HMS Antelope (H36)

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HMS Antelope
The Antelope 1941
The Antelope 1941
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class A class
Shipyard Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. , Hebburn , Newcastle
Build number 558
Order March 6, 1928
Keel laying 4th July 1928
Launch July 27, 1929
Commissioning March 20, 1930
Whereabouts January 1946 sold for demolition
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 boilers
2 Parsons - geared turbines
Machine
performance
35,500 hp (26,110 kW)
Top
speed
35.25 kn (65 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

1946:

HMS Antelope (H36) was a destroyer of the A-Class of the British Royal Navy . The destroyer, completed in 1930, was last used primarily for anti-submarine defense during World War II and was involved in the sinking of three submarines. The ship was awarded the Battle Honors "Atlantic 1939-44", "Bismarck Action 1941", " Malta Convoys 1942 " and "North Africa 1942".

The Antelope was one of three class destroyers to survive the war. In 1946 the destroyer was canceled.

History of the ship

The ship was launched on July 27, 1929 as part of the Royal Navy's first class destroyer built after the end of World War I , at Hawthorn Leslie in Hebburn, Newcastle upon Tyne . Experience with two ago by Thornycroft and Yarrow built prototypes Amazon and Ambuscade were incorporated into the design and construction. The new building was put into service on March 20, 1930 as the eleventh ship of the Navy named Antelope . The last name was a torpedo cannon boat of the Alarm class from 1893 to 1919, but since 1910 it only served as a port ship.

Antelope initially formed the “3rd Destroyer Flotilla” together with her sister ships, which was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet . After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , the Active served with the flotilla in the western Mediterranean from September 1936 to protect British interests and prevent arms deliveries to the warring parties. After a collision, the destroyer was repaired in Malta, but then relocated home, as the newer I-class destroyers replaced Antelope and her sister ships in the "3rd Destroyer Flotilla" in the Mediterranean Fleet. The A-class ships were overhauled and assigned to the reserve. Antelope joined the reserve in February 1937 and remained in Portsmouth until the outbreak of war .

War missions

At the beginning of the war, the ship was used in the 18th Flotilla in the English Channel and to secure the southern access routes to the British Isles. The tasks also included securing convoy trains in this area, which in particular included the troop transports to France . On February 5, 1940, the German submarine U 41 was sunk south of Ireland .

In April 1940 the destroyer was used in the attempted defense against the German landing in Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) to cover ships of the Home Fleet . On April 19, the Antelope accompanied the French cruiser Emile Bertin, which was damaged by the Air Force near Namsos, to Scapa Flow . Then she secured with the destroyers Acheron and Beagle the relocation of the aircraft carrier Glorious to the carrier group operating off the Norwegian coast. On June 13, the Antelope failed for further service with the carrier group when she collided with HMS Electra in thick fog while securing the carrier Ark Royal on the approach to an attack on Trondheim . Because of the necessary repairs, the destroyer was out of action for almost two months. The planned use at the landing company in Dakar ( Operation Menace ) was omitted because the destroyer had to guide the cruiser Fiji, which had been damaged by a torpedo hit shortly after the unit left the ship, back to the Clyde .

The ship was then assigned to the 12th destroyer flotilla stationed in Greenock , whose units were mainly used for escort service in the area of ​​the north-western access routes of the British Isles. As part of the cover of the westbound escort OB 237 Antelope succeeded in sinking U 31 together with the sister ship Achates on November 2, 1940 northwest of Ireland . Antelope took the 43 survivors of the submarine on board. An attempt to board the sinking submarine, which was abandoned by the crew, resulted in a collision with considerable damage to the destroyer.

