HMS Fearless (H67)

HMS *Fearless*
Ship data
flag	United Kingdom
Ship type	destroyer
class	F class
Shipyard	Cammell Laird , Birkenhead
Build number	995
Order	March 17, 1933
Keel laying	July 17, 1933
Launch	May 12, 1934
Commissioning	December 22, 1934
Whereabouts	Sunk 23 July 1941 himself
Ship dimensions and crew
length	100.28 m ( Lüa ) 97.0 m ( Lpp )
width	10.13 m
Draft	Max. 3.81 m
displacement	1405 ts standard ; 1901 ts maximum
crew	145-185 men
Machine system
machine	3 Admirality 3-drum steam boilers; 2 Parsons steam turbines with single gear
Machine ; performance	36,000 PS (26,460 kW )
Top ; speed	36 kn (67 km / h)
propeller	2
Armament
	4 × 4.7 inch naval guns ; 2 × 4 0.5-inch anti-aircraft machine guns ; 2 × 4 21-inch torpedo tubes ; 20 depth charges , ; 2 launchers, 1 drainage rail; Mine detection equipment; last: 3 × 120 mm (4.7 ") marine guns; 1 × 3 "(76 mm) Fla gun ; 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon ; 2 × 4 Vickers 0.5-inch anti-aircraft machine guns; 1 × 4 torpedo tubes 21 inches; 70 depth charges, ; 4 launchers, 1 drainage rail; Mine detection equipment;
Armor
	Type 121 sonar

HMS Fearless (H67) was a destroyer that entered service with the British Royal Navy in December 1934 as the first F-class ship . During the Second World War , the destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors "Norway 1940", "Atlantic 1941", " Malta Convoys 1941 " and "Mediterranean 1941".

In 1941 the Fearless deployed in the Force H in Gibraltar was torpedoed by an Italian torpedo bomber as it approached to secure the "Convois Substance" to Malta . The severely damaged and burning destroyer was torpedoed by the sister ship Forester after taking over the remaining crew about 50 nautical miles NNE from Bône (today Annaba) at the position 37 ° 40 ′ N , 8 ° 20 ′ E, coordinates: 37 ° 40 ′ 0 Sunk ″ N , 8 ° 20 ′ 0 ″ E. She was the first loss of a ship of the class. 37.666666666667 8.3333333333333

history

When the Royal Navy ordered new destroyers for the sixth time in March 1933, Cammell, Laird & Company in Birkenhead received an order for two new destroyers for the first time since World War II . Since 1893 the shipyard has been one of the most important suppliers of destroyers to the Royal Navy with over 50 newbuildings ranging from the 26 knottern torpedo boat destroyers to flotilla commanders of the Admiralty or Scott class . The keel-laying of the two new orders, which were built under construction numbers 995 and 996 , took place in July 1933. HMS Fearless was launched on the River Mersey on May 12, 1934 as the first ship of the class and was also the first ship of the F class on May 22 Commissioned December 1934.

The new building was the sixth ship in the Royal Navy to be named Fearless . The previous name bearer was the active-class scout cruiser Fearless . It was used in World War I and scrapped in 1921.

The ship together with its sister ships formed the 6th destroyer flotilla, which was assigned to the Home Fleet . The 6th Flotilla moved to Gibraltar from September 1935 to April 1936 because of the Abyssinia crisis between Great Britain and Italy . The Spanish civil war then led to the participation of the flotilla in the so-called neutrality patrols off the southern Spanish coast from January 1936 and from April with part of the flotilla in front of the Spanish ports on the Bay of Biscay . Part of the flotilla was used for these tasks until 1939, including the Fearless for the last three months from January 1939. This was her fourth mission on the Spanish coast.

In May 1939 the flotilla was renamed "8th Destroyer Flotilla" when the previously numbered flotillas of the tribal destroyers were classified in the numbering system.

War missions

After the start of the war, the ship remained with the Home Fleet, but was repeatedly used for submarine hunts together with other destroyers . During one of these searches he succeeded, together with the Faulknor , the Forester and the Fortune , on September 20, 1939 , sinking the German submarine U 27 near the Hebrides .

In 1940 the destroyer was used in the attempted defense against the German landing in Norway ( company Weserübungen ) to secure ships of the Home Fleet. He was on April 15, along with the Brazen before Vågsfjord U 49 with depth charges to sink.

Two months later, the Admiralty assigned the Fearless with the 8th Flotilla and its sister ships to the newly formed Force H , which was stationed in Gibraltar . The first task of the new unit was the neutralization of the French navy in Mers-el-Kébir ( Operation Catapult ).

In the following year, the destroyer was repeatedly used 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. The ship was also used as a fast mine sweeper.

During an advance into the Atlantic Ocean in the course of the search for German suppliers following the sinking of the battleship Bismarck , the Fearless succeeded together with her sister ships Faulknor , Forester , Foresight and Foxhound on June 18, 1941, the German submarine U 138 westward sink from Cape Trafalgar . A week later, the Alstertor blockade breaker sank himself when the destroyer group approached.

A few weeks later the destroyer ran back into the Mediterranean as part of the remote security for another Malta convoy. During an attack by Italian torpedo bombers of the type SM.79 , the Fearless was hit on the stern north of Bône by a torpedo on July 23, 1941 . The ship caught fire and had to be sunk by the Forester after the engine failed.

Individual evidence

^ Royal Navy Organization 1919-1939

literature

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

[1] Royal Navy Organization 1919-1939