HMS Legion (G74)
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HMS Legion (G74) was one of eight British destroyers of the newly developed L-class of the Royal Navy ordered on March 31, 1938 . Completed as the first L-class ship, the destroyer was delivered in December 1940 by the Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. shipyard . However, the Legion did not receive the double mounts with new 120 mm Mk.XI guns newly developed for the class . In order to quickly obtain destroyers with improved anti-aircraft capabilities, the Legion and three other ships of the class were completed in 1940 with four double mounts of the proven 102 mm L / 45 Mk.XVI guns .
HMS Legion was awarded the Battle Honors Norway 1941 , Atlantic 1941 , Mediterranean 1941 , Cape Bon 1941 , Malta Convoys 1941–42 , Libya 1941–42 and Sirte 1942 during World War II .
In March 1942 the destroyer was involved in the second naval battle in the Gulf of Syrte . After the battle, the Legion was badly damaged by an air strike while securing the supply convoy destined for Malta on March 24th. The destroyer was still able to reach Malta and was set aground in shallow water. Towed to the shipyard, the Legion was finally destroyed by bombs in another German air raid on Malta on March 26, 1942 in the port of Valletta .
history
HMS Legion was ordered by the British government on March 31, 1938 from Hawthorn, Leslie & Company in Hebburn-on-Tyne , where it was laid down on November 1 of that year with hull number 619. The second ship of the Royal Navy , named after the Roman Legion , was launched on December 26, 1939. Previously, a 1913 L-class destroyer built by Denny Brothers from 1912 to 1914 had been named. This Legion , last used as a mine - layer, was sold for demolition in 1921.
However, the new Legion did not receive the double mounts with new 120 mm guns newly developed for the class . Difficulties with the delivery of the new gun turret had led in 1940 to the rearmament of four ships of the class, which were equipped with proven 102 mm L / 45 Mk.XVI guns in double mounts . Since the Navy urgently needed destroyers with improved anti-aircraft capabilities after its initial war experience, it was hoped that this would put the newbuildings into service earlier. Of the lighter weapon, however, the redesigned ships received one more double mounts, which were arranged one above the other at the bow and stern. The necessary redesigns did not lead to a much faster completion.
The commissioning of the new legion in the British Navy took place on December 19, 1940 as the first ship of the new class. During the test drives, minor deficiencies were discovered, which were fixed in Greenock by the end of the year . Her sisters Gurkha ex Larne , Lively and Lance , who were also re-armed , were delivered by Cammel Laird and Yarrows between February 18 and July 20, 1941 . As the first ship with the originally planned armament of three 120 mm Mk.XI twin turrets, the Lightning, also manufactured by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co., came into service with the Navy on May 28, 1941 , and the Flotilla leader Laforey until the end of the year and with the Marne on December 2, 1941, the first ship of the M-Class ordered in 1939 followed.
Calls
In February 1941, the Legion took part in anti -submarine hunting operations in the North Sea with Polish ships, and on March 4, they took part in Operation Claymore , a commando operation against Lofoten . On April 13, 1941, the crew of the destroyer rescued 283 survivors from U 108 at the height of Reykjavik torpedoed auxiliary cruiser Rajputana .
Assignments with the Force H
On June 22, accompanied Legion together with the sister ship Lance the aircraft carrier Furious as part of an aircraft delivery for Malta by the Atlantic Ocean to Gibraltar , where they in Force H , the "cool" F-class destroyer Fearless and Foxhound replaced. On August 20, Legion reinforced the security of convoy OG 71 with the sister ship Gurkha , which was attacked by submarines and the air force and lost nine ships with 13,225 GRT as well as the Norwegian town destroyer Bath and the Flower corvette Zinnia .
To protect the supply convoy GM 2 from Gibraltar to Malta ( Operation Halberd ), 16 fleet destroyers were used at the end of September 1941, including six L-class destroyers with Laforey , Lightning , Gurkha , Lance , Lively and Legion . On the march back to Gibraltar, the Legion sunk the Italian submarine Adua together with the Gurkha on September 30, 1941 .
On October 22, 1941, the Legion belonged to a support group with the destroyers Cossack , Duncan and Vidette and the destroyer escort Lamerton , which hurried to the aid of convoy HG 75 . The 17 merchant ships of the convoy were secured by the "Escort Group 37" with the sloop Rochester and six corvettes . The Luftwaffe kept in touch with the convoy, which was attacked by German and Italian submarines, which sank four steamers and the destroyer Cossack and lost two Italian submarines.
On November 10, 1941, Force H pushed forward from Gibraltar to the western Mediterranean with the battleship Malaya , the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Argus , the light cruiser Hermione and seven destroyers to supply Malta with operational aircraft ( Operation Perpetual ). On the 12th, 37 hurricane fighters took off from the aircraft carriers , of which 34 and seven Blenheim bombers launched from Gibraltar reached the island. On the march back from the planned operation, two German submarines attacked the unit east of Gibraltar on the 13th. During the first attack, a torpedo detonated in the Legion's wake . Six Swordfish planes deployed with radar did not find the submarines. At noon, U 81 torpedoed the Ark Royal , which was badly damaged. Legion immediately took over large parts of the crew that were no longer needed, while the Laforey walked alongside the carrier to support him with pumps and electricity. A tug arriving from Gibraltar tried to hook the Ark Royal . After taking over the crew parts remaining on board, the carrier sank about 25 nm off Gibraltar fourteen hours after the torpedo hit. 1487 men of the Ark Royal were able to save the destroyer, only one crew member was killed in the torpedo hit.
