HMS Achates (H12)

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HMS Achates
Achates NH.JPG
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class A class
Shipyard John Brown & Company , Clydebank
Build number 526
Order March 6, 1928
Keel laying 4th July 1928
Launch October 4, 1929
Commissioning March 27, 1930
Whereabouts Sunk December 31, 1942
Ship dimensions and crew
length
98.4 m ( Lüa )
95.1 m ( Lpp )
width 9.8 m
Draft Max. 3.7 m
displacement 1,350 ts standard
1,773 ts maximum
 
crew 138
Machine system
machine 3 Admiralty three-drum steam boiler.
2 Brown Curtis steam turbines with single gears
Machine
performance
35,500 hp (26,110 kW)
Top
speed
35.25 kn (65 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

last:

Sensors

1941: Type 271 radar

HMS Achates (H12) was an A-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy entered service in 1930 and lost in World War II .

The destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors "Atlantic 1940-42", "Bismarck 1941", "North Africa 1942", "Arctic 1942" and "Barents Sea 1942". During the defense of the North Sea Corridor JW 51B , the Achates was sunk on December 31, 1942 by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper .

History of the ship

The ship was launched on October 4, 1929 as part of the Royal Navy's first class destroyer built after the end of World War I at John Brown & Company in Clydebank . It was put into service on March 27, 1930. Experience with the two previously built prototypes Ambuscade and Amazon was incorporated into the planning and construction of the new class. The new destroyer was the fifth ship in the Royal Navy, named after a loyal companion in arms, Achates, from Roman mythology. Her name predecessor was an Acasta-class destroyer also built by John Brown & Co. , which was in service with the Royal Navy from 1913 to 1921.

Achates formed first together with its sister ships, the third destroyer flotilla that the Mediterranean fleet was assigned. They replaced V- and W-class destroyers guided by the Keppel .

In the spring of 1931 the destroyer accompanied the aircraft carrier Eagle to Buenos Aires to take part in the opening of the "British Empire Trade Exhibition" by the Prince of Wales on March 14, 1931 . Accompanied by the Achates , the Eagle demonstrated the capabilities of new British naval aircraft ( Nimrod , Osprey , Ripon and Seal ) and those of its own operational aircraft ( Flycatcher , Dart and Fairey IIIF ) in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro in front of naval representatives. Both ships then returned to the Mediterranean fleet.

In 1937 the newer I-class destroyers replaced the A-class ships in the “3rd Destroyer Flotilla”. Achates came to the reserve in Devonport in April 1937 and was then used in the local flotilla from October 1937. From March 1939, the ship was then assigned to the "6th Submarine Flotilla" in Portland .

War missions

At the beginning of the war, the ship came to the "18. Destroyer Flotilla ”in the English Channel . The tasks included securing convoys in this area, including in particular the troop transports to France . In the spring and summer of 1940 the destroyer stayed with the "3. Flotilla ”, in home waters.

In May 1941, the ship was involved in the search for the German battleship Bismarck ( Operation Rhine Exercise ). The Achates accompanied the battle cruiser Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales from Scapa Flow to the Denmark Strait with the sister ships Anthony and Antelope and the destroyers Electra , Echo and Icarus .

The set of mines in state Achates

In an attack by the aircraft carriers Victorious and Furious of the Home Fleet in July against German bases in northern Norway, in which she was used as an escort, Achates was hit by a mine after an engine breakdown when she was drifting back into a British minefield. The destroyer lost parts of the fore ship, 63 crew members died from the mine hit and another 25 were injured. The sister ship Anthony towed the Achates to Iceland , where an emergency repair was taking place. Secured by Anthony , a tug attempted to bring the damaged vessel to Scotland in August. The association had to call at the Faroers in bad weather , as the Achates threatened to sink. The destroyer did not arrive at the Tyne until the end of August , where repairs began. The repair, which lasted into 1942, was used to strengthen the anti -submarine and anti-aircraft armament at the expense of the main guns and a torpedo tube set. Among other things, a hedgehog and a radar were installed.

From the spring of 1942, the Achates served several times as an escort for northern sea convoys , through which the Soviet Union was supplied with war material. In convoy PQ 16 , she formed the convoy escort group with the destroyers Ashanti , Martin , Volunteer as well as the Polish Garland and four corvettes as well as the flak ship Alynbank , which was reinforced by an escort group with the cruisers Nigeria , Kent , Norfolk and Liverpool as well as three other destroyers. As a result of the Luftwaffe attacks, seven of the 35 transporters in the convoy with 43,205 GRT and 32,400 tons of cargo, including 147 tanks, 77 aircraft and 770 motor vehicles, were lost.

