HMS Keith (D06)
 HMS Keith 1937
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HMS Keith (D06) was the destroyer of the B-Class of the British Royal Navy built flotilla . Unlike the previous A-Class and its leader Codrington , the Keith had the same hull and armament as the eight destroyers of the class. She was one of the flotilla commanders whose name began with a different letter than the class to which she belonged.
In the Second World War , the ship was awarded two Battle Honors ("Atlantic 1939-1940", "Dunkirk 1940"). On June 1, 1940, the ship was sunk by German Stukas during the evacuation of British troops via Dunkirk .
History of the ship
The flotilla leader for the B-class destroyers was ordered on March 22, 1929 with funds from the 1928 Navy budget at Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness , Cumbria . Originally, the ship was supposed to use the standard hull of the class and dispense with one of the 120 mm guns at the stern due to additional superstructures for the members of the flotilla staff. However, this plan was soon abandoned. The Keith received only a few additional superstructures and kept the fourth main gun. Their displacement (with the same external dimensions) only increased by 40 ts compared to the other units of the flotilla. Some of the additional officers of the flotilla staff were accommodated on other ships in the flotilla. The Blanche took on duties as a semi-flotilla guide boat.
While the destroyers of the A and B class hardly differed, the Codrington, armed with five main guns and 104.4 m long, and the new Keith differed considerably. The Keith displaced 1400 ts with standard calculation and 1821 ts fully equipped. Like the normal destroyers of the two classes, she was 98.5 m long, up to 9.83 m wide and had a draft of 3.7 m. The ship was powered by two sets of Parsons geared turbines with a total output of 34,000 hp. A maximum speed of 35 kn was possible over two waves . The steam for the turbines was produced by three Admiralty three -drum boilers . Keith could 390 tn. l. Carry heating oil, which gave her a range of up to 4800 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots.
Like all B-Class destroyers, the ship was armed with four individual 120 mm L / 45 Mk.IX guns . To protect against aircraft, the Keith had two 40 mm “pompom” guns installed on a platform between the funnels. The destroyer also had two quadruple sets of 21-inch torpedo tubes on deck. To fight submarines, the ship carried 20 depth charges , which were deployed with two depth charge launchers and a drop rail. The depth of the depth charges was increased to 35 after the war began. The crew of the ship consisted of 175 men.
The Keith was launched on July 10, 1930 as the second flotilla commander of the Royal Navy, which was built after the end of the First World War , and was accepted into the service of the Navy on June 9, 1931. She was the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the British Admiral George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith . For the shipyard, after the Arrow, it was the second new destroyer built for the Royal Navy since the First World War.
Mission history
The Keith replaced older V- and W-class destroyers in the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” of the Mediterranean Fleet with the B-class ships after their commissioning . On the march from the Mediterranean for a routine overhaul in Portsmouth, the flotilla leader collided with the Greek steamer Antonis G. Lemos (4411BRT, 1911), which was flying at 49 ° 56 ′ N , shortly before his destination in the English Channel in thick fog , 2 ° 17 ′ W fell. The badly damaged Keith reached Portsmouth, but was taken out of service for repairs and was assigned to the reserve as one of the first newbuildings. The flotilla leader Kempenfelt took over her duties with the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” .
In mid-August 1937, the meanwhile repaired ship was put back into service to replace the Faulknor on the “6th Destroyer Flotilla” , which had failed due to a collision. She was used off the Spanish Biscay coast because of the civil war and was then stationed in Gibraltar before returning to the reserve in Sheerness . Once again overhauled, the Keith was reassigned to the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” in mid-June 1938, which was now part of the Home Fleet . With the crew of the destroyer Electra , the Keith moved again to Gibraltar in mid-January 1939 to the “5th Destroyer Flotilla”, where she did three months of service. After another overhaul, she went back to the reserve. Like most ships in the reserve, she was manned again before the war began.
War missions
When the Second World War broke out , Keith, stationed in Milford Haven , was under the Western Approaches Command for anti-submarine defense. She was one of the units that secured the transfer of British troops (BEF) to northern France. The ship then continued to operate in the area of the English Channel and the southern North Sea in changing positions, most recently as the flotilla leader of the "19th Destroyer Flotilla".
When the Germans on 10 May 1940 its western campaign began that accompanied Keith with her sister ship Boreas , the light cruiser Arethusa and Galatea by IJmuiden , to bring Dutch Goldvoräte to Britain to safety. On May 12th, she evacuated Allied troops for the first time from Hook of Holland . On May 19, 1940, the Keith shot the destroyer Whitley, which had run aground off Nieuwpoort after air raids and had been converted into an escort boat . On May 21, the Keith evacuated civilians from France for the first time. When she took British troops on board in Boulogne-sur-Mer on the 23rd , she was attacked by German troops. She was hit by a mortar and machine guns were fired at. One crew member died and many were wounded.
The end of Keith
At the end of May 1940, the Keith was used with many other ships to evacuate the Allied troops encircled around Dunkirk ( Operation Dynamo ). She served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Wake-Walker , who was responsible for the evacuation on site. When the ship ran back to the French Channel coast on June 1, 1940, it was attacked by German Ju 87 Stukas just off the coast near Dunkirk and sunk by bombs . The wreck lies at 23 meters depth to 51 ° 5 ' N , 2 ° 9' O . 36 men died during the air raids and 131 crew members were rescued.
literature
- John English: Amazon to Ivanhoe. British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. World Ship Society, Kendal 1993, ISBN 0-905617-64-9
- Norman Friedman: British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2009, ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8 .
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0-85368-910-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Service History HMS KEITH (D 06)
- ^ Friedman: British Destroyers. P. 298.
- ^ Whitley: Destroyers of World War Two. P. 99.
- ^ Downfall of the SS Antonis G. Lemos? +1936
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. P. 23.
- ↑ German : Amazon to Ivanhoe. P. 31.
HMS Keith (Flotilla Leader) †
HMS Basilisk † |
Beagle |
Blanche † |
Boadicea † |
Boreas / Salamis 
|
Brazen † |
Brilliant |
Bulldog