HMAS Stuart (D00)

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The HMAS Stuart 1938
The HMAS Stuart 1938
Overview
Type Flotilla leader
Shipyard

Hawthorn, Leslie & Company , Hebburn on Tyne

Keel laying October 18, 1917
Launch August 22, 1918
Commissioning December 21, 1918
Decommissioning April 27, 1946
Technical specifications
displacement

Standard : 1530  ts ;
maximum 2053 ts

length

101.3 m (332.6 ft) overall,
98.0 m (320 ft) pp

width

9.6 m (31.75 ft)

Draft

3.45 m (11.33 ft)

crew

167-183 men

drive

4 Yarrow boilers ,
Brown Curtis - steam turbines
43,000 PSw on 2 shafts

speed

34 kn

Range

3,000 nm at 10 kn

Armament

5 × 4.7 "-120 mm guns
1 × 3" -76 mm AA guns
2 × 2 pdr Mk.II anti-aircraft guns
5 × 7.7 mm machine guns
6 × 21 in-533 mm torpedo tubes (2 × 3)
depth charges, including 2 launchers

Sister boats

8 Admiralty Flotilla Leader or Scott Class boats

The HMAS Stuart (D00) was an Admiralty or Scott-class flotilla commander who served in the Royal Navy as HMS Stuart (D00) from 1918 to 1933 and then in the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Stuart . From late 1939 to the summer of 1941, the Stuart served with the Australian destroyers in the Mediterranean. After a thorough overhaul, the Stuart served as an escort destroyer from April 1942 in Australian waters and off New Guinea . In 1946 HMAS Stuart was taken out of service and sold for demolition in 1947.

Building history

The HMS Ranger , one of Hawthorn's first destroyers

The company Hawthorn Leslie and Company in Hebburn on Tyne was a machine supplier for a third of the at the nearby shipyards the company Armstrong warships built. The company itself built almost 30 destroyers for the Royal Navy from 1894 ( Opossum class ) until the First World War . With the HMS  Carysfort and HMS  Champion , the shipyard had cruisers under construction for the first time, which was followed by the HMS  Calypso . Even before the war began, the shipyard had started building two Hawthorn M-class destroyers that were purchased by the Royal Navy. In contrast to the "standard" Admiralty M-class, the Hawthorn M- class boats had four funnels and were slightly longer than the standard boats . The Royal Navy decided to have Talisman-class destroyers in preparation for Turkey built at the shipyard. Another order for destroyers of the M-class was not placed until the last batch in May 1915 with orders for two boats of the improved version of the standard design of the Admiralty M- class. Orders for five Admiralty R-Class boats and eight Admiralty V- and W-Class boats followed , five of which were completed. Four S-class destroyers that had been started during the war were not completed until 1919.

The Flotilla Leader HMS Nimrod , of
the Marksman class

Also before the start of the war, the keel-laying of the first flotilla commander commissioned by the Navy, the HMS  Marksman , took place at Hawthorn on July 20, 1914 . The yard was not involved in the construction of the following Parker class . It was not until the following Scott class that Hawthorn received two orders with the HMS Montrose and HMS Stuart, which were completed on September 14, 1918 . The keel of the Stuart was laid on October 18, 1917, she was launched on August 22, 1918, and was completed on December 21, 1918. Both boats were completed too late to be used in the war. The other boats in this class were built by Cammell, Laird & Company .

The foremost 120 mm L / 45 cannon on HMS Stuart

The flotilla leaders first appointed by the Royal Navy in 1913 were only slightly larger than the standard destroyers of the time. They were supposed to serve as command ships in destroyer formations and were given rooms and signaling devices for the necessary staffs. The armament was also usually a bit stronger. During the war, the Royal Navy had the boats of the Marksman - (7), Parker - (6), Thornycroft - (5 + 2 canceled orders) and Scott flotilla leader (8 + 2 canceled orders) built. Of the last two series, only 2 or 3 boats were completed during the war. The four Faulknor class boats under construction for Chile were also used as flotilla leaders. The new A- to I-Class series up to the Second World War also received a specially made flotilla leader. But they were not large destroyers, like the HMS Swift or some destroyer classes of other navies between the wars. An essential piece of equipment in all later destroyers was introduced to the flotilla commanders: from the Parker class onwards, the boats had guns placed one above the other in the midship line with a wide fire area that could overshot each other. The Scott class also reverted to the two-screw drive and introduced the 120 mm armament. With a displacement of 1530 ts, a length of 101.3 m and a width of 9.6 m, the Admiralty-type flotilla leaders were also considerably larger than the W- class destroyers (up to 1140 ts, 95.1 × 8.9 m) , 27,000 PS, 34 kn, 134 men, 4–120 mm) or S- Class (1075 ts, 84.0 × 8.1 m, 27,000 PS, 36 kn, 90 men, 3–102 mm), needed with 43,000 hp, a significantly higher engine output to achieve the same top speed of 34 kn and had to be operated with 183 men.

