HMS Diana (H49)

HMS Diana

The Diana

Ship data flag  United Kingdom of Canada   other ship names 1940: HMCS  Margaree Ship type destroyer class D class Shipyard Palmers , Jarrow , Newcastle Build number 1006 Order February 2, 1931 Keel laying June 20, 1931 Launch June 16, 1932 Commissioning December 21, 1932 September 6, 1940 Whereabouts October 22, 1940 after a collision with a motor boat Port Fairy dropped

Ship dimensions and crew length 100.3 m ( Lüa ) 96.9 m ( Lpp ) width 10.1 m Draft Max. 3.78 m displacement 1,375 ts standard 1,890 ts maximum   crew 145

Machine system machine 3 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 Parsons - geared turbines Machine performance 36,000 Top speed 36 kn (67 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 4 120 mm L / 45 Mk.IX guns 1 76 mm gun L / 45 Mk.II until 1938 2 40mm 2 pdr flak 2 × 4 torpedo tubes 533 mm 20–35 depth charges 2 launchers, 1 drop rail unclear whether the rear torpedo tube set was exchanged for a 76 mm anti-aircraft gun in 1940 Sensors Type 121 sonar

HMS Diana (H49) was a destroyer of the D-class of the British Royal Navy . The ship, which was put into service at the end of 1932, was awarded the Battle Honor "Norway 1940" during World War II .

In September 1940, the destroyer was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS Margaree (H49) . The destroyer sank on October 22, 1940 after a collision with a freighter in the North Atlantic . 141 men were killed in the sinking of the destroyer.

history

On February 2, 1931, the eight destroyers and the D- class flotilla leader were ordered from five British shipyards. The Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co. in Jarrow near Newcastle received the order to build two destroyers, the keel of which was laid under construction numbers 1006 and 1007 on June 20, 1931. The shipyard first built a destroyer for the Royal Navy in 1895. In the new build program between the world wars, in 1929, after around 50 destroyers had been built, the order for two B-class destroyers followed . The Diana (hull number 1006) was launched on June 16, 1932. She was the twelfth ship of the Royal Navy since 1757 with the name Diana after the goddess of hunting in the Roman mythology , the one until 1920 at least 1895 Fairfield built, protected cruiser of the Eclipse-class was conducted.

The cruiser Diana during the First World War

The cruiser, which was obsolete at the beginning of the First World War , was first used to monitor the western access to the English Channel, then from November 1915 on the China Station and finally in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. After the war ended in November 1918, the Diana returned to Great Britain and was decommissioned in June 1919. The new destroyer Diana was delivered on December 20, 1932 as the penultimate ship completed by the shipyard. Palmers has been in great economic trouble since the Great Depression and ceased operations, resulting in devastating unemployment in Jarrow.

Mission history

Together with her sister ships, the destroyer Diana replaced the 1st Destroyer Flotilla ("1st Destroyer Flotilla") from the end of 1932, which was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet , a flotilla of V- and W-class destroyers that had been run by the Montrose until then . In autumn 1933 the flotilla made a trip through the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf . At the end of 1934, the flotilla then exchanged name and stationing location with the Keppel- led flotilla of V and W destroyers and became the "8th Destroyer Flotilla" at China Station . All nine ships of the flotilla were overhauled in September / October 1934 at state shipyards in Great Britain before this transfer, according to the Diana in Sheerness . The tensions with Italy ( Abyssinia crisis ) led to the relocation of seven ships of the flotilla to the Red Sea and to the temporary subordination to the Mediterranean fleet. Diana was one of the destroyers with the longest service on this mission from September 1935 to May 1936. She then visited Bombay and, like other destroyers of the flotilla, British ports in East Africa and did not return to the China station until early August 1936. When in May 1939 the tribal destroyer flotillas were classified in the numbering system, the flotilla still stationed in Hong Kong was given the designation "21st Destroyer Flotilla". At the beginning of the Second World War, the D-class ships were still stationed in Hong Kong. They were then ordered back to the Mediterranean in September.

