HMS Foresight (H68)

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HMS Foresight
HMS Foresight.jpg
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class F class
Shipyard Cammell Laird , Birkenhead
Order March 17, 1933
Keel laying July 21, 1933
Launch June 29, 1934
Commissioning May 15, 1935
Whereabouts Sunk himself on August 13, 1942
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 Admiralty 3-drum 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 "naval guns (4 × 1)
8 × 0.5" anti-aircraft machine guns (2 × 4)
8 × 21 " torpedo tubes (2 × 4)
60 depth charges

HMS Foresight (H68) was a destroyer of the F class of the British Royal Navy . In the Second World War , the destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors "Atlantic 1941", "Mediterranean 1941", " Malta Convoys 1941–42 " and "Artic 1942". During Operation Pedestal to supply Malta was foresight by Italian torpedo bombers of the type SM.79 met on 12 August 1942 at the rear. The maneuverable ship was sunk by the Tartar after taking over the crew.

History of the ship

HMS Foresight was one of two at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead on the River Mersey destroyers built F-class. The keel of the ship was laid on July 21, 1933 four days after the sister ship Fearless started at the same shipyard . The destroyer was launched on June 29, 1934 to Fearless , the Leader Faulknor and the Forester bei White and the Palmers destroyers Fame and Firedrake . The last three were launched the day before. Foresight entered service on May 15, 1935 as the fifth ship in the class after Fearless , Forester , Fame and Fortune by John Brown . The remaining four F-Class ships followed by June 21, 1935.
Fearless and Foresight were the first post-war destroyer builds from the Cammell Laird shipyard, which had first delivered (torpedo boat) destroyers to the Royal Navy in 1895. The Foresight was the fifth ship in the Navy since 1570 to bear that name. The last bearer of the name was a Sentinel- class scout cruiser from 1905 to 1920 based on a design by its Fairfield shipyard .

Mission history

Together with her sister ships, the Foresight initially formed the 6th destroyer flotilla, which was renamed the 8th in 1939 and was assigned to the Home Fleet .

After the start of the war, the ship remained with the Home Fleet. In 1940, the destroyer was then used in the attempted defense against the German landing in Norway ( Enterprise Weser Exercise ) to cover ships of the Home Fleet.

Two months later, the Admiralty assigned Foresight to the newly formed Force H , based in Gibraltar . The first task of the new unit was the neutralization of the French navy in Mers-el-Kébir ( Operation Catapult ). In September 1940 the ship was used in the failed attempt to occupy Dakar ( Operation Menace ); it was possible to sink the French submarine Persée together with Inglefield . The ship itself was damaged by a hit from a coastal battery . It then took part in the occupation of French Cameroon by Free French and British troops.

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 Foresight succeeded in the German submarine U 138 together with destroyer leader Faulknor and her sister ships Forester , Fearless and Foxhound on June 18, 1941 sink west of Cape Trafalgar .

Subsequently, the focus of operation of the destroyer was again in the Mediterranean as part of the security for Malta convoys. From the beginning of 1942, however , Foresight served several times as an escort for cruisers and battleships for remote security of northern sea convoys that were supplying the Soviet Union with war material. It was damaged in a battle with the German destroyers Z 24 and Z 25 in April. A short time later she had to sink the no longer drivable light cruiser Edinburgh . This had 4.5 tons of gold on board, with which the Soviet Union had paid for war material delivered.

The end of the foresight

In the middle of the year the destroyer was again used in the Mediterranean as an escort vehicle for Operation Pedestal . When attacking Italian torpedo bomber of the type SM.79 was the Foresight on August 12, 1942 north of Bône by a torpedo hit the stern. The ship was sunk by the Tartar because there was no chance of towing the badly damaged ship into a British port. After taking over the 181 survivors, the tribal destroyer torpedoed the damaged vessel , who was at 37 ° 40 ′  N , 10 ° 0 ′  E. Coordinates: 37 ° 40 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  E

literature

  • MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0853689105 .

Web links