HMS Duncan (D99)
 The Duncan at sea in 1943
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HMS Duncan (D99) was the destroyer of the D-class of the British Royal Navy built flotilla . During the Second World War , the ship was awarded the Battle Honors “Spartivento 1940”, “ Malta Convoys 1941 ”, “Mediterranean 1941”, “Atlantic 1941–45” and “Diego Suarez 1942”.
Shortly after the end of the war, the Duncan was sold for demolition.
history
The leader ship of the D-class was ordered in February 1931 with the eight destroyers of the class. Different from the A-class flotilla commander , but like the B- and C-class flotilla commander , the new pilot ship should largely correspond to the normal destroyers of the class. The external dimensions and the armament were the same. The difference was in the room layout and the scope of the superstructures, which had to create space for living and working rooms for the flotilla staff. The order for the master ship went to the naval shipyard in Portsmouth , which had previously received orders for two largely identical C-class destroyers, which were delivered in September 1931. The keel-laying of the new flotilla leader took place on September 29, 1931 and the ship was christened on July 7, 1932. It was the fifth ship in the Navy to be named after Admiral Adam Duncan (1731-1804). The last name was the type ship Duncan of the Duncan class from 1901 to 1920. The new flotilla commander, whose machinery was supplied by Beardmore, came into service with the Navy on August 31, 1933 as the last unit of the class.
Mission history
Together with the other units of the D-class, the Duncan replaced from the end of 1932 in the 1st Destroyer Flotilla belonging to the Mediterranean fleet , a flotilla of V- and W-class destroyers that had been run by the Montrose until then . In the autumn of 1933 the newly equipped 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 relocation, so the Duncan at her shipyard in Portsmouth. She then led the majority of the destroyers assigned to her to Hong Kong around the turn of the year , where she arrived on January 3, 1935. The tensions with Italy ( Abyssinia crisis ) led to the temporary relocation of up to seven ships of the flotilla to the Red Sea and a renewed temporary assignment to the Mediterranean fleet. The destroyers subordinate to the Duncan arrived again in the Far East in the course of 1936. Some of them had visited British ports in India and East Africa on their return journey. The flotilla leader dropped out at the turn of the year for repairs, as he had suffered damage during a refueling exercise at sea. In the following years, up to the outbreak of war in 1939, the Duncan and parts of the flotilla visited ports in Japan , the Philippines , Thailand and the Dutch East Indies on friendship visits. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in the summer of 1937 and the Japanese attacked Shanghai in mid-August , the Duncan and the Sloop Falmouth, who were also present , tried to evacuate British nationals to Woosung . When the tribal destroyer flotillas were classified in the numbering system in May 1939, the flotilla still stationed at the China Station in Hong Kong was given the designation "21st Destroyer Flotilla".
First deployments in the world war
At the beginning of the Second World War, a division of the flotilla with the destroyers Decoy , Defender , Delight and Duchess was already outside the station area on the march into the Mediterranean, where they joined the Mediterranean fleet on September 19 in Alexandria . The Duncan was in Shanghai and followed via Hong Kong, Singapore , Colombo and Aden until October 1, also to Alexandria. It was from the 10th Hong Kong from where Amoy coming Dainty also from and from 14 from Singapore Daring accompanied. Due to incomplete boiler repairs, only Diana (Hong Kong) and Diamond (Singapore) remained in the Far East for the time being.
In the Mediterranean, the Duncan and her destroyers were used to secure convoys between Egypt and Malta and on to the heights of Algiers . All units were also repaired in Alexandria or Malta during the following months. At the beginning of December 1939, the Duncan and the Duchess secured the transfer of the battleship Barham home. Early in the morning on the 12th, shortly before the finish line, the Barham overran the Duchess , who sank with the 137 men. Echo and Eclipse were only able to save 23 men, while the Exmouth and Duncan continued their voyage into the Clyde with the battleship .
The Duncan was then assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Home Fleet and was the ship of the commanding officer in Norway escort ON 8, which left Methil on January 15, 1940 with ten merchant ships . On January 17, 1940, the Duncan collided with the Norwegian Haukesfjell (2495 GRT) off Duncansby Head . The heavily damaged flotilla leader was dragged into Invergordon by the Impulsive ; the tow was secured by the Exmouth . The severely damaged Duncan was towed to Rosyth after an emergency repair and repaired at the naval shipyard there until the end of July 1940.