War missions

The Diana was not ready when the war began because of a commenced in Hong Kong boiler repair, which was not completed until mid-September 1939th The Diana did not leave Hong Kong until September 21, 1939 and reached Suez via Singapore and Colombo on October 11 . From the middle of October she took part with the seven D-Class units that had already arrived at the Mediterranain Fleet in the protection of British merchant shipping in the Mediterranean and the search for German ships or ships with cargo destined for Germany as well as in securing the heavy units of the Mediterranean fleet during relocation marches. The poor condition of the ships in the flotilla required almost all units to be overhauled in the British shipyards on the Mediterranean before they could be used again. The Diana was overhauled in November in the naval shipyard in Malta and then used again to monitor shipping traffic in the Mediterranean.

On December 21, the Diana left Malta with the sister ship Delight to secure the battleship Malaya , which was to be used in the North Atlantic in the future. The two destroyers were to move from Gibraltar further home, where they arrived before the end of the year. The D-Class ships ordered back home, such as the Diana , were formally subordinated to the “3rd Destroyer Flotilla” and deployed in the Home Fleet .

In April 1940 the ship was used in the attempted defense against the German landing in Norway ( company Weserübungen ) to cover ships of the Home Fleet . The Diana repeatedly secured the aircraft carriers Furious , Glorious and Ark Royal . On May 1, 1940 she supported the evacuation of Allied troops near Åndalsnes and transported the Norwegian commander in chief, Major General Otto Ruge , from Molde to Tromsø . The Diana remained in service off Norway until the Allies withdrew (Operation Alphabet) in early June 1940. In July 1940 a major overhaul of the destroyer began in London.

In Canadian service

The motor ship Port Fairy , enemy of the Diana collision

During this, the ship was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy on September 6, 1940 as a replacement for HMCS Fraser , which sank on June 25, 1940 in the Gironde after a collision with the anti-aircraft cruiser Calcutta . The Diana was renamed HMCS Margaree (H49) and was to be used as an escort for convoys in the future.

On October 17, 1940, the first use of the Margaree began as a destroyer escort on Convoi OL8 from Liverpool to Canada. On October 22, 1940, the destroyer collided in rough seas with the motor ship Port Fairy (1928, 8072 GRT) of the escort about 300 miles west of Ireland. The destroyer sank very quickly. The Port Fairy was able to save 34 castaways. The commander and 140 of the crew lost their lives in the sinking of the Margaree at 53 ° 24 '  N , 22 ° 50'  W .

Renewed use of the name

In front the Palacios ex Diana , 1973

Both names of the ship were reused in their navies. The Royal Navy put a destroyer into service in March 1954, which was named Diana (D126) . Launched at Yarrow in 1952, the Daring-class destroyer was sold to Peru in 1969. The ship, renamed Palacios there , was canceled in 1993.

DDH 230 Margaree 1990

The Royal Canadian Navy put a destroyer escort into service in October 1957 , which was named Margaree (DDE230) . The Canada-built St. Laurent-class ship , which would have been referred to as an anti-submarine frigate in other navies, was canceled in 1992 and sold for demolition in 1994.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ HMS DIANA - March 1915 to June 1919, Log book
2. ↑ Shipbuilder: Palmer's Shipbuilding & Iron Company Ltd, Jarrow (1865-1933)
3. ↑ German : Amazon to Ivanhoe. Pp. 51, 59.
4. ↑ 8.2 DESTROYER FLOTILLAS 1921–1939
5. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SHIPS, September 1939
6. ↑ NAVAL EVENTS SEPTEMBER 1939 Friday 15th - Saturday 30th
7. ^ Rohwer: Sea War , May 1-2, 1940 Norway
8. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. October 22, 1940 North Atlantic

literature

• John English: Amazon to Ivanhoe. British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. World Ship Society, Kendal 1993, ISBN 0-905617-64-9 .
• Norman Friedman: British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 2009, ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8 .
• 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

• Service History HMS DIANA (H 49), later HMCS MARGAREE - D-class Destroyer
• HMS Diana (H 49)
• HMCS Margaree (H 49)
• Chronicle of naval warfare 1939–1945