HMS Isis (D87)
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HMS Isis (D87) was an eight-ship destroyer and a Leader I-class of the British Royal Navy in World War II . The destroyer earned seven battle honors during the war and was lost in the Canal on July 20, 1944. The cause is not exactly clear.
History of the ship
In October 1935 two I-class destroyers were ordered from Yarrow & Co , Glasgow-Scotstoun . On February 5, 1936, building no. In 1681 the keel of the first new building, the later HMS Isis , was laid. On February 12, 1936, the keel was laid for the second new building, the later Ivanhoe . The Isis was launched on November 12, 1936 and entered service on June 2, 1937.
The destroyer was assigned with its sister ships to the "3rd Destroyer Flotilla" in the Mediterranean Fleet , where they replaced the A-class destroyers . The operations of the flotilla during the Spanish Civil War included participation in the so-called neutrality patrols off the Spanish coast in the western Mediterranean in order to protect British interests and prevent arms deliveries to the warring parties.
War missions
After the war began, the flotilla was ordered back to the waters around the British Isles . During an interim operation in November 1939, the German blockade breaker Leander (1042 BRT, 1925) of the DDG Neptun , who had pretended to be a Soviet ship metalworker , was arrested off Cape Finisterre .
In April 1940, the ship was supposed to cover other destroyers that were supposed to lay mines in the coastal waters of Norway , which was still neutral at the time , as part of Operation Wilfred . The action planned with the participation of Isis was canceled like the majority of the planned actions. On April 16, she was the first Royal Navy ship to enter Tromsø and on the 21st she had an exchange of fire with a German battery on the Trondheimfjord while exploring . On May 8, she ran aground in Ballangen Fjord and damaged both screws. The sister ship Ilex then towed them to the makeshift base on Skelfjord, from which the damaged units were accompanied alone, after they had been made conditionally seaworthy, or, like the Isis, were towed back to Great Britain. The ship was repaired in Falmouth and Devonport from late May to September .
After the repair, the destroyer was moved to the Mediterranean Sea at the end of October 1940 and met on October 6th in Gibraltar, where she was assigned to the "13th Destroyer Flotilla". The destroyer secured force H forays into the western Mediterranean and convoys en route from Freetown to Great Britain. In November 1940, the destroyer was called to a Malta escort.
From March 1941, the Isis moved around Africa to Alexandria . On the way she visited St. Helena with the Encounter and briefly supported operations against Italian Somaliland . From the beginning of April she was part of the "2nd Destroyer Flotilla" stationed in Alexandria. After another escort to Malta , the destroyer was involved in the evacuation of mainland Greece ( Operation Demon ) in April 1941 . In May 1941, the destroyer was called to another escort, which ran through the entire Mediterranean, to supply the beleaguered British 8th Army with military equipment. Uninterrupted operations followed at the end of May / beginning of June as part of the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to defend the island of Crete against German landing operations ( Operation Merkur ), and the subsequently necessary evacuation of the Allied troops.
In the following years the destroyer was also used in the eastern and central Mediterranean. During the occupation of the French mandate areas in the Middle East (Syria and Lebanon) on June 9, Isis engaged in a skirmish with Hotspur , Jackal and Janus with the French destroyers Guépard and Valmy . The Janus was hit several times and the French ships withdrew. On June 15, 1941, HMS Isis in association with the cruiser Phoebe and the Defender was attacked by German Stukas and badly damaged by two close hits. Like her sister ship Ilex , which was also badly damaged by German aircraft, she was towed to Haifa and then taken to Alexandria.
The repair was initially started in Singapore, but finally ended in Bombay , where the ship had been towed over several intermediate stations because of the beginning of the Pacific War .
The first deployment after the completion of the work was again in the eastern Mediterranean. On February 19, 1943, HMS Isis and the Hunt destroyer HMS Hursley succeeded in sinking the German U 562 off Benghazi . As part of Operation Husky , the Allied landing on Sicily , the destroyer was assigned to cover the main unit, consisting of battleships and cruisers .
The end of Isis
During the landing in Normandy ( Operation Neptune ), HMS Isis was assigned to the 17th destroyer flotilla, which was supposed to prevent German naval forces in the English Channel during the landing and in the weeks after. On July 20, she ran into a mine in the Seine Bay . The ship went down immediately. However, it cannot be completely ruled out that the sinking was carried out by a Negro one -man torpedo.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a fjord in the south of the island Flakstadøy in the municipality Flakstad (Lofoten), nuclear was the provisional basis of applied German freighter Alster , which should provide the German destroyers in Narvik and now for the Behelfsreparatur the cruiser Penelope used was
- ^ Rohwer: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945. P. 48.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 120.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 127.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 132.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 321.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 466.
literature
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0853689105 .
Web links
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