HMS Laforey (G99)
 1942
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HMS Laforey (G99) was one of eight destroyers of the Royal Navy's L-class, ordered on March 31, 1938 . The destroyer was delivered as the class flotilla leader in August 1942 from the Yarrows shipyard . It was completed as the sixth ship of the new L-class and was equipped with the newly developed double mounts with new 120 mm guns , which could be used as anti-sea and anti-aircraft guns .
The Laforey was awarded the Battle Honors Malta Convoys 1942 , Atlantic 1942 , Diego Suarez 1942 , Sicily 1943 , Salerno 1943 , Mediterranean 1943-44 and Anzio 1944 during World War II .
On March 30, 1944, the destroyer was in the Mediterranean about 60 nm northeast of Palermo by the German submarine U 223 at 38 ° 54 ′ 0 ″ N , 14 ° 18 ′ 0 ″ E sunk. When the Laforey sank , 182 crew members lost their lives.
History of the destroyer
HMS Laforey was commissioned with the sister ship Lance on March 31, 1938 at Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow-Scotstoun . The keel laying of the newbuildings with building numbers 1719/1720 took place on March 1, 1939, three months later than the six other ships of the class. The Lance was launched on November 28, 1940, Laforey did not follow until February 15, 1941.
The new building was the second ship of the Royal Navy, after Sir Francis Laforey (1767-1835), the commander of the liner Spartiate 1805 in the naval battle was named at Trafalgar and later Admiral. The first name bearer was a destroyer built by Fairfields from 1912 to 1914 , which was still launched as Florizel . When the Admiralty issued letters for all classes in 1913, it belonged to the L-Class , which was still under construction , which were then all given names beginning with "L". Renamed Laforey , the class was named after the destroyer. In 1917 the first Laforey sank in the canal when it ran into a British mine.
On August 26, 1941, the new Flotilla Commander Laforey was commissioned as the sixth L-class ship , three months after the Lance had been converted to four 102 mm Mk.XVI twin guns . When it was completed, the Laforey carried, in addition to the three newly developed double mounts with 120 mm L / 50 cannons, also a 102 mm L / 45 Mk.V flak in place of the originally planned rear torpedo tube set. This installation was also carried out on the other eleven L and M class destroyers with the new 120 mm twin guns, as the Admiralty continued to doubt that the destroyers were adequately equipped to repel air attacks on naval units. For close range air defense, the Laforey had a quadruple 2 pdr 40 mm pompom behind the funnel , two individual 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons and two heavy quadruple and two twin 12.7 mm Vickers machine guns. There was also a quadruple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tube set (instead of the originally planned two quintuple sets) and 45 depth charges . The machine guns were replaced by four more Oerlikon cannons in 1942. In 1943 four of the six existing individual Oerlikons were replaced by twin guns.
Mission history
After completing the acceptance tests, the Laforey moved to Scapa Flow to the Home Fleet to train her crew and to retract the ship. At the beginning of September she was flotilla leader of the 19th Destroyer Flotilla and in mid-September accompanied a special transport to Gibraltar with two battleships, four cruisers and five other destroyers, including the sister ship Lightning , which was ultimately destined for Malta . On September 24th, the "supply convoy GM.2" left Gibraltar with nine transporters, to protect it two cover groups went to sea with the aircraft carrier Ark Royal , three battleships, five cruisers, Laforey and fifteen other destroyers, including the sister ships Lightning , Gurkha ( started as Larne ) , Legion , Lance , Lively , and two Hunt destroyers ( Operation Halberd ). Laforey and Lightning primarily secured the porter on the march into the Mediterranean; while Laforey was unsuccessfully attacked by an Italian torpedo bomber. On the evening of the 27th, the Laforey belonged to the part of the fleet that was supposed to lead the convoy to Malta and was called "Force X". The destroyers Cossack , Zulu , Foresight , Forester , Fury and Oribi * , the Hunt destroyers Farndale and Heythrop as well as the cruisers Edinburgh * , Euryalus * , Hermione and Sheffield * belonged to it, while the remaining units remained west of the Strait of Sicily . On September 28, eight transporters reached Malta and Force X returned west. The units used in "Operation Halberd" returned to Gibraltar in the night of October 1st. The battleship Prince of Wales , seconded from the Home Fleet for this operation and laid with the supply convoy, left Gibraltar in the evening to return to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. It was escorted as a backup parachute by the destroyers Laforey , Lightning , Lively and Oribi , from which Lively was released en route and returned to Gibraltar. The association reached Scapa Flow on October 6th.
