HMS Kandahar (F28)

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HMS Kandahar
The sister ship Kingston
The sister ship Kingston
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class K class
Shipyard Denny & Broth. , Dumbarton
Build number 1324
Order March 1937
Keel laying January 18, 1938
Launch March 21, 1939
takeover October 10, 1939
Whereabouts Sunk December 19, 1941 after being hit by a mine
Ship dimensions and crew
length
108.7 m ( Lüa )
106.0 m ( KWL )
103.5 m ( Lpp )
width 10.9 m
Draft Max. 4.22 m
displacement 1,690  ts standard;
2,384 tn.l. maximum
 
crew 183-246 men
Machine system
machine 2 Admiralty three-drum boilers ,
Parsons geared turbines
Machine
performance 		40,000 PS (29,420 kW)
Top
speed 		36 kn (67 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

at first:

last:

Sensors

ASDIC

HMS Kandahar (F28) was a J- and K-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The ship, built by William Denny & Brothers in Dumbarton, was started in 1938 and entered service with the Royal Navy in November 1939 shortly after the start of the war . It was awarded the Battle Honors “Greece 1941”, “Crete 1941”, “Libya 1941”, “Mediterranean 1941” and “ Malta Convoys 1941 ” during World War II .

On December 19, the Kandahar ran into a minefield with the Force K in search of a convoy with supplies for the Axis powers in North Africa off Tripoli . The three Force K cruisers were hit by mines. While trying to support the Neptune , which was drifting after a drive failure , Kandahar ran into a mine. While Neptune released three more mines and sank, the destroyer Jaguar , who was sent to support the destroyer, was able to get so close to the destroyed destroyer that he was able to rescue 174 Kandahar survivors who had jumped overboard from the water. The Jaguar then sank the Kandahar with a torpedo .

history

HMS Kandahar was laid on January 18, 1938 at William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton as the last of the eight K-class ships and launched on March 21, 1939 as the sixth ship of the class. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy, which was named after the city in Afghanistan , whose relief ended the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1880 and in 1892 had been part of the title of nobility of the later Field Marshal Roberts (Baron Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford, 1901 Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Pretoria and Waterford). On October 10, 1939, the Kandahar was put into service as the third K-class ship.

Calls

After her commissioning, she was assigned like the other ships of the K-class of the 5th destroyer flotilla of the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow . On the night of May 10, 1940, the destroyer with the flotilla belonged to an association that included the light cruiser Birmingham and the destroyers Janus , Hyperion , Hereward and Havock as well as the "5th Destroyer Flotilla" under Lord Mountbatten with Kelly , Kimberley and Hostile wanted to take action against German mine layers in the Skagerrak . The association was discovered early by German speedboats , which warned the mine layers and attacked the British association. The Kelly was badly damaged by a torpedo hit, but could be brought in. The British broke off the advance in order to use their units against the German attack on the Benelux countries. Kandahar took the wounded from the badly damaged Kelly and brought them ashore.

Operations in the Red Sea

From 16 to 21 May 1940, the relocated Kandahar then to the Mediterranean to Malta for. "14 Destroyer "where they with sister ships Kingston and Khartoum for use in the Red Sea was detailed and there the East Indies Station was subordinated.

On June 20, 1940, the Italian submarine Torricelli was forced to surface by the Kandahar together with the destroyers Kingston and Khartoum and the sloop Shoreham near Perim and sunk after an artillery battle. After the battle, the Khartoum was lost as the first ship of the class due to the failure of one of its torpedoes.

From August 14 to 19, the destroyer was one of the Royal Navy units supporting the clearance of Berbera in British Somaliland . With the sister ships Kingston and Kimberley and other Navy units, the destroyer subsequently secured convoys through the Red Sea, such as the troop escort WS.2A with around 17,000 men on six passenger and five transport ships or the convoys AP.1 and AP.2 with four transporters as well as the personnel and equipment of three tank regiments and AP.3 in October 1940 and at the end of the year US.7 with Australian troops for the Middle East.

