HMAS Napier (G97)
 The Napier 1944
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HMAS Napier (G97) was a destroyer and the N-class flotilla commander . The newbuilding ordered on April 15, 1939 by the Royal Navy with the other seven ships of the class was built with the Nestor at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. in Govan . Three other shipyards supplied the other ships in the class. In the summer of 1940, the Navy decided to give the class ships to allies. Manned with Australians, the Napier was commissioned on November 28, 1940 as His Majesty's Australian Ship ( HMAS ) for the Royal Australian Navy as the first modern destroyer.
The destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors Crete 1941 , Libya 1941 , Indian Ocean 1942–44 , Burma 1944–45 , Pacific 1945 and Okinawa 1945 in World War II .
In October 1945 the ship was returned to the Royal Navy in Australia . The Napier was returned to Great Britain by a British crew, but was no longer used under British command, but instead sold for scrapping in 1955 after years in the reserve and scrapped in early 1956.
history
The Napier was laid down on July 26, 1939 at Fairfield Shipbuilding in Govan together with the Nestor . Almost at the same time, Nerissa and Nizam were keeled at John Brown's in Clydebank, and Norman at Thornycroft and Noble at William Denny's . On May 22, 1940, the new building with hull number 673 was launched as the second N-class ship and was named Napier as the third ship in the Navy in honor of British Admiral Charles John Napier . Commissioning then took place as HMAS Napier on December 11, 1940 as the second N-class ship and the first for Australia.
Home Fleet
After the acceptance tests and their commissioning, HMAS Napier was assigned to the 7th destroyer flotilla in Scapa Flow , where it began the war effort in February 1941. In the following weeks she provided escort services in her home waters. At the beginning of March she was assigned to the Mediterranean fleet.
Mediterranean fleet
On March 21st she set sail with a convoy to Gibraltar , where she arrived on March 29th. On March 31, she left again to escort the SS Highland Monarch to Cape Town . Then she continued the transfer to the Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria via Simonstown and took up her service with the Mediterranean Fleet on May 4, 1941. ( see also => HMAS Nizam )
On May 20th, she formed the shield together with her sister ship Nizam and other destroyers during the bombardment of the Greek island of Karpathos . From May 28, she participated as part of Force C in the evacuation of Allied troops from the Cretan Sfakia . During the second evacuation trip on May 31, she suffered damage from German air raids, which made it necessary to stay in the shipyard. On July 9, she was towed to Port Said for repairs to the drive . During this work, the Napier's rear torpedo tube assembly was replaced with a 102mm gun to improve anti-aircraft capabilities.
After the completion of this repair, the Napier returned to active service on August 18 and was posted together with the Nizam and the Australian cruiser Hobart in support of Tobruk . These missions lasted until the end of September. After returning to Alexandria, the anti -aircraft capacity was improved by installing several 20mm Oerlikon cannons .
After the support mission for Tobruk had ended on October 19, the Napier was used to transport troops to Cyprus . After completing these tasks, she supported naval operations and took part in a bombardment of Bardia on New Year's Eve 1941 together with Nestor and Nizam .
Eastern Fleet
On January 3, 1942, the three Australian destroyers were parked for service with the Eastern Fleet and moved to Aden , where they arrived on January 7. On January 9, the Napier escorted the aircraft carrier Indomitable , which transported hurricane fighters for Singapore from Port Sudan to the Dutch East Indies , and spent the rest of January protecting the carrier as a backup destroyer when its fighter planes took off. In March, the Napier was stationed in Colombo to fight Japanese attacks on Ceylon .
During her service with the RAN, the Napier served between February 1942 and February 1945 in the Eastern Fleet . In 1942 she was involved in the final phase of the conquest of Madakascar . For the remainder of 1942, the ship was entrusted with escort duties between Kenya and South Africa. The year 1943 was also filled with escort and patrol missions, first from Durban in South Africa in the Mozambique Strait and in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, then from October 1943 from Aden to Bombay . In April 1944, the destroyer was assigned to the security forces of Operation Cockpit , during which the port and oil plant of Sabang on Sumatra was attacked by aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga and HMS Illustrious . The ship fulfilled the same task in the attack on the oil refinery near Surabaya. After a layover in Melbourne, the destroyer was back in service as a backup vehicle for the HMS Illustrious before it supported the advance of the Allied troops in Burma at the end of 1944 and during Operation Matador put down several Japanese coastal batteries with its guns.
British Pacific Fleet
In March 1945 the destroyer was assigned with Nizam , Nepal and Norman to secure the supply group of the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) during the Battle of Okinawa . In the final phase of the war, the Napier and the Nizam belonged to combat group TG.38.5, which was the only British carrier group still operating off the Japanese coast when an armistice was agreed. ( see also => HMAS Nizam )
On September 2, 1945 ( VJ-Day ), she was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed.
Whereabouts of Napier
On October 25, 1945, the Australian crew disembarked and the ship was returned to the Royal Navy . The Napier was returned to Great Britain by a British crew who had previously transported the destroyer Quality to Australia for use by the RAN. Napier arrived in Plymouth on December 12, 1945 , where it was decommissioned and placed in the reserve. The ship was not used again, but relocated several times as part of the reserve and was last in Penarth near Cardiff . In 1955 the Napier was sold for demolition, which took place in Briton Ferry (South Wales) from January 1956 .
Armament
The armament consisted of six 120 mm cannons in double mounts Mk XII for use against sea and conditionally also air targets (two double mounts in front of the bridge, the rear one in an elevated position; one double mount on a platform at the rear). As anti-aircraft armament, the destroyer had a 2-pounder quadruple gun Mk VIII on a platform behind the funnel and two 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns . Ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five tubes each and depth charges completed the armament.
The rear set of torpedo tubes was replaced by a 4-inch (102-mm) anti-aircraft gun in July 1941 , which was later replaced by the second torpedo-tube set when the anti-aircraft armament was replaced by more modern Oerlikon 20-mm L / 70 automatic cannons had been reinforced when the heavy machine guns were no longer available.
literature
- MJ Whitley: Destroyer in World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 (Original: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms & Armours Press, London), pp. 114-118 (N-Class), 219, 215.
Web links
- HMAS Napier
- Service History HMAS NAPIER (G 97) - N-class Flotilla Leader
- HMAS Napier on uboat.net (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d HMAS Napier on the official website of the Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved February 27, 2020 .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 20 – June 1, 1941, Mediterranean Sea, Operation Merkur: German air landing on Crete.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 12-18, 1941 Mediterranean Sea.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. December 31, 1941, Mediterranean.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 3–29, 1945, Central Pacific Continuation of operations around Okinawa.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 9-15, 1945, Central Pacific.
- ^ Allied Ships Present in Tokyo Bay During the Surrender Ceremony, September 2, 1945 . Naval Historical Center - US Navy. May 27, 2005. Retrieved January 13, 2007: “Taken from Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPAC / CINCPOA) A16-3 / FF12 Serial 0395, February 11, 1946: Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan "
- ↑ Service History HMAS NAPIER (G 97) - N-class Flotilla Leader
J-class Jackal | Jaguar | Janus | Javelin | Jersey | Jervis | Juno | Jupiter
K-class Kandahar | Kashmir | Kelly | Kelvin | Khartoum | Kimberley | Kingston | Kipling
N class Napier | Nepal | Nerissa | Nestor | Nizam | Noble (G84) | Noble (G65) | Nonpareil | Norman
Australia :
Napier |
Nepal |
Nestor |
Nizam |
Norman