Mission history

The HMS Stuart , completed in December 1918, was taken into active service in the British Royal Navy and first transferred to the 6th destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean. During her service with the Navy, she stayed mostly in the Mediterranean Fleet , where her sister ship HMS Montrose was also used. Most recently, the Stuart flagship of the Home Fleet's 2nd submarine flotilla . In May 1933 the flotilla leader was decommissioned.

Part of the Royal Australian Navy

HMAS Anzac
HMAS Swordsman

The HMS Stuart was handed over to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in Portsmouth on October 11, 1933 and formally renamed HMAS Stuart (D00). In addition to her, the destroyers HMS Vampire , HMS Vendetta , HMS Voyager and HMS Waterhen of the Admiralty V- and W-Class were handed over to Australia. The boats marched from Chatham to Australia from October 17 to December 21, 1933 and replaced the previous Australian flotilla, which was made up of the flotilla leader HMAS Anzac (since July 30, 1931 a. D.) and the destroyers of the S- Class HMAS Stalwart (since 1925 a. D.), Success (since 1930 a. D.), Swordsman (since 1929 a. D.), Tasmania (since 1928 a. D.) and Tattoo existed and should be scrapped. In the wake of the global economic crisis and Buget difficulties, this association was mostly out of service, only the Tattoo was briefly in service for training purposes until 1936, until it was replaced by the vampires . However, the new association was able to recruit teams without any problems, as the remuneration at the RAN was quite attractive as the crisis continued. The old destroyer was finally canceled in 1937.

From the new association Vampire and Vendetta went into the reserve in January 1934 , while Stuart with Voyager and Waterhen the active association with the heavy cruisers HMAS  Australia and HMAS   Canberra of the RAN. In October 1934 the Waterhen went into reserve and was replaced by Vendetta . In April 1936, the Waterhen returned to replace the Voyager . On June 1, 1938, the Stuart with the Vendetta and the Waterhen were transferred to the reserve, and the active association was reduced to Voyager and Vampire , which had been retracted since the spring. Because of the European crisis in autumn 1938, all boats were briefly activated and the Stuart was back in service from September 29th to November 30th. On September 1, 1939, the flotilla leader was finally put back into service because of the outbreak of war.

The HMAS Waterhen , behind it the HMAS Stuart

Together with Waterhen and Vendetta , the Stuart left Sydney on October 14, 1939 to serve at the China Station in Singapore according to the mobilization plan. The other two boats began the transfer march in Fremantle and bumped into the formation on their way. During the approach, the decision was made to use the destroyers in the Mediterranean, where the boats were referred to by German propaganda as the "scrap iron flotilla". The five destroyers left Singapore for their new area of ​​operation on November 13th.

War missions

The appearance of the German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee on November 15 in the Indian Ocean led to the dissolution of the marching formation and the distribution of the Australian destroyers to various hunting groups that were supposed to find the German armored ship, which was already on its way back to the Atlantic. With the Waterhen , the Stuart ran to Colombo and was sent from there to Madagascar to join the light cruiser HMS Gloucester and the French sloop Rigault de Genouilly . Since the British soon discovered that the ironclad was on its way back to the Atlantic, the Stuart was released and ran via Aden to Malta , where she arrived with the Waterhen on December 17th, three days after the first Vendetta arrived, which in no hunting party had been used. The other two boats also arrived on the 24th, while the Waterhen and Vendetta undertook their first escort task.