In 1941, the destroyer supported the British troops in the conquest of Italian East Africa by bombarding the cities of Chisimaio and Mogadiscio and providing artillery support for the advance of the troops along the coast. On 16 March 1941 supported Kandahar with Kingston and the cruiser Glasgow and other support vessels reclaiming Berberas. Troops were set ashore from Aden and the city of Berbera was retaken with the support of the naval artillery. On April 1, the Kandahar landed the German cargo ship Bertram Rickmers (4188 GRT), which left Massaua on March 29, 1941, at the exit of the Red Sea and sank before the British boarded it.

Operations in the Mediterranean

At the end of April 1941, the Kandahar was one of the units of the Royal Navy that were used as part of Operation Demon to evacuate Allied troops from Greece, but also to secure heavier units of the Mediterranean fleet during supply operations for Malta or the relocation of ships in the Mediterranean. After the German air landings on Crete ( Operation Merkur ), the destroyer was used to repel reinforcements at sea and was involved in battles with Italian units. On May 22, Kandahar and Kingston rescued 523 survivors of the light cruiser Fiji , which had to be abandoned after being bombed by German fighter-bombers. From the beginning of June to mid-July 1941, the Kandahar was involved in supporting the land operations to conquer Syria by Commonwealth and Free French troops against fierce resistance from Vichy-loyal French troops. Subsequently, the destroyer was used several times to support the beleaguered Tobruk .

The end of the Kandahar

At the beginning of December 1941, the Kandahar was transferred to Force K in Malta in order to disrupt the supplies of the Axis powers to North Africa from there. While trying to intercept an Italian convoy destined for Tripoli , the Force K got into a newly laid Italian minefield on December 19, 1941 . The three Force K cruisers were hit by mines. The damaged Penelope ran back to Malta safely from the destroyer Lively , while the more severely hit Aurora did so under the protection of Lance and Havock .

When trying to support the Neptune , which was drifting after a drive failure , the Kandahar also ran into a mine. While Neptune released three more mines and sank, the destroyer Jaguar , who was sent to support the destroyer, was able to get so close to the destroyed destroyer that he was able to rescue 174 Kandahar survivors who had jumped overboard from the water. The Jaguar then sank the Kandahar with a 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 2-pounder quadruple gun Mk VIII on a platform behind the funnel and two quadruple 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) flak machine guns . Ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five tubes each and 20 depth charges completed the armament.

The poor defense ability of the class against air attacks led from 1940 to the exchange of the rear torpedo tube set for a 102 mm Mk.V flak . Later, the Vickers FlaMGs were also replaced by four individual Oerlikon automatic cannons .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Service History HMS Kandahar (F 28) - K-class Destroyer
  2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 9/10, 1940, North Sea
  3. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. June 10–26, 1940, Red Sea / Indian Ocean.
  4. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 4–19, 1940, Red Sea / Gulf of Aden.
  5. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 5.8. – 16.9.1940, Atlantic / Indian Ocean.
  6. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 22.8. – 25.9.1940, Atlantic / Indian Ocean.
  7. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 10.9. – 22.10.1940, Atlantic / Indian Ocean.
  8. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. November 21, 1940, Australia.
  9. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. February 10-25, 1941, Indian Ocean / East Africa.
  10. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 16, 1941, Red Sea / East Africa.
  11. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 23.3. – 1.4.1941, Red Sea.
  12. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 24-30, 1941, Mediterranean.
  13. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 5. – 12.5.1941, Mediterranean Operation Tiger  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wlb-stuttgart.de  
  14. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 20 – June 1, 1941, Mediterranean Sea, Merkur company, German air landing on Crete.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wlb-stuttgart.de  

literature

  • Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981. Ian Allen, 1983, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7 .
  • Norman Friedman: British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley 2009, ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9 .
  • HT Lenton: Warships of the British and Commonwealth Navies. Ian Allan 1969.
  • Antony Preston: Destroyers. Hamlyn, ISBN 0-600-32955-0 .
  • Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7 .
  • MJ Whitley: Destroyer in World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 (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