From October 25 to 29, 1941, Laforey and Lightning , who were transferred to Force H, moved to Gibraltar. There, the destroyers were used both in convoy security from Gibraltar to the Biscay and vice versa, as well as in the security of units of Force H in the Mediterranean, especially when carrier aircraft flew into Malta.
From November 10, 1941 , the Laforey accompanied the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Argus , the battleship Malaya , the Hermione to the western Mediterranean with the six destroyers Lightning , Gurkha , Legion , Sikh , Zulu and the Dutch Isaac Sweers , where the carriers 37 Hurricane hunters to Malta took off. On the march back from the planned operation, submarines attacked the unit on November 13th and U 81 ( Kapitänleutnant Guggenberger ) torpedoed the Ark Royal , which sank 25 nm off Gibraltar the next day after the crew had been rescued. On the 13th, shortly after the hit, Legion had taken over most of the carrier's crew. Laforey had supplied the carrier, whose own machines had at times completely failed, with electricity and a boiler water line for the drive machines that had restarted until shortly before the sinking. After their return, the destroyers stationed in Gibraltar resumed their routine missions with Force H.
1942
In January 1942 which formed Laforey with the destroyers Hesperus , Westcott (on which a hedgehog launcher was tested) and the Croome the Hunt class , but prevent new anti-submarine group in Force H, which supported when necessary convoys usually should that enemy submarines passed the Strait of Gibraltar . In the defense of the SL 97 convoy , Laforey supported the Hesperus on January 15 (18?) In the sinking of the German submarine U 93 ; 41 men of the shipwrecked crew could be captured.
At the end of February, the Laforey was involved in an attempt by Force H to transfer fighter planes from the aircraft carriers Argus and Eagle to Malta, which was canceled south of the Balearic Islands due to problems with the aircraft's additional fuel tanks for the transfer flight.
When this project was repeated at the beginning of March, fifteen Spitfire fighters took off south of the Balearic Islands from the carriers for Malta and reached the island. The security of the two carriers consisted of the battleship Malaya , the cruiser Hermione and the destroyers Lightning , Active , Anthony , Whitehall and Wishart in addition to the Laforey, as well as three Hunt escort destroyers .
A similar mission started on March 20, in which the Duncan replaced the Lightning , was canceled on the 23rd after an Italian submarine attack and due to poor weather conditions. The operation was repeated from March 27 to 30 with the same composition and 16 Spitfire fighters reached Malta.
After that, the Laforey was assigned with other units of Force H to the association that was to occupy the Vichy-loyal French naval base Diego Suarez Operation Ironclad . She left Gibraltar on April 1, together with Malaya , Hermione , Lightning , Lookout and Duncan for Freetown . The march to South Africa took place to secure the troop escort WS 17 , but also in warship groups. For refueling and supplies, the destroyer also ran to Freetown at St. Helena , Cape Town and Durban , which was then left on April 28 to attack the island ruled by Vichy France .
The landing of the British troops took place on May 4th near the French naval base Diego Suarez . The invasion fleet consisted of the dropships and transports of the heavy cruiser Devonshire , eleven destroyers - including Laforey and her sisters Lightning and Lookout -, eight Corvettes of the Flower class and four mine sweepers.
Laforey and Anthony had marked the approach routes for the DropShips, provided artillery support during the landing and on May 5, together with aircraft from Indomitable, put the last surface warship of the French, the Aviso D'Entrecasteaux , out of action. The sinking ship was put aground by the defenders.
