HMS Janus (F53)

This article covers the destroyer from World War II , for other ships with this name see HMS Janus

HMS Janus

HMS Janus during sea tests, August 1939

Ship data flag  United Kingdom Ship type destroyer class J class Shipyard Swan Hunter , Wallsend Build number 1549 Order March 25, 1937 Keel laying September 29, 1937 Launch November 10, 1938 takeover August 5, 1939 Whereabouts Sunk January 23, 1944

Ship dimensions and crew length 108.7 m ( Lüa ) 103.5 m ( Lpp ) width 10.9 m Draft Max. 4.22 m displacement 1773 ts standard; 2384 tn.l. maximum   crew 218 men

Machine system machine 2 Admiralty three-drum boilers , Parsons geared turbines Machine performance 40,000 PSw Top speed 36 kn (67 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 6 × Sk 120 mm L / 45 Mk.XII (3 × 2) 4 × Flak 40 mm L / 39 (2pdr) Mk.VIII (1 × 4) 8 × Fla MG Vickers 12.7 mm L / 62 (2 × 4) 10 × torpedo tube ø 533 mm (2 × 5) 20 depth charges , 2 launchers, 1 drop frame Mine detection equipment last: 6 × Sk 120 mm L / 45 Mk.XII (3 × 2) 1 × Flak 102 mm L / 45 Mk.V 4 × Flak 40 mm L / 39 (2pdr) Mk.VIII (1 × 4) 6 × Flak Oerlikon 20 mm L / 70 (2 × 2 + 2) 10 × torpedo tube ø 533 mm (2 × 5) 45 depth charges , 4 launchers, 2 dropping racks Sensors ASDIC radar

HMS Janus (F53) was a British J-class destroyer . Commissioned in August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of World War II , the destroyer was at war with the Battle Honors Atlantic 1939 , Norway 1940 , Calabria 1940 , Libya 1940 , Mediterranean 1940-44 , Matapan 1941 , Sfax 1941 , Malta Convoys 1941 , Adriatic 1944 and Anzio in 1944 .

When the destroyer gave artillery support to the Allied landing troops off Anzio , it was sunk by the German Air Force on January 23, 1944 .

history

HMS Janus was laid down at Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend-on-Tyne on September 29, 1937 , launched on November 10, 1938, and commissioned on August 5, 1939. The destroyer was the eighth ship in the Royal Navy to bear the name of the Roman god Janus . The last name was a 275-ton destroyer, the lead ship of a group of three boats built by Palmers , from 1895 to 1914, which was classified in the A-Class in 1913 . This ship had reached over 28 knots on its mile journey in 1895 and was for a while the fastest destroyer in the world.

Mission history

After commissioning, the new Janus was assigned to the 7th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet . From September 1939 to May 1940, she patrolled the North Sea, escorting convoys and larger units and hunting down enemy mine-layers. In April 1940 she took part in missions off Norway in the fight against the German occupation . Janus secured the heavy cruiser Suffolk with the destroyers Kipling , Juno and Hereward when it shelled the Stavanger sea air base used by the Germans (Operation Duck) on the morning of April 17, 1940 . The facilities there were badly damaged and four seaplanes were destroyed. When the II./KG.30 attacked the retreating unit, the Suffolk received heavy bomb hits and was only able to walk back to Scapa Flow with difficulty with a flooded quarterdeck, and the Kipling was also damaged. On April 30th, during the evacuation of Allied troops from Namsos , the Janus had to sink the Sloop Bittern , which was badly hit by Ju-87 Stukas of I./StG.1 , in order not to let them fall into the hands of the Germans. From May 11th, after the start of the German offensive to the west, the destroyer served in the southern North Sea. She ran twice at Hook of Holland to evacuate Allied personnel and on the first return trip she towed the destroyer Versatile , which had been badly damaged by air strikes and which also had evacuated soldiers on board.

