HMS Exmouth (H02)

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HMS Exmouth
Exmouth, leaving Bilbao in 1936
Exmouth, leaving Bilbao in 1936
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class E-Class (Leader)
Shipyard HM Dockyard , Portsmouth
Order November 1, 1932
Keel laying May 15, 1933
baptism January 31, 1934
Commissioning November 11, 1934
Whereabouts Sunk by U 22 on January 21, 1940
Ship dimensions and crew
length
104.5 m ( Lüa )
101.2 m ( Lpp )
width 10.3 m
Draft Max. 3.81 m
displacement 1,495 ts standard
2,049 ts maximum
 
crew 175
Machine system
machine 3 Admiralty three drum boilers
2 Parsons - geared turbines
Machine
performance 		38,000
Top
speed 		37.75 kn (70 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
Sensors

Type 121 sonar

HMS Exmouth (H02) was the destroyer of the E-Class of the British Royal Navy built flotilla .

The ship, which was awarded the Battle Honor “Atlantic 1939” in World War II, was torpedoed by U 22 on January 21, 1940 and sank to 58 ° 18 ′  N , 2 ° 25 ′  W Coordinates: 58 ° 18 ′ 0 ″  N , 2 ° 25 ′ 0 ″  W with all its crew. 189 men lost their lives in the sinking of the flotilla leader.

History of the ship

The order for the flotilla commander of the E-class went to the naval shipyard in Portsmouth . With the destroyers Crusader and Comet in 1930, this shipyard was the first state shipyard to ever receive new construction orders for destroyers. In 1931, another mission followed with the command destroyer Duncan . The keel of the Exmouth was laid on May 5, 1933 in dry dock No 8, where the ship floated up on January 30, 1934 and was christened the following day. The Royal Navy's third Exmouth entered service on November 9, 1934. It was the shipyard's last destroyer to be built.
The flotilla leader was named after Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (1757-1833). A Duncan class ship of the line had previously carried his name from 1901 to 1920.

technical description

The Exmouth was the fifth flotilla commander of the newbuild program. Only the first, the Codrington for the A-Class , which was completed in 1930 , was 104.5 m longer than the destroyers that went with it and had a fifth main gun. The following flotilla leaders Keith , Kempenfelt and Duncan , also built in Portsmouth, did not differ in their hull from the destroyers of the flotillas they led. In terms of artillery armament, they did not differ from the ships in their flotillas, but at most in the extent of the equipment for fighting submarines or mines. The main difference was the size of the superstructure, which had to create space for the additional flotilla staff.
The Exmouth and the following leaders abandoned this practice. They became longer again and had five main guns. The Exmouth was 343 feet ( 104.5 m) long, like the Codrington, was 33.75 ft (10.3 m) wide and had a draft of 12.5 ft (3.8 m) . She was 4.2 m longer and 0.5 ft wider and had the same draft as the associated destroyer. The machinery was a little more powerful with 38,000 hp in order to achieve the same top speed. The fuel supply of 470 tn. l. corresponded to that of the destroyer and enabled the same cruising range of 6350 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots . With 1495 ts standard and 2049 ts maximum, the displacement of the flotilla leader was greater than that of the standard destroyer with 1405 ts and 1940 ts, respectively.

In terms of armament, the only difference was the additional main gun, which was placed on a platform between the funnels. The flotilla had five separate 4,7 inch - (120-mm) L / 45-Mk.IX guns . For this purpose, the two anti-aircraft Vierlings- Vickers - 0.5 inch Mk.III machine guns , as well as 2 Vierlings- torpedo tube rates for 21 inch (533 mm) -Torpedos. For anti-submarine defense, he also had a drop rail and two launchers for depth charges . The stock of originally 20 depth charges was increased to 35 shortly after the start of the war. The crew of the ship consisted of 175 men in peacetime, 30 more than on the destroyers of the flotilla.

Mission history

Together with the associated destroyers, Exmouth replaced the Flotilla Leader Wallace and eight V- and W-Class destroyers in the 5th Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Home Fleet from autumn 1934 . The flotilla accompanied the Home Fleet on the West Indies voyage from January to March 1935. Because of the Abyssinia crisis , the flotilla was seconded to the Mediterranean Fleet from September 1935 to March 1936 . During the Spanish Civil War , the units of the 5th Flotilla were used in the so-called neutrality patrols to enforce the decisions of the Committee for Non-Interference in the Affairs of Spain . On October 22, 1936, the Exmouth Bilbao left with the chairman and other members of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) in order to exile them from Franco's troops. The last use of the ship before Spain ended in March 1939. After that, the ship was used for training and local tasks in Portsmouth. Shortly before the start of the Second World War, the E-Class units were replaced by the newly arriving K-Class destroyers .

After the start of the war, the ship was again used as the lead ship of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla with six E-Class destroyers, which had already been set up in August, together with the Home Fleet, for example during the advance of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau into the Shetland - Faroe Islands - Iceland strait in November 1939. The Exmouth secured with Echo and Eclipse an advance of the battle cruiser Hood into the Atlantic south of Ireland , which, in cooperation with the French Atlantic fleet around the battleship Dunkerque, intercepted German ships in a possible breakout into the Atlantic south of Iceland and after German trade disruptors should look for.

The end of Exmouth

These missions alternated with escort duties on the British east coast and between Great Britain and Norway . During one such convoy , Exmouth was sunk by a torpedo from the German submarine U 22 on January 21, 1940 near Wick , Caithness , in the Moray Firth . The torpedo hit just above the front magazine , which immediately exploded. The escorted merchant ship Cyprian Prince (1998 BRT, Bj. 1937) was not hit by the submarine and continued its voyage without stopping. The Exmouth's entire crew of 189 men were killed in the sinking.

The wreck was only found in 2001 after a long search. As a recognized war cemetery, it is subject to special legal protection.

Reusing the name

HMS Exmouth (F84) 1961 in its original form ...
... and after the renovation

From 1957, the Royal Navy again had a ship of this name with the frigate Exmouth (F84) built by White . The Blackwood class (Type 14) ship was a small AS frigate. From 1966 she was converted into a test ship with gas turbine propulsion only and then returned to service in 1968. In 1979 the ship was canceled.

Individual notes

  1. ^ A b Service History HMS Exmouth-E-class Flotilla Leader
  2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 21.-27. November 1939, 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 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

Commons : E and F Class  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files