HMS Kipling (F91)

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HMS Kipling
The Kipling 1942
The Kipling 1942
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class K class
Shipyard Yarrow & Co. ,
Scotstoun / Glasgow
Build number 1706
Order April 1937
Keel laying October 20, 1937
Launch January 19, 1939
takeover December 12, 1939
Whereabouts Sunk on May 10, 1942 after being hit by bombs
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 1690  ts standard;
2,384 ts maximum
 
crew 183-250 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

last:

HMS Kipling (F91) was a British K-class destroyer . The ship, built by Yarrow & Company from October 1937 to December 1939 , was the first Royal Navy ship to be named after the British Nobel Prize for Literature, Rudyard Kipling . During the Second World War, the ship was awarded the Battle Honors “Atlantic 1939”, “Norway 1940”, “Crete 1941”, “Mediterranean 1941”, “Malta Convoys 1941–42”, “Libya 1941–42” and “Sirte 1942” .

On May 11, 1942, the Kipling was sunk off Marsa Matruh by the German Air Force , which also sank the Lively from the British Destroyer Association and damaged the Jackal so badly that it too had to be abandoned. Only the sister ship Jervis escaped the attacks and was able to save many castaways.

history

HMS Kipling was ordered as a K-class destroyer from Yarrow & Co. in Scotstoun / Glasgow in spring 1937 . The new building with hull number 1706 was laid down on October 20, 1937 and launched as Kipling on January 19, 1939 . The destroyer was baptized by Elsie Bambridge, the daughter of the Nobel Prize winner who died in 1936. On December 12, 1939, the new destroyer was put into service and assigned to the 7th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet , which was in formation ; the poor state of readiness of the J and K classes led to the assignment of all ships to the 5th destroyer flotilla in May 1940. Like other ships in the class, the Kipling had engine damage and leaks in the hull after its commissioning, which repeatedly forced shipyards to stop.

Calls

On April 13, 1940, the destroyer accompanied the heavy cruiser Suffolk with Janus , Juno and Hereward to bombard the German-occupied Stavanger airport during the British defense attempts against the German occupation of Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) . On the march back, the unit was attacked several times from the air. In addition to the badly damaged Suffolk , Kipling also received two bomb hits on the 17th. The repair of the destroyer lasted until August 1940. In October 1940, the destroyer moved with the 5th Flotilla to the English Channel to Plymouth , where the destroyer should be available to defend against German units that had relocated to bases in occupied northern France.

On the night of October 11, the "5th Destroyer Flotilla" secured the battleship Revenge , which shot at the port facilities of Cherbourg , with Kipling as well as Jackal , Jaguar , Javelin , Jupiter , Kashmir and Kelvin . In addition to the 120 rounds of the Revenge's heavy artillery , the destroyers also fired 800 rounds at the selected targets. On the march back, five of the destroyers including Kipling led a brief skirmish with the German 5th torpedo boat flotilla, which was also on the march back from the sea area off the Isle of Wight with Griffin , Condor , Falcon , White-tailed Eagle and Wolf .

From March 24 to 27, 1941, the "5th Destroyer Flotilla" under Captain Lord Mountbatten secured three mining companies belonging to the miner Abdiel and the "20th (Minelaying) Destroyer Flotilla" with Intrepid , Impulsive with the destroyers Kipling , Kashmir , Kelly , Kelvin and Jackal and Icarus before Brest. The barriers were applied too late because the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had already reached their new base on the 22nd.