When Italy entered the war in June 1940, the destroyers moved to Alexandria and formed the 10th destroyer flotilla there with British destroyers. The Stuart performed escort duties, safety missions with the heavy units and anti-submarine missions with the Australian boats Waterhen , Vampire and Vendetta . In the naval battle of Punta Stilo on July 9, 1940, she was the only destroyer assigned to the cruisers in Force A under Vice Admiral John Tovey , which consisted of the light cruisers HMS  Orion , HMS  Neptune , HMAS  Sydney , HMS Gloucester and HMS  Liverpool . The cruisers were able to damage the heavy cruiser Bolzano in battle , the Gloucester was the only British cruiser to be damaged by an air attack. On September 30, the Stuart ran back to Alexandria because of an engine failure from a security escort when she discovered the surfaced Italian submarine Gondar . Their attacks and those of a Sunderland forced the crew to abandon the boat. From October 11, 1940, the Stuart was overtaken in Malta. The middle and rearmost guns were removed and replaced by additional anti-aircraft guns.

The heavy cruiser Zara

On January 11th, the flotilla commander was operational again and took part as a backup in an attack by the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle and HMS Illustrious on the Dodecanese . On January 22nd, she supported the advance on Tobruk with the monitors HMS Terror and HMS Erebus , the gunboat HMS Ladybird and the Australian destroyers Voyager and Vampire of Australian army units . In February and March she was one of the security forces for advances and remote securing of the aircraft carriers. On March 28, 1941 the Stuart was involved as Force C (10th destroyer flotilla with the destroyers Greyhound , Griffin , Hotspur and Havock ) in the sea ​​battle of Cape Matapan . The cruisers and aircraft of the carrier HMS Formidable were used in the day battle. While searching for the battleship Vittorio Veneto , damaged by an air torpedo , the Stuart came across Italian Zara-class cruisers in the dark , which were taken under fire by the British battleships HMS Barham , HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite . The Fiume sank immediately, the Zara , which was badly hit by the British battleships, and the Pola , first hit by an air torpedo, were later sunk incapacitated by British destroyers who had even tried to bring in the Pola as a prize. The British battleships withdrew after a short artillery deployment because of feared torpedo attacks. Stuart and the other destroyers (also the 14th destroyer flotilla with Jervis , Janus , Mohawk and Nubian ) sank the destroyers Vittorio Alfieri and Giosué Carducci , which had been damaged by artillery hits from the battleships , while Vincenzo Gioberti and Alfredo Oriani escaped badly damaged. Except for the four Oriani-class destroyers accompanying the heavy cruisers, other Italian destroyers did not intervene. 2303 Italian seamen were killed, 1015 seamen were rescued from the British destroyers, who also gave the Italians the last location of their ships.

From April 24, 1941 Stuart participated with the four Australian destroyers in the evacuation of Greece ( Operation Demon ). From May 21st, the Stuart was involved with other destroyers in the battle for Crete . At the end of the month and in June she supported the army operations in Syria . Between June 16 and July 25, she was one of the destroyers supplying Tobruk, but returned to Alexandria with difficulty from the last mission. In September, the rather worn-out destroyer, which had survived over 50 air strikes, moved back to Australia for overhaul. The Stuart arrived with only one operational machine on September 16 in Fremantle and on September 27, 1941 in Melbourne , where it was to be converted into a destroyer escort. The foremost gun has now also been removed and replaced by a Hedgehog depth charge launcher . The boat also received radar equipment .

Stuart's last missions

In April 1942, the converted and overhauled Stuart left the shipyard in Melbourne and took over escort duties on the Australian coast. In August, she secured an ammunition truck on the march to Nouméa . From October she was used as a destroyer escort between Queensland and New Guinea . From March 1943 the use of the Stuart was again limited to the Australian coastal waters. In the spring of 1945, the old boat was rebuilt again and it became a supply ship with cooling equipment and troop transport and was used again in New Guinea. She returned to Australia in January 1946 and made her last trip in February. On April 27, 1946, the HMAS Stuart was the last ship of the "scrap iron flotilla" to be decommissioned. Since the beginning of the war she had spent over 17,000 hours at sea and covered over 250,000 nm. Nobody died on board during their missions. On February 3, 1947, it was sold for demolition.

literature

Web links

Commons : Admiralty type destroyer leader  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rohwer, p. 60.
  2. ^ Rohwer, p. 76.
  3. ^ Rohwer, p. 113.
  4. ^ Rohwer, p. 120.
  5. ^ Rohwer, p. 127.