Even after the surrender of Diego Suarez, the Laforey remained in the sea area around Madagascar , searched for enemy submarines and supported the continued occupation of the island. At the end of May she moved with Lightning and Lookout via the Seychelles to the Eastern Fleet in Colombo . In June she was a security destroyer on some advances of the Eastern Fleet a. a. involved with the carriers Illustrious and Indomitable . At the end of July the destroyer returned to the East African coast in order to secure the carrier Indomitable from Mombasa with the aforementioned sister ships , which was needed for a new supply operation for the severely beleaguered Malta. The unit marched via Durban, Cape Town and Pointe-Noire (Belgian Congo) until July 28 to Freetown, where the flak cruiser Phoebe strengthened the unit.
On August 5, the association took part in an exercise west of Gibraltar to practice tactics and maneuvers in defense of the planned Malta convoy. In addition to some merchant ships, a total of four carriers, three cruisers and ten destroyers took part in this exercise (Exercise Berserk ).
Operation Pedestal began on the 10th when convoy WS.21 with thirteen transporters and one tanker left Gibraltar. Local security was carried out by three light cruisers, an old anti-aircraft cruiser, seven destroyers and four destroyers escorts, and a cover group with two battleships, three other cruisers, twelve destroyers, including Laforey , Lightning and Lookout, and two destroyers escorts marched into the western Mediterranean. In anticipation of such a supply attempt, two submarine groups with eighteen Italian and three German boats were in the expected approach route. Unnoticed by the enemy submarines, 26 destroyers and three cruisers refueled from two tankers off the Algerian coast in the early morning of August 11, as Malta could no longer perform this task due to its dwindling oil supplies. Covered by the convoy, the old carrier was supposed to transfer Furious 38 Spitfires to Malta (Operation Bellows ) and began their launch shortly after noon, when the distance to Malta had dropped below 1100 km. Laforey , Lightning and Lookout secured the remaining Furious during these launches. The entire association had meanwhile been recognized by submarines and had a German feeler in the air that the carrier aircraft could not reach.
45 minutes after the start of the transfer flights from the Furious , the German submarine U 73 , which had been submerged in the convoy for hours under Lieutenant Captain Helmut Rosenbaum, was able to approach the carrier Eagle and hit it from a short distance with a quadruple. The Eagle , hit by four torpedoes, sank within eight minutes. Their loss weakened the air security of the association considerably, as twelve sea hurricanes were lost with it . The cruiser Charybdis accompanying them tried in vain to catch the attacker. The destroyers Laforey , Lightning and Lookout , who came to the rescue from the nearby Furious , and the rescue tug Jaunty , who came to the rescue, were able to save 927 survivors. The castaways were then handed over to reserve units, such as the Keppel , that were marching back with the Furious . The three L-class destroyers stayed with the cover formation, which had been the target of air raids since the evening of 11th, and secured the two remaining carriers, Indomitable and Victorious . On the 12th, German and Italian planes attacked the British formation several times and two Italian Re.2001 fighter bombers hit the Victorious with armor-piercing bombs, but they ricocheted off the flight deck. Late in the afternoon of 29 attacked 87 Ju -Sturzkampfbomber the I./StG.3 the Indomitable successful at. With four losses in the defensive fire of the British units, they were able to achieve three heavy hits on the carrier, which was canceled for flight operations. On the 13th, Laforey with Lightning , Lookout and the Quentin as well as the cruiser Phoebe formed the securing of the last remaining carrier, Victorious, west of the Strait of Sicily , which as Force Z was waiting for the units remaining in the convoy to march back to Malta the march back to Gibraltar has begun.
Refueled and supplied, Laforey , Lightning and Lookout took together with the flak cruiser Charybdis and the other destroyers Antelope , Wishart , Malcolm , Keppel , Eskimo . Somali , Venomous and the Hunt destroyers Derwent and Bicester took part in another aircraft transfer of the Furious to Malta (Operation Baritone) from the 16th to the 21st , during which 29 of the 32 Spitfires launched to Malta reached the island.