Operations in the Mediterranean

From April 21, 1941, the Kipling moved with other units of the 5th Flotilla to the Mediterranean, in order to be used in the future with Force K of Malta against the supply traffic of the Axis powers from Italy to North Africa. From April 24th to 28th, Kipling then moved to Malta with the sister ships Kelly , Kashmir , Kelvin , Jackal and Jersey together with the cruiser Dido and the miner Abdiel . Dido , Abdiel and the destroyer Imperial , who had also arrived from Gibraltar , ran together with the destroyers Jervis , Jaguar , Janus , Juno and Nubian of the "14th Destroyer Flotilla", which had previously been used by Force K in Malta , after their cargoes had been unloaded were, as well as the empty transporter Breconshire on to Alexandria to the Mediterranean Fleet .
After Force K's unsuccessful search for an Italian escort, Kelly , Jackal and Kelvin were able to enter Malta's Grand Harbor on May 2, but the following Jersey triggered a mine that had been dropped by an Italian plane and sank. The sunken destroyer blocked the entrance to the harbor. The commander of Force K decided to evade to Gibraltar with his flagship Gloucester and the destroyers Kashmir and Kipling . To secure a formation with reinforcements for the Mediterranean fleet, they returned on May 6, but ran past Malta. The three destroyers trapped in Malta have meanwhile been able to sail again and have joined the association. On the march to Alexandria, the destroyers of the 5th Flotilla were detached and shot at Benghazi on the night of May 11th . They then returned to Malta to continue to be used against supply transports by the Axis powers.
At the end of May, the Kipling and the other units of Force K from Malta belonged to the forces of the Mediterranean fleet that were used in the battle for Crete . On the night of May 23, she and Kashmir and Kelly shelled the German-occupied Maleme airfield . Due to a damaged rudder, she was temporarily unable to follow the other two destroyers, which were sunk by Ju-87 stukas of I./StG.2 early in the morning of the 23rd . Kipling was able to save 279 shipwrecked sister ships, but collided with the sinking Kelly , causing a tank to leak. During the return march, which was only possible at reduced speed, she was attacked several times from the air, but not hit. She ended up lying there without fuel. The Netzleger Protector was able to take care of them and on the 25th the damaged Kipling reached Alexandria with the rescued. When the Allies occupied Syria , which was previously controlled by Vichy France , the destroyer was partially operational, but not involved in fighting with French units. The Kipling was then used to secure supplies to the besieged Tobruk and supported the advance of the 8th Army . On December 28, 1941, the Kipling located north of Marsa Matruh the German submarine U 75 , which had sunk the British steamer Volo shortly before , and attacked it with depth charges. The submarine was forced to surface and so badly damaged by gunfire that it sank at position 31 ° 50 '  N , 26 ° 40'  E.

From the beginning of 1942, fuse operations on supply convoys from Alexandria to Malta followed for the destroyer. In March 1942, the Kipling was assigned to the 14th destroyer flotilla in Alexandria . ´ The destroyer group left the port on March 10th to shield the light cruisers Naiad and Euryalus in their search for enemy ships off Tripoli. The search was unsuccessful and on the way back the cruiser Cleopatra and the destroyer Kingston joined the group. The return trip was accompanied by heavy air raids. North of Marsa Matruh , the ships were also attacked by the German submarine U 565 , which torpedoed the British flagship Naiad . It sank within 20 minutes and Kipling , Jervis and Lively tried to recover as many survivors as possible. 582 men of the 668 men on board the Naiad were rescued.

From March 21, 1942, the Kipling belonged to the security units of the Malta convoy MW 10 from Alexandria, which was supposed to supply the British island with aircraft parts, flak, fuel, food and ammunition. The four transporters of the convoy were secured by four light cruisers, eleven destroyers, six destroyers escort and the old flak cruiser Carlisle , which the commanding Admiral Philip Vian had divided into seven divisions. The British unit was attacked on March 23 by the Italian fleet with the battleship Littorio , two heavy and one light cruiser and ten destroyers. In addition, there were repeated air attacks despite the bad weather. While the transporters with the Carlisle and the Hunt destroyers dodged, the other groups tried to cover their intentions with smoke curtains. Although hopelessly inferior, the First Division with the destroyers Jervis , Kingston , Kelvin and Kipling even carried out a torpedo attack on the Italian units. The battle was finally called off at nightfall by the Italians, who had damaged three of the British cruisers and four destroyers

Loss of the Kipling

On May 10, 1942, a group of destroyers consisting of Jackal , Jervis , Kipling and Lively was en route from Alexandria to intercept an Italian convoy destined for Benghazi . On May 11, they were attacked by fourteen German Ju-88 bombers of Lehrgeschwader 1 from Crete off Marsa Matruh . Already the first wave of attacks sank the Lively , the only destroyer in the group with a main armament well suited for air defense. The second wave generated in the engine room of heavy hits Kipling , which is also quickly to the position of 32 ° 23 '  N , 26 ° 11'  O coordinates: 32 ° 23 '24 "  N , 26 ° 11' 24"  O went down. The Jackal was so badly damaged that it had to be sunk by the Jervis the next day . The Jervis was the only ship in the group to return to Alexandria, bringing 630 survivors of the sunk ships to safety. 221 men of the Kipling could be saved; only 29 died when the ship went down.

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; 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 and two quadruple 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) Fla-MGs . Ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five tubes each and 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 Kipling (F 91) - K-class Destroyer
  2. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 17-18, 1940, Norway.
  3. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. October 11-12, 1940, Kanal.
  4. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 24-27, 1941, Biscay.
  5. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 21-28, 1941, Mediterranean.
  6. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 2. – 4.5. and 5. – 12.5.1941, Mediterranean.
  7. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 20 - June 1, 1941, Mediterranean.
  8. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. December 18-28, 1941, Mediterranean.
  9. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 7-11 March 1942, Mediterranean.
  10. ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 11, 1942, Mediterranean.

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 VerlagsGmbH, 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 & Armours Press, London), pp. 114-118 (N-Class), 219, 215.

Web links

Commons : HMS Kipling  - collection of images, videos and audio files