HMS Highlander (H44)

**Highlander**
Ship data
flag	< Brazil > United Kingdom ;
other ship names	< Jaguaribe >
Ship type	destroyer
class	H class, Javary type
Shipyard	Thornycroft , Woolston / Southampton
Order	December 16, 1937
Keel laying	September 28, 1938
Launch	October 17, 1939
Commissioning	March 18, 1940
Whereabouts	from May 1947 demolition
Ship dimensions and crew
length	98.5 m ( Lüa ) 95.1 m ( Lpp )
width	10.1 m
Draft	Max. 3.89 m
displacement	Standard : 1,400 ts; maximum: 1,930 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
	3 - 120mm L / 45 Mk.IX guns ; 2 × 4 - 12.7-mm - Fla - MG ; Mid 1940: 2 × 4 torpedo tubes Ø 533 mm; 110 depth charges , ; 4 launchers, 2 dropping frames; last 2 - 120 mm L / 45 Mk.IX / XVIII guns ; 1 - 76mm L / 45 Mk.II Flak ; 4 - 20 mm L / 70 Oerlikon cannons ; 1 × 24f.- Hedgehog thrower ; 110 depth charges , ; 4 launchers, 2 dropping frames;
Sensors
	Type 128 sonar

HMS Highlander (H44) was an H-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy during World War II . The ship under construction for the Brazilian Navy was purchased by Great Britain immediately after the start of the war, along with its five sister ships.

history

The ship was launched on October 17, 1939 as HMS Highlander at Thornycroft in Woolston , Southampton . The new construction had been started as part of a class of six destroyers for the Brazilian Navy under the name Jaguaribe . On September 4, 1939, immediately after the start of the war, Great Britain acquired the destroyer, which was renamed when it was launched. The Highlander was commissioned on March 18, 1940 with incomplete equipment.

The destroyer was together with his former Brazilian sister ships of the 9th destroyer flotilla assigned. The ship's first war mission was the evacuation of the Allied troops from Norway after the failed attempts to throw back the landed German troops ( Operation Weser Exercise ). In June 1940, HMS Highlander was used together with many other ships in the evacuation of the Allied troops cut off in northern France.

In the period that followed, the ship was assigned exclusively to escort groups that escorted convoys . On October 30, 1940, it succeeded in sinking U 32 together with HMS Harvester northwest of Ireland .

The area of operation of the ship was in the North Atlantic for almost the entire war . HMS Highlander served as the lead ship of one of the escort groups, which consisted of a few, mostly older destroyers and several corvettes , later also partly a frigate . The anti -submarine and anti-aircraft armament was reinforced over time at the expense of the main guns and a torpedo tube set.

The destroyer took part in the great convoy battles in March 1943. ( Convoy HX 229 ) From autumn 1943 to spring 1944 the escort group led by HMS Highlander was deployed on the route between Great Britain and Gibraltar . Then she switched back to the North Atlantic route.

Unlike many other escorts, however, the ship could not sink any more submarines during the war. After the fighting ended, HMS Highlander was sold for scrapping in May 1946 .

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 .

HMS Highlander (H44)

history

literature

Web links