Operations in 1941

In March 1941, the destroyer was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, which secured the Home Fleet's operations . This also included missions to protect the miners who strengthened the Northern Barrage . These were minefields from the Orkneys over the Faroe Islands and Iceland to the Denmark Strait , which were supposed to make it difficult for German surface ships and submarines to access the Atlantic.
In May 1941, the ship was involved in the search for the German battleship Bismarck ( Operation Rhine Exercise ). Antelope was part of the naval association around the battle cruiser Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales with the destroyers Electra , Anthony , Echo , Icarus and Achates , which ran from Scapa Flow to the sea area south of Iceland. After the battle with the German ships at the exit of the Denmark Strait , the destroyer searched in vain for survivors of the Hood . After a fuel replenishment in Iceland, the destroyer was assigned to the security of the Victorious and remained in action off Iceland for the following weeks.
On June 25, 1941, the Anthony , secured and supported by the Antelope , towed her sister ship Achates to Iceland. The Achates was driven by contaminated fuel in a British minefield of "Northern Barrage" after an engine failure and had lost by the explosion of a British sea mine their bow. In the accident, 63 men of the crew of the Achates had lost their lives and another 25 were seriously injured. After an emergency repair in Iceland, the Antelope was supposed to accompany a tug with the severely damaged sister ship to the Tyne for final repairs . The tow trip had to be interrupted in the Faroe Islands for another emergency repair because the remaining hull was no longer able to withstand the weather. Antelope moved to Scapa Flow and came on two more missions in the North Sea . The destroyer was to take part in two planned commando operations. While a planned occupation of the Portuguese Azores was given up for the time being, an advance to Svalbard took place. The coal mines operated by Russians and Norwegians there were evacuated and made unusable for feared use by the Germans. The operation, known as
Operation Gauntlet , began in mid-August. Antelope secured the deployed troop transport Empress of Australia (formerly Tirpitz ) with the destroyers Anthony and Icarus during the action , which they also accompanied to Arkhangelsk with the evacuated Soviet mines . Subsequently, at the end of September 1941 , the Antelope was also used as a safety device in the first phase of the first regular northern sea escort PQ 1 . The destroyer was then repaired from November 1941 to February 1942.

Deployments in 1942

The overhauled destroyer was assigned to the "23rd Escort Group" in Greenock in February 1942 to secure North Atlantic convoys. As early as March he moved from the Clyde to Gibraltar to secure the troop escort WS 17 . There the destroyer was assigned to the "13th Destroyer Flotilla" and was used with the Force H in the Mediterranean . He served as an escort for aircraft carriers ( USS Wasp , HMS Eagle ), of which Spitfire - fighters to Malta were flown, and convoys , mostly war material for the British troops in North Africa transported and supplies for Malta. During Operation Harpoon in June, the Antelope towed the light cruiser Liverpool , which had been badly damaged by air raids by the Axis powers off Cape Bon, back to Gibraltar. In August, the Antelope was involved in Operation Pedestal , which for the first time in six months enabled some supply carriers to be directed to Malta. Slightly damaged in the air raids on the convoy, the Antelope then moved to Freetown and secured from there or Bathurst, nowadays Banjul , convoys.

In November 1942, the destroyer moved back to Gibraltar for Operation Torch and then led supply convoys for the Allied troops landed in French North Africa as part of Operation Torch .

Another fate

On January 19, 1943, the Antelope and the Canadian corvette Port Arthur sank the Italian submarine Tritone off the Algerian coast near Bougie . After strengthening the anti -submarine and anti-aircraft armament at the expense of the main artillery and a torpedo tube set, the destroyer was used as a base from spring 1943 to August 1944 to secure convoys in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, mostly from Gibraltar. In September 1944 the destroyer returned to Portsmouth and was decommissioned on the Tyne in early October 1944. In view of the age of the destroyer, the condition of its machinery and the increasing number of escort vehicles put into service, the ship was assigned to the reserve fleet in January 1945.

In January 1946, HMS Antelope was sold to Blyth for demolition .

literature

  • Michael J. Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. An international encyclopedia. Arms and Armor Press, London et al. 1988, ISBN 0-85368-910-5 .

Web links

Commons : A class destroyer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i Service History HMS Antelope
  2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 4th - 22nd February 1940, North Atlantic
  3. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 18.-27. May 1941, North Atlantic, Operation Rhine Exercise
  4. Rohwer: naval warfare, 19.8.- 3.9.1941, North Sea
  5. HMS Antelope (H36)