On May 17, the Janus ran due to the expected early entry into the war of Italy from Plymouth to the Mediterranean to join the 14th destroyer flotilla in Alexandria . She initially served as a flotilla leader , as the Jervis did not follow to the Mediterranean until the end of the month because of a repair after a collision. With three other destroyers, the Janus accompanied the cruisers Liverpool and Glouchester to a bombardment of Tobruk on June 12 , in which only an auxiliary mine sweeper was sunk. The old armored cruiser San Georgio returned fire from the British cruisers. The destroyer then took part in the search for enemy submarines that sank the light cruiser Calypso south of Crete on June 12 . On July 7, the destroyer took part in another bombardment with the cruiser Capetown and the destroyers Ilex , Imperial and Juno . A small steamer and a motor sailer were sunk in the port of Bardia . On 9 July 1940, the first meeting was followed by the enemy fleets in the Battle of Calabria , at the Janus along with nine other destroyers, including the sister ship Juno , in the battle group C to the battleships HMS Malaya and Royal Sovereign and the aircraft carrier Eagle was involved ; the association only intervened in the battle with the aircraft of the Eagle, as the Italians withdrew. In August, a deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet to secure the supply convoy MF.2 from Alexandria to Malta followed , in which the Janus was attacked unsuccessfully by Italian Ju-87 stukas. In September, the destroyer fired at positions of the advancing Italians near Sidi Barrani with the Juno . At the beginning of October, the Mediterranean fleet secured the supply convoy MF.3 to Malta. Janus belonged with Jervis and Juno to the fleet association, but did not take part in the resulting attack of the Illustrious on the Italian fleet in Taranto . On November 26, she secured another attack by the carrier against Port Laki on Leros with the cruisers Gloucester and Glasgow and the destroyers Juno , Nubian and Mohawk . In December support missions followed on the North African coast for the advancing British army together with Jervis and Nubian . With Jervis and Hereward the destroyer secured on 13/14. December the return march of the cruiser Coventry after a torpedo hit to Alexandria; because of the torpedo hit in the forecastle, the cruiser had to run backwards. Following the securing of the supply convoy MF.5 to Malta, the cruisers Orion , Ajax , Sydney with the destroyers Janus , Jervis and Juno pushed unsuccessfully in the Otranto Strait to the Bari / Durazzo line . The annual financial statements brought Janus another sad task. The destroyer Hyperion , which was involved in securing the exchange of naval units between the western and eastern Mediterranean, ran into a mine near Pantelleria on the night of December 21-22 and was badly damaged. Attempts to tow the destroyer Ilex failed and he took over the crew of the immobilized destroyer. The Janus was again given the task of sinking its own ship so as not to let it fall into the hands of the enemy. She sank the Hyperion with a torpedo early on the morning of the 22nd.

From January 20th to 22nd Janus moved with the destroyers Jervis , Juno and Greyhound in high speed from Alexandria via the Suda Bay to Malta, to accompany the heavily damaged aircraft carrier Illustrious from there to Alexandria from 23 to 25th after the arsenal Malta had temporarily repaired the damage to such an extent that the carrier could run 24 knots and be steered again.
At the end of March 1941, the Janus was involved in the battle of Cape Matapan off the coast of the Peloponnese . Together with Jervis , Mohawk and Nubian she formed the security of the British "Force A" under Admiral Andrew Cunningham with the battleships Warspite , Barham and Valiant and the aircraft carrier Formidable . The Italian fleet lost three heavy cruisers and two destroyers in this battle. On the evening of April 16, the "Force K" stationed in Malta under Captain Mack and the destroyers Jervis , Nubian , Mohawk and Janus succeeded in completely destroying a convoy for the German Africa Corps near the island of Kerkenah (battle near Sfax ). The escort included the German freighters Adana (4205 GRT), Aegina (2447 GRT), Arta (2452 GRT) and Iserlohn (3704 GRT) as well as the Italian ammunition ship Sabaudia (1590 GRT), which was used by the Italian destroyers Baleno , Lampo der Folgore- Class (1240 ts, four 120 mm guns) and the Luca Tarigo of the Navigatori class (1900 ts, six 120 mm guns) were secured. The already severely injured Tarigo managed to sink the Mohawk by torpedo hits. As in the night battle at Cape Matapan, their radar equipment gave the British ships the decisive advantage. The following day, four Italian destroyers, seven torpedo boats and two hospital ships as well as sea rescue planes were able to save 1,248 of the approximately 3,000 castaways. At the beginning of May the Janus was involved in Operation Tiger in the association of the Mediterranean Fleet , with which supply convoys were to be directed from Gibraltar and Alexandria to Malta at the same time. From May 20, the fleet began to respond to the German landing on Crete ( company Merkur ). In the association of the "Force D" with the cruisers Dido , Orion and Ajax as well as the destroyers Kimberley , Hasty and Hereward , the Janus was involved in the attack on a German motor glider squadron 18 nm north of Chania . Despite the brave efforts of the accompanying Italian torpedo boat Lupo , the convoy was dispersed and half of the German ships sunk. The destroyer was also used to evacuate British troops from Crete on May 29th. In June, the Janus was part of the Mediterranean fleet that was supposed to support the conquest of Syria by Australian, Indian and Free French troops. On June 9, 1941 the Vichy-loyal large destroyers Valmy and Guépard shelled Australian army units on the Syrian coast and there was a sea battle with the Janus off Sidon , which received five heavy hits. When Jackal , Isis and Hotspur appeared, the French ships turned and ran back to Beirut. Thirteen of the destroyer's men were killed in action and another thirteen were seriously wounded. Due to hits in the bridge and in the boiler room, the Janus was no longer operational and had to be towed from the Kimberley to Haifa , where the first emergency repairs were carried out. In the middle of the month the destroyer was towed further to Suez. The final repair was then to take place in Simonstown , where the ship arrived via Mombasa and Durban on July 21, 1941.

