navy at the start of World War II . These destroyers that were nearing completion were by the British government on 4 September 1939 against payment of compensation confiscated . They are regularly assigned to the H class, but sometimes also mentioned as the Havant class .

The destroyers of the H-class came to various combat missions in World War II; ten of the 15 ships were lost during the war, one was given to the Royal Canadian Navy .

draft

The design for the H-Class was essentially based on the design for the previous G-Class . The changes concerned a. improved main guns and increased use of welding techniques. A modified structure of the bridge was tested on two ships .

HMS Hardy was slightly larger than the other ships to accommodate the flotilla commander , his staff and other crew members.

As long as they were not lost prematurely, the equipment and armament of the destroyers were modified considerably during the course of the Second World War. This includes, for example, the equipment with radar and the radio direction finding system Huff-Duff , with additional or modified guns, v. a. Flak and rapid fire weapons, as well as new depth charges.

War effort

During the Second World War, the H-class ships were mainly used as escorts for convoys and warships and for hunting submarines , but also in the fight against enemy surface warships . Almost all of the Brazilian ships served as the lead ship of one of the escort groups, which consisted of a few, mostly older destroyers and several corvettes , and later partly a frigate , and accompanied convoys across the North Atlantic and to Gibraltar.

Ten of the 15 ships were lost in these operations, all but one to combat operations or mines. In return, the H-class destroyers were involved in the sinking of ten German and four Italian submarines and an Italian light cruiser , they also sank two German and Italian destroyers and one Italian torpedo boat and damaged another German destroyer.

After the end of the war, the remaining ships were technically obsolete, worn out by years of military service and barely usable.

H-class ships

Flotilla Leader:

Brazilian ships:

  • HMS Highlander (ex: Jaguaribe ) - used in operations following the German landing in Norway and in Operation Dynamo , involved in the sinking of U 32 in October 1940. Then used in the North Atlantic as an escort ship for convoys. Sold for scrapping in May 1946.
  • HMS Hurricane (ex: Japura ) - Used as an escort for convoys in the North Atlantic. Sunkon December 24th 1943 by U 415 from Gibraltar escort.
  • HMS Havant (ex: Javary ) - During a mission as part of Operation Dynamo on June 1, 1940, the German air raid off Dunkirk damaged the ship so badly that the ship had to be scuttled.
  • HMS Harvester (ex: Jurua ) - EvacuatedAllied troops from northern Franceduring Operation Dynamo in May / June 1940, sank U 32 in October 1940and U 208 in December 1941. Used as an escort for North Atlantic convoys. Sunk on March 11, 1943 U 444 by Rammstoss, but was seriously damaged and unable to maneuver,sunkon the same day by U 432 .
  • HMS Hesperus (ex: Juruena ) -Damaged by bomb hits duringoperations following the German landing in Norway . Then deployed in the North Atlantic and involved in the sinking of the German submarines U 208 (December 1941), U 93 (January 1942), U 357 (December 1942), U 191 (April 1943) and U 186 (May 1943). Sold for scrapping in November 1946.
  • HMS Havelock (ex: Jutahy ) - During the operations following the German landing in Norway and used in Operation Dynamo , the ship sank the Italian submarine Faá di Bruno in November 1940. This was followed by missions in the North Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay . The destroyer was involved in the sinking of the submarine U 767 (June 1944). In October 1946 the ship was scrapped.

literature

  • Maurice Cocker, Ian Allan: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan, London 1981, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
  • Leo Marriott, Ian Allan: Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945. Ian Allan, London 1989, ISBN 0-7110-1817-0
  • HT Lenton: British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. Greenhill Books, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
  • Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-146-7
  • Michael J. Whitley: Destroyers of World War II. An International Encyclopedia. Cassell Military, London 2002, ISBN 0-304-35675-1

Web links

Commons : G and H Class  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. David and Hugh Lyon; Siegfried Greiner: Warships from 1900 to today, technology and use . Buch und Zeit Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne 1979, p. 59 .