HMS Codrington (D65)
 The Codrington with the fifth 12 cm gun between the funnels
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HMS Codrington (D65) was the first newly built flotilla commander for the A-class of the British Royal Navy . It was larger than the destroyers of the new flotilla and had five 120 mm cannons. Like the following flotilla leaders of the "B" to "I" -class, it was named after a British naval officer, whose name only began with the letter of the class from the Exmouth . The flotilla leader was the Royal Navy's first Codrington . The name should be reminiscent of the Battle of Navarino just 100 years ago, in which Admiral Sir Edward Codrington (1770-1851) commanded the Allied fleet. Codrington had commanded the Orion ship of the line at the Battle of Trafalgar .
At the beginning of the Second World War , the flotilla leader was already part of the reserve. He distinguished himself in 1940 off Norway and during the evacuation of British troops from the mainland via Dunkirk and received appropriate battle honors . On July 27, 1940, the ship was irreparably damaged by a near hit in an air raid in the port of Dover and could not be repaired.
History of the ship
The ship was ordered on March 6, 1928 with funds from the 1927 budget at Swan Hunter in Wallsend as the first flotilla commander after the end of the First World War . The keel of the new building with hull number 1355 was laid on June 20, 1928 and launched on August 7, 1929. The ship was a further development of the Scott-class flotilla commanders from the end of the First World War, taking into account the plans of the two prototypes Amazon and Ambuscade for the future construction of new destroyers. The flotilla leader was six meters longer than the "A" -class destroyers to accommodate another 120 mm gun and on the bridge for the flotilla chief and his staff.
The nine flotilla leaders of the "A" to "I" classes did not form a uniform class like the last Scott or Shakespeare class flotilla leaders appointed during the World War . The three following flotilla leaders Keith , Kempenfeldt and Duncan received no longer hulls and no additional artillery; Exmouth and Faulknor then restored the extended hull of the Codrington and the fifth 120 mm gun. The last three flotilla commanders for the "G" to "I" class also had the fifth gun between the funnels, but were no longer as much longer as the associated standard destroyers.
see also The flotilla leaders of the A to I class
In February 1930, the Codrington test drives began , which reached a speed of 37.74 kn (69.89 km / h) on its mile test drive . The larger turning circle of the ship, which was delivered on June 4, 1930, proved to be disadvantageous for association use. At this point in time seven "A" class destroyers had been delivered; only the Acheron , which was to receive a different boiler system, had not yet been delivered.
Peace operations
The Codrington and the “A” -class destroyers formed the “3. Destroyer Flotilla ”, which was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet . They replaced the flotilla leader Keppel and destroyers of the V and W classes . In addition to the exercises, the flotilla stationed in Malta also carried out an extensive program of visits. From 1935 onwards, the situation in the Mediterranean became more tense due to the intensifying conflicts with Italy. The Abyssinia crisis led to a considerable increase in the Mediterranean fleet in autumn 1935. In addition, from the summer of 1936 came the Spanish Civil War , which, in addition to the additional political tensions in Europe, also led to a considerable endangerment of British interests and British citizens.
In 1937 the Codrington and the destroyers of the "A" class in the "3. Destroyer Flotilla ”replaced by the new“ I ”-class destroyers. After a short time from June 1937 in the reserve in Devonport, the ship was used in 1938 in Plymouth as an engine training ship. In 1939 the ship was overhauled because of its failure-prone engine and was ready for use again shortly before the start of the war. She was reactivated as the flotilla leader of a newly formed "19th Destroyer Flotilla" in Sheerness, to which the reactivated destroyers of the "B" class belonged.
War missions
When the war began, the ship was used in home waters. His tasks included securing convoys in this area, including in particular the troop transports to France . These brought Codrington also prominent visitors to the continent. So on December 4, 1939, the British King George VI. on the flotilla leader from Dover to Boulogne to a troop visit to the British Expeditionary Force stationed in France and returned on the Codrington on the 10th from Boulogne to Dover.
On January 4, 1940, Winston Churchill , First Lord of the Admiralty , used the ship to travel to France and on February 5, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sailed with Winston Churchill and other military leaders from Dover to Boulogne to attend a meeting of the Allied council of war to travel to Paris.
Operation off Norway
The now as a flotilla in the "1st Destroyer Flotilla" in Harwich as a substitute for the fall in Grenville used Codrington was the beginning of April 1940, an Allied operation against Norway participate. These plans were abandoned when the Germans surprisingly occupied Norway and Denmark ( Enterprise Weser Exercise ). The ship was used by the security forces of the Home Fleet. From April 24 to 27, 1940, Codrington and the destroyer Fame led the French troop escort FP.2 from Scapa Flow to Harstad . The 27th Alpenjäger Half-Brigade was transferred to Norway on three French troop carriers . The association was also secured by the French large destroyers Tartu , Chevalier-Paul and Milan . On the 28th, the Codrington carried out a reconnaissance trip to Narvik with the Allied Commander in Chief, Admiral of the Fleet Earl of Cork and Orrery , and the French commander, General Béthouart , and shelled German positions on the way.
Evacuations
The German attack in the west led to the withdrawal of the ship from Norway on May 10 and relocation to Dover. On May 13, the flotilla leader evacuated members of the Dutch royal family from IJmuiden to Great Britain in exile.
At the end of May / beginning of June 1940, the Codrington and many other ships evacuated Allied troops encircled around Dunkirk ( Operation Dynamo ). She made seven voyages and was one of the few destroyers that was not significantly damaged despite ongoing air strikes. Corresponding operations from northern French ports followed.
The end of Codrington
In late July 1940 in the in Dover lying Codrington conducted a boiler cleaning. In one of the first major air raids by the German Air Force on Great Britain, the destroyer leader sank on July 27, 1940 in the port of Dover after a close hit by a Ju-88 bomber . The explosion broke the keel of the ship, which sank in the harbor basin. Since it was not hit directly, only three were injured. The Codrington wreck was only cleared after the war.
Individual evidence
- ↑ CODRINGTON
- ↑ a b c d e f g h service history HMS Codrington
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 24-28, 1940 Norway
literature
- Mike J. Whitley: Destroyer in World War II. Technology, classes, types. ( Destroyers of World War Two. ) 2nd edition Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 .
Web links
- HMS CODRINGTON (D 65) - A-class Flotilla Leader on naval-history.net; accessed on May 20, 2016
- HMS CODRINGTON (D 65) on uboat.net; accessed on May 20, 2016
- Codrington 1930 on tynebuiltships.co; accessed on May 20, 2016
- Chronicle of naval warfare 1939–1945
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