HMS Anthony (H40)
.jpg) HMS Anthony , 1943
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HMS Anthony (H40) was a destroyer of the A-Class of the British Royal Navy , which was used from 1930 to 1947. During the Second World War , the destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors "Dunkirk 1940", "Bismarck action 1941", "Diego Suarez 1942", "Atlantic 1940-44" and "English Channel 1944-45".
The destroyer survived World War II and was sold for demolition in 1948.
history
With the Ambuscade and the Amazon, the Royal Navy ordered two prototypes for the planned new destroyers of the Royal Navy, which were completed and tested before the summer of 1927. The experience with these destroyers flowed into the planning and construction of the first new series of destroyers ordered in March 1928 by the Royal Navy after the First World War , the A-class with one flotilla leader and eight destroyers. The order for two destroyers went to the Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock . The Scottish shipbuilding company, which has existed since 1711, received orders from the Royal Navy for the first time for destroyers of the Admiralty M-class in autumn 1914 as part of the war programs and then completed fifteen destroyers of various classes between February 1916 ( Obedient ) and October 1919 ( Sturdy ). The keel laying of the two newbuildings with construction numbers 538/539 took place on July 30, 1928. The third Anthony of the Royal Navy was launched on April 24, 1929 as the first of the two destroyers to be built at Scott's and the first of the class. The launch of the sister ship from the same shipyard, the Ardent , took place two months later. Anthony entered service on February 14, 1930 as the third ship of the class.
Mission history
HMS Anthony initially formed the "3rd Destroyer Flotilla" together with the other ships of this series, which was assigned to the British Mediterranean fleet. With their leader Codrington eight destroyers of the A-Class in 1930 replaced in this flotilla of eight destroyers of the V- and W-Class that were used there since 1921, and its leader Keppel . Anthony and the other A-Class units in the Mediterranean remained with the 3rd Flotilla until 1937, when they were replaced by the newer I-Class destroyers. Anthony came to the reserve in the Nore in March 1937 and was reactivated after twelve months for the local flotilla there . The Boadicea and the Blanche joined this flotilla at the eastern entrance to the English Channel in 1939 before the outbreak of war .
War missions
At the beginning of the war, the ship was used in the newly formed 18th Flotilla in Portland in the English Channel , to which the destroyers of the A-class should join in the event of war. However, the war situation barely allowed the destroyers to be deployed in larger units, so that membership of certain flotillas was less important. 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 remained in the canal. During the German attack on Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) it was not operational, but at the end of May 1940, together with many other ships, it evacuated the Allied troops encircled around Dunkirk ( Operation Dynamo ). Anthony was able to bring over 3,000 soldiers back to England and was sidelined on May 30th due to damage from a close-range bombing . After the repair, the ship remained with the 16th Destroyer Flotilla in Harwich .
After first deployments in the convoy security to the British Isles in August 1940, the destroyer moved in September to the 12th destroyer flotilla in Greenock to be used for convoy security on the North Western Approaches . On September 26, 1940, Anthony rescued 45 survivors from a lifeboat in the City of Benares , a British passenger ship that had been sunk on September 18 by the German submarine U 48 . The boat had drifted far away and was only found eight days later. There were six children among those rescued.
In May 1941, the ship was involved in the search for the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , who wanted to break out into the Atlantic ( Operation Rhine Exercise ). She belonged to the association of Admiral Lancelot Holland , who had marched with the battle cruiser Hood and the new battleship Prince of Wales from Scapa Flow into the sea area south of Iceland to intercept the German association. The six destroyers Electra , Echo , Icarus , Achates , Antelope and Anthony were supposed to secure this association . Since they could no longer follow the heavy ships in the sea conditions, they were released to Iceland about two hours before the battle in the Denmark Strait to refuel. The Anthony was as the other destroyer, the sinking of the Hood not on 24 May 1941 the battlefield. Only the Electra searched the place of the sinking and was able to save a survivor. The destroyers accompanied the damaged Prince of Wales to Iceland and were then assigned to the aircraft carrier Victorious as backup.
In July, the Anthony rescued her sister ship Achates , which was driven into a British minefield after an engine failure and had received a mine hit , causing it to lose parts of the fore ship. 63 Achates crew members died as a result of the mine hit, and another 25 were injured. Anthony towed the Achates to Iceland , where an emergency repair was taking place. In August a tug, secured by the Anthony , tried to bring the damaged vessel to Scotland. The association had to call at the Faroers in bad weather , as the Achates threatened to sink.
In early 1942, Anthony was briefly assigned to Force H , which had suffered significant losses in the previous months. The destroyer served as an escort for aircraft carriers , from which fighter planes were flown to Malta , and for convoys , which mostly transported war material for the British troops in North Africa and supplies for Malta.
During the landing operations of allied troops on Madagascar ( Operation Ironclad ) in March 1942, the ship was entrusted with escorting the battleships and aircraft carriers used ; it was also used for smaller landing operations behind enemy lines.
In the following months of the war, Anthony was used to secure convoys in the North Atlantic . For this purpose, the anti -submarine and anti-aircraft armament was reinforced at the expense of the main guns and a torpedo tube set. During this time, the destroyer was involved on February 26, 1944 with the destroyer Wishart and aircraft in the sinking of the German submarine U 761 in the Strait of Gibraltar .
In the summer of 1944, after landing in Normandy , the destroyer then escorted transports across the English Channel . During one of these escorts, in which HMS Brilliant was also involved, the Leopoldville troop transport torpedoed by U 486 sank off Cherbourg on December 24, 1944 . 819 men lost their lives when the van went down.
After the war ended, the ship was used as a target ship for naval aviators . In August 1947, HMS Anthony was removed from the list of active ships and then scrapped in 1949.
Individual evidence
- ^ Watson: BETWEEN THE WARS: ROYAL NAVY ORGANIZATION AND SHIP DEPLOYMENTS 1919–1939.
- ^ A b Service History HMS Anthony
- ↑ Uboatnet, Sept. 26, 1940
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 18.-05.27.1941, the North Atlantic, companies Rheinübung .
- ↑ Rohwer, December 1–31, 1944, North Atlantic and Canal, operations German snorkel submarines in British coastal waters.
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 et al. 1988, ISBN 0-85368-910-5 .
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