HMS Imperial (D09)
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HMS Imperial (D09) was an I-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy . In the Second World War , the ship was honored with the Battle Honors "Atlantic 1939", "Norway 1940" and "Crete 1941".
On May 29, 1941, the Imperial was lost during the evacuation of British troops from Crete . The drifting destroyer, which had been incapable of maneuvering north of Crete since the day before after close hits by German dive bombers , was sunk by the British destroyer Hotspur , after it had taken over the crew and the troops evacuated by the Imperial .
History of the ship
The Imperial was ordered on October 30, 1935 with the other eight destroyers and the I-class commander. The ship was one of two orders received by Hawthorn Leslie in Hebburn , Newcastle upon Tyne . The keel of the new building with construction number 605 was laid on January 26, 1936 and it was launched on December 11, 1936. As the fourth ship of the class, the Imperial was put into service on June 30, 1937. The destroyer was the first Royal Navy ship to bear that name.
Mission history
The destroyer, like its sister ships, first came to the “3rd Destroyer Flotilla” in Alexandria and was also used in the so-called neutrality patrols off the Spanish coast in the western Mediterranean to protect British interests and to prevent arms deliveries to the warring parties.
War missions
After the start of the war, the flotilla was ordered back to the waters around the British Isles and was first placed under the Western Approaches Command in Plymouth . The destroyer, coming from Malta, arrived in Plymouth on September 11, 1939, together with the Inglefield and Ilex , Imogen , Intrepid and Isis . The flotilla should fight submarines with its destroyers and do escort duties. In December 1939, the Imperial moved to the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow . There, the destroyer was used to secure the heavy units on their advances into the North Sea, but also to secure merchant ships that ran on the northwest access routes to the British Isles or left them on this route. On February 26, 1940, while securing the convoy ON 15 to Bergen, the Imperial collided 70 nm south-west-south of Stavanger with the Swedish steamer Nordia (1316 GRT, built in 1921), which sank with two fatalities. The destroyer was severely damaged and could only run 12 knots . Accompanied by the cruiser Calcutta , he ran back to Lerwick and finally came to Swan Hunter on the Tyne for repairs . The destroyer was not operational again until April 14th.
From April 15, 1940, the destroyer Imperial was able to participate in the Home Fleet operations against the German occupation of Norway (Operation Weser Exercise ). At the end of the month the Allied High Command decided to break off the Allied landing operations in central Norway , which were directed against Trondheim , as a success against the Germans was no longer expected.
On April 29, the cruisers Devonshire , York and the French Montcalm left with the destroyers Afridi , Nubian , Hasty , the Imperial as well as the French destroyer Bison and the French transporters El Djezair , El Mansour and El Kantara (former Mediterranean ferries , also known as auxiliary cruisers ) Scapa Flow to evacuate the British and French ground forces of the “Maurice Force” from Namsos . More destroyers were supposed to support the action on site and provide anti-aircraft protection for the flak cruiser Carlisle in the port. The first attempt on May 1st failed due to thick fog. On the night of March 2-3, Captain Vian ran with the destroyers Afridi , Nubian and the cruiser York , followed by the French transporters and the bison under Rear Admiral Alfred Cadart to Namsos. The destroyers took over the army troops and passed them on to the transporters and cruisers in the fjord. A total of 5,400 men (1,850 of them French) were evacuated. The cover group under Vice Admiral J.HD Cunningham with Devonshire , Montcalm and the destroyers Grenade , Griffin and Imperial took up the ships from Namsos and together they marched back. In the early morning of May 3, the association northwest of Trondheim was attacked several times from the air. Ju 87 - Stukas of 1./StG.1 under Captain Hozzel hit the bison hard. The British destroyers Grenade , Imperial and Afridi stayed with the sinking ship and took over castaways from the French ship. while Grenade and Imperial caught up with the continuing association, Vian sank the Bison with the Afridi 110 nautical miles west of the island of Vega . When the Tribal destroyer followed the association alone, the Ju 87 attacked again and scored two hits on the Afridi . Then Imperial and Griffin ran back and walked alongside the sinking and burning Afridi , from which they took over the survivors of the crew, army soldiers and survivors of the bison . The Afridi sank with 53 crew members, 13 soldiers and 35 of the original 69 French of the bison . On May 5th the association returned to Scapa Flow.
Back in the Mediterranean
The Imperial then moved from Plymouth to Alexandria to the 2nd destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean from 15 to 24 May . There the destroyer was mainly used as an escort vehicle for Malta convoys . When the destroyer secured the convoy MF 3 at the entrance to Valletta , he ran on October 11, 1940 on a mine barrier that had been laid by the Italian 14th destroyer flotilla with Vivaldi , Da Noli and Tarigo the night before. The severely damaged Imperial was towed into port by the destroyer Decoy . The repair of the serious damage carried out in Malta took six months to complete. To repair the destroyer, parts from the destroyer Gallant , which was also badly damaged by a mine hit on January 10, 1941 , were used. the long repair time was caused by a lack of spare parts and constant air raids, in which the Imperial also suffered further minor damage. On March 23, 1941, the destroyer was manufactured to the point where it could be moved to Gibraltar . From April 28 to 30, 1941, the destroyer then moved in association with the anti-aircraft cruiser Dido , the mine cruiser Abdiel and the destroyers Jaguar , Jervis and Juno as well as the supplier Breconshire through the Mediterranean to Alexandria. On May 7, the destroyer accompanied the cruiser Ajax with the destroyers Havock and Hotspur to a bombardment in Benghazi .
The end of the Imperial
After the end of the support action for the beleaguered British 8th Army , the destroyer was supposed to evacuate Allied troops from the island during the airborne battle of Crete . On May 28, 1941, the evacuation unit calling for Heraklion with the cruisers Orion , Ajax , Dido and the destroyers Decoy , Jackal , Hotspur , Kimberley , Hereward and the Imperial was attacked by German and Italian bombers. It was Imperial narrowly missed by a bomb near the stern.
After the troops were picked up, the unit was supposed to run back to Alexandria when the entire steering system failed on the destroyer as a result of the close hit on the approach. A collision between the circular destroyer and the Orion could only just barely be avoided. Because of the air superiority of the Germans, it was necessary to be as far away from the island as possible at sunrise. Due to this, the incapable of maneuvering Imperial was on May 29, 1941 after the takeover of the troops and the crew by Hotspur north of Crete at 35 ° 23 ′ N , 25 ° 40 ′ E 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
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Service History HMS Imperial
- ↑ a b HMS Imperial (D09)
- ↑ Downfall of the Nordia
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , 1.– 3.5.1940 Norway
- ↑ Rohwer, 7.- 10.10.1940 Mediterranean; October 8-14, 1940 Mediterranean Sea, Operation "MB.6"
- ↑ Rohwer, 5–12 May 1941 Mediterranean Operation "Tiger"
- ↑ Rohwer, 20.5.- 06.01.1941 Mediterranean; Company "Merkur": German air landing on Crete.
HMS Inglefield † (Flotilla Leader)
HMS Icarus |
HMS Ilex |
HMS Imogen † |
HMS Imperial † |
HMS Impulsive |
HMS Intrepid † |
HMS Isis † |
HMS Ivanhoe †
built for Turkey: HMS Inconstant | HMS Ithuriel †
Demirhisar Class : Demirhisar | Sultanhisar | Muavenet ex Inconstant