The sloop HMS Niger

The security group, reinforced by two mine sweepers and two anti-submarine trawlers, then returned to Iceland in June with the counter escort QP 13 of 14 cargo ships. Although this convoy was discovered by the Germans, they did not attack it because of its mostly empty ships or their low-value cargo, but instead concentrated on the convoy PQ 17, which was heading east . Nevertheless, this convoy suffered the loss of six merchant ships with 38,306 GRT when parts of the unit got into a British minefield on July 5th due to a storm and heavy fog in the Denmark Strait. Also, the leading this group minesweeper Niger the Halcyon class sank in British minefield; only eight men of the 127-strong crew could be saved.

The escort carrier Avenger

During the next convoy of PQ 18 to the Soviet Union in September 1942 with 39 merchant ships, the destroyer formed the convoy escort with the Malcolm and Amazon , again with the Alynbank and the anti-aircraft ship Ulster Queen , four corvettes, three minesweepers and four anti-submarine trawlers. For the first time, the Avenger was an escort aircraft carrier with twelve Sea Huricanes from FAA squadrons 802 and 882 and three Swordfish with five crews from squadron 825 , separately secured by two Hunt destroyers . The close coverage group under Rear Admiral Robert Burnett with the cruiser Scylla and 16 other destroyers should stay as close as possible to the escort. Two long-range coverage groups were also at sea to counter a German naval advance. The attacking German submarines sank three ships with a total of 19,742 GRT. However, with the U 88 , U 589 and U 457 three submarines were also lost. The German Air Force succeeded in sinking ten ships with 55,915 GRT. She lost almost 40 rescue vehicles and it was her last major attack on a Northern Sea escort. The ships that got through to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk brought more goods into the Soviet Union than all escorts put together before.

The Westcott , which sank two French submarines

The Northern Sea escorts were interrupted to secure the Allied landing in North Africa ( Operation Torch ), during which the ship sank the French submarine Argonaute on November 8, 1942 in cooperation with the destroyer Westcott near Oran , which was trying to attack the Allied fleet.

The end of the agates

The
Northern Gem trawler

The next Northern Sea Escort JW 51B of 16 freighters, in which the Achates formed the escort group with the destroyers Onslow , Obedient , Obdurate , Orwell and Oribi (who then lost contact early due to a compass damage), two corvettes, the mine sweeper Bramble and two trawlers , was attacked by German cruisers and destroyers on New Year's Eve 1942 ( Operation Regenbogen ). The convoy was scattered by a weathered storm. After the Oribi , a trawler had also lost contact with the main group. The Bramble , which tried to return the lost cargo ships to the convoy, was sunk alone by the German destroyers and sank with the entire crew. In the developing battle in the Barents Sea , the remaining five destroyers tried to keep the attackers away from the convoy, which they largely succeeded. Only the Orwell remained largely undamaged in the battle. While the four O-class destroyers remained operational despite the damage, the Achates was hit in full by the heavy artillery of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper . The attempt of the trawler Northern Gem to tow the badly damaged destroyer failed. The agate capsized and dropped to 73 ° 3 '0 "  N , 3 ° 42' 0"  O coordinates: 73 ° 3 '0 "  N , 3 ° 42' 0"  O . 81 crew members of the destroyer could be rescued; 113 men lost their lives.

The intervention of the cruisers Jamaica and Sheffield of the local security group, which scored hits on the Hipper and sank Friedrich Eckoldt , led to the German attack being canceled.

literature

  • John English: Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. World Ship Society, Kendal (1993), ISBN 0-905617-64-9 .
  • Michael J. Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. An international encyclopedia. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0-85368-910-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Service History HMS ACHATES (H 12) - A-class Destroyer
  2. Rohwer: Naval Warfare, 18.-27.05.1941 North Atlantic, companies Rheinübung .
  3. Rohwer, 25.5.- 06.01.1942 North Sea; Operation against the Allied convoys QP.12 and PQ.16
  4. Rohwer, 26.- 30.06.1942 North Sea; Escort operation QP.13 / PQ.17 in the Arctic Ocean.
  5. Rohwer, 12.- 18.09.1942 North Sea; Combat the Allied supply convoy PQ.18.
  6. Rohwer; December 15–25, 1942 Northern Sea and December 30–31, 1942 Northern Sea; Company rainbow