On September 12th, the Laforey left Gibraltar to be overtaken in Liverpool on the 17th. On November 20, the Laforey returned to Scapa Flow to bring in the new crew. On December 7th she moved with the Lightning to Greenock, in order to move with the convoy KMF 5 in very stormy weather to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea to Algiers . She took part in the rescue operations from the 21st when the Strathallan (23,772 GRT), the ship of the convoy's Commodore, was torpedoed off the Algerian coast. The burning transport had 4,408 British and American soldiers and 248 nurses on board. The evacuation of the ship began immediately after the torpedo hit. The destroyer Verity towed the lifeboats of the transport with 1,300 castaways to Oran. Laforey tried to tow the Strathallan , which also caught fire due to oil penetrating into the engine room, and was assisted by the tug Restive . The soldiers still on board took over other destroyers, u. a. Panther and Pathfinder . Lightning brought those she had rescued ashore in Oran on the 22nd. On the 23rd, the transporter capsized after the rest of the crew remaining on board had also been recovered and the fires were no longer controllable. Of the total of 5122 people on board, only 16. The transporter was the second largest ship sunk by a German submarine in World War II.
1943
When the Laforey arrived with Lightning and Lookout on January 1, 1943 in Bône (now Annaba ), she became part of the Force Q stationed there, to which the sister ship Loyal joined in January . The Force Q included the cruisers Ajax (due to bomb damage only until January 7th), Aurora , Sirius and Dido, and from mid-January also Penelope . The new base was a constant target of the Axis air forces. On January 6, Laforey had to sink the burning tanker British Metal , which endangered all ships in the port. The attempts of the British Force Q von Bône with the cruisers Aurora , Sirius , Dido and Penelope were mostly unsuccessful. Laforey and the destroyers of her flotilla took part in these advances or they secured transports along the Algerian coast. In one of the advances, the Lightning was lost on March 12, 1943 , and was torpedoed north of Bizerta by a German speedboat.
On March 27, the destroyers shelled Laforey and the Polish Blyskawica, newly assigned to replace the Lightning , at Cape Serrat in northwestern Tunisia in order to simulate a landing. On April 21st, Laforey , Loyal and Lookout sank the German war transporter KT 7 (850 GRT). On the night of April 29, Laforey and Tartar attacked six German S-boats and one submarine near Marettimo . One speedboat sank after the Laforey had rammed it, two others were badly damaged, and Laforey also had damage to the forecastle.
During the final battle of the German-Italian tank army for Tunis, small groups tried to move to Sicily and Sardinia with small vehicles. The British destroyers of Force K from Malta ( Nubian , Paladin , Petard , Jervis ) and Force Q from Bône ( Laforey , Loyal , Tartar , Blyskawica ) as well as several Hunt destroyers tried to prevent this from May 7th by a close blockade and took around 700 men prisoner. On May 9, the Laforey came into the fire area of a coastal battery and was hit in the engine room. In addition to the damage, a number of crew members were seriously injured and the destroyer ran to Malta to supply and repair them.
Ready for action again in June, destroyer took part in securing the Allied landing on Pantelleria ( Operation Corkscrew ) and supported the landing forces by bombarding Italian positions. Then the destroyer moved to Alexandria to escort convoys for the planned Allied landing in Sicily ( Operation Husky ) in the central Mediterranean.
After the landing, the destroyer was used again to provide artillery support to the troops. On August 15, the Laforey brought the British Supreme Commanders General Alexander , Air Marshal Coningham and Admiral Ramsey to Augusta , in order to then continue to search for submarines or, if necessary, to give artillery support to the army in Sicily. When bombarding enemy positions, she was often used together with the sister ships Lookout and Loyal , which were also used by "Husky" , the Dutch gunboats Flores and Soemba and the cruiser Newfoundland .
On July 23, Laforey and Eclipse chased the Italian submarine Ascianghi , which had torpedoed the Newfoundland . The Ascianghi fired two torpedoes at the Laforey , which missed the destroyer. Laforey and Eclipse launched five depth charges against the submarine, forcing it to the surface. Laforey immediately fired all weapons at the boat and sank it.
