HMS Khartoum (F45)

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HMS Khartoum
The structurally identical Janus, also made by Swan Hunter, during sea tests, August 1939
The structurally identical Janus , also made by Swan Hunter, during sea tests, August 1939
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class K class
Shipyard Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd , Wallsend
Build number 1551
Order March 1937
Keel laying September 27, 1937
Launch February 6, 1939
takeover November 6, 1939
Whereabouts Badly damaged by a torpedo explosion, sunk on June 23, 1940, repair not possible
Ship dimensions and crew
length
108.6 m ( Lüa )
106 m ( KWL )
103.4 m ( Lpp )
width 10.8 m
Draft Max. 4.22 m
displacement 1773  ts standard;
2,384 ts maximum
 
crew 183-218 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

The HMS Khartoum (F45) was a British K-class destroyer . The destroyer, which was put into service in November 1939, was lost on June 23, 1940 off Perim due to the explosion of a torpedo in the rear torpedo tube set when the resulting fire could not be extinguished and caused subsequent explosions. The resulting damage was considered so severe that recovery and repair no longer seemed economical.

History of the ship

HMS Khartoum was laid on October 27, 1937 at Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd in Wallsend as a new building with the hull number 1551, launched on February 6, 1939 and on November 6, 1939 as the first ship of the Royal Navy with the Name of the Sudanese capital Khartoum put into service. After commissioning, it was assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet .

Calls

In February 1940, the Khartoum performed escort services from Rosyth for the convoys to Norway . In doing so, she suffered structural damage during defense trips against submarines at high speed, which required a longer stay in the shipyard. She therefore spent March and April 1940 at the Falmouth shipyard . A deployment planned for the beginning of May to evacuate British personnel from the Netherlands and Belgium was not carried out due to renewed drive problems.

On May 8, 1940, the Khartoum was transferred to the 14th destroyer flotilla and ran out on May 16, together with the Kandahar, with a course for Gibraltar and the Mediterranean from Plymouth. On May 23, she met with the flotilla in Alexandria and took over patrol duties in the Mediterranean and then with the sister ships Kandahar , Kimberley and Kingston in the Red Sea to relocate where the destroyer's activities in Eritrea stationed Italian navy units along with sloops of East Indies station was supposed to monitor, since Italy was expected to enter the war soon.

When that took place on June 10, 1940, the destroyer moved to Aden to prevent the Italians from breaking out of the Red Sea and preventing further enemy merchant ships from escaping to Eritrea.

The end of the Khartoum

On June 23, 1940, the Italian submarine Torricelli was forced to surface from the Khartoum together with the destroyers Kingston and Kandahar and the sloop Shoreham near Perim . In the subsequent artillery battle, which led to the sinking of the submarine, the Khartoum received a hit in the rear torpedo tube set.

Several hours later, the compressed air tank of a Mark IX torpedo exploded in the rear torpedo tube set of the Khartoum . The torpedo's ejected warhead struck the rear turret and started a fire that caused the ammunition supply to explode and flooded the stern section behind the engine room. The damage was so severe that the ship had to be put aground off Perim in the Red Sea . The wreck lies at the position of 12 ° 38 '  N , 43 ° 24'  O coordinates: 12 ° 38 '0 "  N , 43 ° 24' 0 '  O . The crew was brought to safety by the Kandahar . One man of the crew was killed in the subsequent explosions on board and three were seriously wounded. The subsequent explosions of an ammunition magazine and the depth charges on board damaged the ship so severely that recovery and repair appeared unreasonable. The Khartoum was the first loss of a J- and K-class destroyer in World War II. Of the 16 of this 1939 most modern type of destroyer, four were still around at the end of the war.

Armament

The armament consisted of six 120 mm L / 45 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; one 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 as well as two quadruple 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) AA guns . Ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five tubes each completed the armament.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Service History HMS Khartoum (F45) - K-class Destroyer.
  2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. June 10–26, 1940, Red Sea / Indian Ocean.
  3. ↑ HMS KHARTOUM - LOSS DUE TO DEFECTIVE TORPEDO AIR VESSEL, 23rd JUNE 1940

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

Web links

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