HMS Greyhound (H05)

HMS Greyhound

The Greyhound in World War I

Ship data flag  United Kingdom Ship type destroyer class G class Shipyard Vickers Armstrong , Barrow-in-Furness Build number 699 Order March 5, 1934 Keel laying September 20, 1934 Launch August 15, 1935 Commissioning February 1, 1936 Whereabouts Sunk May 22, 1941

Ship dimensions and crew length 98.5 m ( Lüa ) 95.1 m ( Lpp ) width 10.1 m Draft Max. 3.78 m displacement Standard : 1,350 ts Maximum: 1,854 ts   crew 145 men

Machine system machine 3 Admirality 3-drum steam boiler 2 Parsons turbines with single gear Machine performance 34,000 PS (25,007 kW) Top speed 36 kn (67 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 4 120 mm L / 45 Mk.IX guns 2 × 4 Vickers machine guns 0.5 in. (12.7 mm) 2 × 4 torpedo tubes 533 mm; from 1940: 1 × 4 TR 20–35 depth charges 2 launchers, 1 drop rail Mine detection equipment from 1940: 1 76 mm L / 45 Mk.II gun for the rear TR set Sensors Type 121 sonar

HMS Greyhound (H05) was one of eight G-class destroyers of the British Royal Navy . In the Second World War the destroyer was awarded the Battle Honors "Atlantic 1939", "Norway 1940", "Dunkirk 1940", "Spartivento 1940", "Matapan 1941", "Crete 1941", "Libya 1941", " Malta Convoys 1941 " and “Mediterranean 1941”.

The destroyer was sunk by the Luftwaffe near Crete on May 22, 1941 .

History of the ship

The ship was launched on August 15, 1935 as part of a class of eight destroyers at Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness , Cumbria . It entered service on January 31, 1936.

The destroyer was initially used together with the majority of its sister ships in the 1st destroyer flotilla in the waters around the British Isles. His tasks after the start of the war included, in particular, securing convoys and warships in the waters around the British Isles .

In November 1939, HMS Greyhound took part in the recovery of survivors of the sunk Dutch passenger ship Simon Bolivar and in April / May 1940 in the operations during the campaign in Norway in connection with the landing of German troops there (Operation Weser Exercise ).

At the end of May / beginning of June 1940 Greyhound was used together with many other ships in the evacuation of the allied troops encircled around Dunkirk ( Operation Dynamo ). On May 29, 1940, the ship received hits from German coastal batteries in the engine room, but was able to call at Dover with the help of the Polish destroyer ORP Błyskawica .

From July 1940, the destroyer was assigned as part of the 8th destroyer flotilla of Force H in Gibraltar . In September 1940 the ship was used in the failed attempt to occupy Dakar ( Operation Menace ); In one battle, however, it was possible, together with the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, to damage the French large destroyer L'Audacieux so badly that it had to be stranded to prevent it from sinking.

As the Italian submarine Bianchi early November 1940 tried through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic to arrive, HMS could Greyhound it by depth charges as heavy damage to the submarine Tangier need to start a port of refuge. During the month, the destroyer was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet with the main base in Alexandria . There he was assigned to the 14th destroyer flotilla.
In the other major operations of the year, the attack on Taranto and the Battle of Cape Teulada , Greyhound covered cruisers and battleships of the Royal Navy.

In early 1941 the destroyer took part as an escort in one of the Malta convoy. Subsequently, on January 19, 1941, the destroyer succeeded in sinking the Italian submarine Neghelli , which had previously torpedoed a freighter from a Piraeus escort. From January 20 to 22, Greyhound moved with the destroyers Jervis , Juno and Janus at maximum speed from Alexandria via the Suda Bay to Malta, from there to accompany the aircraft carrier Illustrious, which was severely damaged by the air force, to Alexandria from 23 to 25, after the Arsenal Malta had temporarily repaired the damage so far that the carrier could run 24 knots and be steered again. The ship achieved another success on March 6, 1941, when it succeeded in sinking the submarine Anfitrite , which had previously tried to attack a British convoy east of Crete . In late March 1941, Greyhound took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan . During the evacuation of mainland Greece in April 1941 ( Operation Demon ) and in the following weeks, the ship was in continuous use.

The end of the greyhound

In the early phase of the airborne battle for Crete , the destroyer belonged to an association around the battleship Warspite , which had sailed as cover for a cruiser group that was supposed to prevent German landings on the island from the sea. On May 22, 1941, the squadron in the Kythera Canal was attacked by German bomber units. Here HMS was Greyhound of Ju-87 - dive bombers hit and sunk.

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

• Chronicle of naval warfare 1939–1945

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 23- 25 January 1941 Mediterranean