Use with the Force H
The Duncan returned to the Home Fleet in August 1940 and was reassigned with other Force H units in Gibraltar in October . With this she took part in the 13th destroyer flotilla in November 1940 in the "Operation Collar", which led to the sea battle at Cape Teulada (Spartivento). However, the Duncan with the Wishart led the convoy ME.4 secured by four corvettes and destined for the eastern Mediterranean away from the battle. In addition, the convoy was secured by the cruiser Coventry, which had come from the east, with five other destroyers.
On the first day of 1941 the Duncan with the cruiser Bonaventure and the destroyers Jaguar , Foxhound , Hero and Firedrake brought a Vichy-French convoy with the passenger steamer Chantilly (9986 BRT, built in 1922), the tanker Octane (2034 BRT) Freighters Suroit (2318 GRT) and Sally Maersk (3252 GRT) and an armed trawler as an escort between Mellila and Oran , after having passed the Strait of Gibraltar unmolested. The Jaguar and Duncan fired a volley of machine guns at the Chantilly , killing a man and a child and wounding four other people. Over the course of the year, the destroyer leader was repeatedly in action with the Force H in the Mediterranean. It 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.
At the Eastern Fleet and remodeling
During the landing operations of allied troops on Madagascar ( Operation Ironclad ) in April 1942, the ship was entrusted with the escort of the battleships and aircraft carriers used in the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean . From August 27, the Duncan directed the battleship Royal Sovereign from Kilindi via South Africa to October 5 to Freetown . At sea, the two ships in the Atlantic Ocean separated since the overhaul should be made of the battleship in the US, while the destroyer leader in the UK to a destroyer escort was rebuilt. The renovation took place from November 1942 to March 1943 in Tilbury . After that, the ship only had two 120 mm cannons in the elevated positions, plus two twin and two single 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, a torpedo tube set and a Hedgehog volley launcher on the foredeck instead of the lower bow gun and 98 depth charges on the Rear.
Use as escort destroyer
In the following months of the war, Duncan was used to secure convoys in the North Atlantic as the lead ship of the "Escort Group B.7". During this time the destroyer was involved in the sinking of the German submarines U 274 and U 282 . U 274 was sunk on October 23, 1943 together with the Vidette, which had been converted into a long range escort , and a Liberator of the RAF southwest of Iceland. Two days later, U 282 was sunk together with Vidette and the corvette Sunflower southeast of Greenland.
From the end of 1944, the Duncan's main focus was around Ireland. She belonged to the 14th Escort Group operating from Liverpool with the destroyers Fame , Forester , Hotspur , Havelock , Icarus and Inconstant as well as the Canadian Assiniboine . At the end of the war, she continued to belong to this group that had been stationed in Portsmouth since early 1945. The destroyer leader was used up, around five tons of water had to be pumped out of the ship every day. The ship was therefore sold for demolition in September 1945.
Individual evidence
- ↑ German : Amazon to Ivanhoe. Pp. 51, 59.
- ↑ CONVOY ON 8 - UK-Norway
- ↑ BRITISH and navies OTHER DAY-BY-DAY
- ↑ a b c d HMS Duncan - D-class Flotilla Leader
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 24.-29. November 1940 Mediterranean
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. January 1, 1941 Mediterranean
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 4-8.5.1942 Indian Ocean
- ↑ Service History HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN - Royal Sovereign-class 15in gun Battleship
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. October 23 - November 8, 1943 North Atlantic
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 16–31 December 1944 North Atlantic / Canal
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 14 - April 20, 1945 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 .
- Norman Friedman: British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 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
HMS Kempenfelt / HMCS Assiniboine .svg){kind=small}
(Flotilla Leader)
Comet / Restigouche |
Crescent / Fraser † |
Crusader / Ottawa † |
Cygnet / St.Laurent
HMS Duncan (Flotilla Leader)
Dainty † |
Daring |
Decoy / Kootenay |
Defender † |
Delight |
Diamond † |
Diana / Margaree † |
Duchess †