During the Allied landing near Salerno ( Operation Avalanche ) the Laforey fought primarily on land targets. On September 9, she received five hits and had one dead and two seriously injured. In addition, a boiler room failed, so it remained in operation at reduced speed for a few days before going to Malta for repairs. The ship was not operational again until the end of October.
Also on the following landing at Anzio ( Operation Shingle ) on January 22, 1944, Laforey and the Loyal were again one of the support forces. On February 18, 1944, Laforey fired at the Mauritius Formia .
The end of the Laforey
On March 29, 1944, the Laforey was with two other destroyers of the "14th Destroyer Flotilla" ( Ulster , tumult ) on a routine submarine search north of Sicily when the Ulster discovered a submarine by Asdic . The three destroyers pursued the submerged boat and after several depth charges, forced it to the surface early in the morning of the 30th. The fighters, for whom the destroyers escort Hambledon , Blencathra and Wilton had replaced the Ulster in the meantime, immediately took U 223 under fire. Before the boat, led by Oblt.zS Peter Gerlach, sank, it was able to shoot down a wren that hit the Laforey . The flotilla leader sank immediately about 60 nautical miles northeast of Palermo , at position 38º54'N, 14º18'E with 182 men, including the commander and flotilla chief Captain Harold Thomas Armstrong. The Hambledon , Tumult and Blencathra were able to save 65 survivors of the Laforey and captured 27 castaways of the submarine.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c HMS LAFOREY (G 99) - L-class Flotilla Leader on naval-history.net
- ↑ a b HMS LAFOREY (G 99) on uboat.net
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , September 24-30, 1941 Mediterranean, Operation Halberd
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , November 10-14, 1941 Mediterranean, Operation Perpetual.
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 27.- 28.02.1942 Mediterranean, Operation Spotter.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , 5-9 March 1942 Mediterranean, Operation Spotter II.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , March 20-30, 1942 Mediterranean, Operation 'Picket I and II'
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 25.4.- 04.05.1942 Indian Ocean, preparing for landing brit near Diego Suarez..
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , 4th - 8th May 1942 Indian Ocean, British landing on Madagascar (Operation Ironclad).
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , August 10–15, 1942 Mediterranean, Operation Pedestal .
- ^ Strathallan British Troop transport on uboat.net
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , March 21-23, 1943 Mediterranean / Italy.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , May 1–13, 1943 Mediterranean Sea, final battle for Tunis and Bizerta.
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 10/07/1943 Mediterranean, Operation Husky .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , 9.– 16.9.1943 Tyrrhenian Sea, Operation Avalanche .
- ^ Rohwer: Seekrieg , Thyrrhenisches Meer, January 22-29, 1944, Operation Shingle .
- ↑ Peter Gerlach First Lieutenant at Sea (Crew XII / 39)
Remarks
- ↑ Ships marked with * were used in the convoy from Great Britain.
literature
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy. The complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present , Chatham, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8 , OCLC 67375475 (EA London 1969).
- Mark Llewellyn Evans: Great World War II Battles in the Arctic. Greenwood Pub Group, 1999, ISBN 0313308926 .
- Peter C. Smith: Convoy to Russia. The history of the convoy PQ 18. Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 387943705X .
Web links
- Service history HMS LAFOREY (G 99) - L-class Flotilla Leader on naval-history.net; accessed August 5, 2017
- HMS Laforey (G99) on uboat.net; accessed August 5, 2017
- "L" and "M" destroyers (1940-1943) ; accessed August 5, 2017
Laforey † | (Larne) / Gurkha † | Lance † | Legion † | Lightning † | Lively † | Lookout | Loyal †
(Marksman) / Mahratta † | Marne | Martin † | Matchless | Meteor | Milne | Musketeer
Poland :
(Myrmidon) / ORP Hurricane †
Turkey :
Alp Arslan |
Kilicali Pasha |
Maresal Fevzi Cakmak |
Piyale Pasha