HMS Duchess (H64)

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HMS Duchess
The duchess
The duchess
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class D class
Shipyard Palmers , Jarrow , Newcastle
Build number 1007
Order February 2, 1931
Keel laying June 20, 1931
Launch July 19, 1932
Commissioning January 27, 1933
Whereabouts December 12 after hitting 1939 Barham declined
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 PS (26,478 kW)
Top
speed 		36 kn (67 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
Sensors

Type 121 sonar

HMS Duchess (H64) was a D- class destroyer of the British Royal Navy . Stationed in China at the outbreak of World War II , the ship was first relocated to the Mediterranean and then to its home country. The destroyer was lost on December 12, 1939 as soon as it reached home waters. The battleship Barham rammed him and he sank with 137 men of the crew. The Duchess was the D-Class's first war loss.

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 had built a destroyer for the Royal Navy for the first time in 1895 with the "27 knotter" Janus (later A-Class ), which was followed by almost 50 more until the war building programs of the First World War were completed. In the new construction program, the order for the destroyers Brazen and Boreas of the B-class followed . The Duchess (hull number 1007) was launched on July 19, 1932. She was the fourth ship of the Royal Navy with the name Duchess (English Duchess) since 1652; last from 1916 to 1919 a mine sweeper with side-wheel drive carried the name, which was built in 1903 as a civilian paddle steamer. The new destroyer Duchess was delivered on January 24, 1933 as the last ship completed by the shipyard.

Mission history

Together with her sister ships, the Duchess replaced from the end of 1932 in the 1st destroyer flotilla, which was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet , a flotilla of destroyers of the V and W class, which had been run by the Montrose until then . At the end of 1934, the flotilla exchanged names and stationing location with the Keppel- led flotilla of V and W destroyers and became the "8th Destroyer Flotilla" at China Station . When the tribal destroyer flotillas were classified in the numbering system in May, the flotilla still stationed in Hong Kong was given the designation "21st Destroyer Flotilla".

At the beginning of the Second World War , a division of the flotilla with the destroyers Decoy , Defender , Delight and the Duchess was already on the march into the Mediterranean according to the mobilization plans, where they joined the Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria on September 19. In the Mediterranean, the Duchess and her sister ships were used to secure convoys between Egypt and Malta and on to the heights of Algiers .

End of the duchess

Before the end of the year, Duchess and the flotilla leader Duncan were given the task of escorting the battleship Barham from Malta into domestic waters. On December 6, 1939, the Union left Gibraltar and ran north west of Ireland to reach the Clyde. In the North Channel , Exmouth , Echo and Eclipse reinforced the battleship's security. At the height of the Mull of Kintyre all ships ran zigzag courses despite the thick fog due to the submarine danger. The routes of the destroyer and the battleship crossed. In the early morning of December 12, 1939, the battleship rammed the destroyer, which sank with 137 crew members (at position 55 ° 19 '  N , 6 ° 6'  W ). The destroyers Echo and Eclipse , which remained at the scene of the accident until daylight, were only able to save 23 castaways, while the Exmouth and Duncan continued their voyage into the Clyde with the battleship .

Renewed use of the name

The name Duchess was given to a Daring-class fleet destroyer that was put into service in 1951 . This ship was made available to the Royal Australian Navy in 1964 after the loss of the HMAS Voyager and only decommissioned in 1977. From 1980 the ship was demolished in Taiwan .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PS Duchess of Fife (1903)
  2. ↑ Shipbuilder: Palmer's Shipbuilding & Iron Company Ltd, Jarrow (1865-1933)
  3. ↑ 8.2 DESTROYER FLOTILLAS 1921-1939
  4. ↑ BRITISH and navies OTHER DAY-BY-DAY
  5. ^ Report on the collision with HMS Barham

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 .
  • MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0-85368-910-5

Web links