The destroyer only returned to the Mediterranean fleet in mid-April 1942 and then suffered a mine hit in early June, which led to considerable damage that could not be repaired on site. It was not until the end of November that the ship began its journey through the Indian Ocean around Africa to Great Britain, where the ship did not arrive at the Tyne until January 30, 1943. In August the Janus then joined the Home Fleet to be brought in with a new crew. From October 14, 1943, she accompanied the battleship Anson from Scapa Flow together with the destroyers of the new V-Class Hardy and Vigilant and the Canadian tribal destroyers Haida and Iroquis to Spitsbergen to exchange the garrison there. After this mission, the destroyer moved to Plymouth, where the tubes of its main artillery were exchanged at the naval shipyard and a modern Huff-Duff system was installed, before moving back to the Mediterranean in December.

On December 27, 1943, the Janus arrived with the Jervis in Brindisi to be used in the future in the Adriatic . After three artillery missions against coastal targets on the Italian Adriatic coast, the ship moved to the other side of the Italian boot on January 6, 1944 to support the Allies landing at Anzio .

The end of Janus

On 23 January 1944, she was supported by a Fritz-X taken -Lenkbombe that of a German 111 helium - torpedo bomber had been started and sank off the bridgehead of the Battle of Anzio in Anzio, south of Rome in position 41 ° 26 '  N , 12 ° 38 '  O . Only 80 crew members survived. According to other sources, it was sunk by a Henschel glide bomb or a conventional torpedo.

Armament

The armament consisted of six 120 mm cannons in double mounts Mk XII for use against sea and air targets (two towers in front of the bridge, the rear in an elevated position; a mount on a platform in the rear). As anti-aircraft armament, the destroyer had a two-pounder Mk VIII quadruple gun on a platform behind the funnel and eight 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) Fla-MGs. Ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five tubes each completed the armament.

literature

• MJ Whitley: Destroyer in World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 , pp. 114-118 (N-Class), 219, 215 (English original: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms & Armors Press, London).

Web links

Commons : J, K and N classes  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Service History HMS JANUS (F.53) - J-class Destroyer on naval-history.net (English)
• HMS Janus (F53) on uboat.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Shields Daily Gazette , Thursday, August 22, 1895
2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 17-18, 1940, Norway
3. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 6.7.1940, Mediterranean
4. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 29.8. – 6.9.1940 Mediterranean Sea
5. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. September 13-19, 1940, North Africa; Advance of the 10th Italian Army (Marshal Graziani) across the Libyan-Egyptian border
6. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. November 26, 1940, Mediterranean
7. ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 23.- 01.25.1941 Mediterranean
8. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 26-29, 1941, Mediterranean / radio reconnaissance; Sea battle at Cape Matapan.
9. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 13-16, 1941, Mediterranean.
10. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 20 - June 1, 1941, Mediterranean; Merkur company: German air landing in Crete.
11. ↑ RL 10/493: Activity report on the operating period of the KG 100 with FK in the period from July 12, 1943 to April 30, 1944. [Activity Report of Missions of KG 100 with Guided Weapons in the Period from 07/12/43 to 04/30/44.]