Further missions in the Mediterranean
From December 10, 1941, the Italian 4th Cruiser Division tried to transport 2000 tons of gasoline to the armed forces of the Axis powers in North Africa with the light cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano from Palermo . The sister ships carried the gasoline in metal canisters on deck. Only the torpedo boat Cigno accompanied the two cruisers, the high speed of which should give the planners of the Italian high command adequate security against a British attack.
While passing Cape Bon , the cruisers were captured and escorted by the British aerial reconnaissance, whereupon the Italians broke off their plan and turned around. An alerted British destroyer group on the march from Gibraltar to Alexandria with the Sikh , Maori and Legion as well as the Dutch Isaac Sweers ran at high speed to the suspected location of the Italian cruisers and recorded them on the radar . The group pushed between mainland Africa and the cruisers, attacking them with torpedoes. The lead ship Alberico da Barbiano received three hits and sank within a short time without firing a shot. 534 men of their crew died. Alberto di Giussano , who was only hit by a torpedo, remained immobile and burned. It had been able to fire three more volleys at the attackers and sank after further artillery hits an hour after the torpedo hit. Their demise claimed 283 victims. The Cigno was able to dodge several torpedoes and escaped the attackers. As the British destroyers continued to Malta, the torpedo boat began rescuing the survivors, of whom she took on board around 500. Others were rescued by Tunisian fishermen, a seaplane and an Italian speedboat. 687 crew members of the cruisers, 250 of them from the Da Barbiano and 437 from the Di Giussano , survived the British attack.
The success was a result of the British radio reconnaissance, which was able to decipher the radio of the Italian Navy, which was encrypted with the Hagelin - C-38M - rotor cipher machine . As a result, she recognized all the details of the Italian supply escorts at an early stage and initiated the deployment of the search units from the air and the transfer of the destroyer group from Gibraltar through the Mediterranean to Alexandria.
The British destroyer group called Malta on December 14th and was received with great sympathy from the population, who were informed about the success of the destroyers. The destroyers were to receive the benefits anticipated from Alexandria supply ship Breconshire the Force K allocated and left on the 15th, along with their cruisers Aurora and Penelope and the destroyers Lance , Lively and Zulu Malta, to accommodate the utilities provided by units of the Mediterranean Fleet ( Force C under Admiral Vian ). The opposing associations met on December 16.
On the 17th, Italian aircraft attacked the British formation and Italian naval units, which were at sea to secure an Italian escort, tried to put the British warships into action. It came to the first sea battle in the Gulf of Syrte . When the Italian battleship Littorio opened fire from a distance of 32,000 meters, the British withdrew and the Italians did not pursue because they wanted to avoid a night battle and protect their convoy. On the 18th, the Italians again attacked the British federation from the air without success.
The Legion then ran to Alexandria with its destroyer group and Force C. When they arrived in Alexandria on December 19, the Italian submarine Scirè and three torpedo riders succeeded in entering the port undetected in the wake of the British ships. They laid mines and wreaked havoc on the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant and the tanker Savona .
On December 28th, the Legion escorted convoy ME-8 on its way from Tobruk to Alexandria. Together with the Kipling , she succeeded in sinking the German submarine U 75 after a two and a half hour chase off Marsa Matruh .
On January 10, 1942, the Legion, together with the Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers, attacked the German submarine U 374 with depth charges, but the German boat managed to escape. The no longer submersible submarine was then sunk on the 12th by the British submarine Unbeaten near Cape Spartivento .
As part of the Malta convoy MF 3 , the Legion served as a security destroyer and at the same time moved to Force K, where it was used from the 19th alongside the cruiser Penelope and the destroyers Sikh , Zulu , Maori , Lance and Lively .
On the 25th, the Force K ran from Malta with the cruiser Penelope and the destroyers Zulu , Maori , Lance , Lively and Legion with the empty transporters Glengyle and Rowallan Castle . She met on the 26th of the Malta convoy MF 4 , which was leading the transporter Breconshire , with which she exchanged the transporter to be secured and the destroyer Lance for Kingston and arrived back in Malta on the 27th. Air attacks by the Germans and Italians were repulsed.
From February 13th, Legion will be involved in the repatriation of four empty transporters with Penelope and the destroyers Zulu , Sikh , Lively , Fortune and Decoy as part of the MF.9 replenishment operation. The supply convoy MW 9 , coming from Alexandrie, had already left a damaged transporter behind and had to sink another one itself. The remaining transporter was sunk in an air raid after the British units met. So there was only an exchange of the returning Lance for Decoy and Fortune and the emptied transporter.
The end of the legion
In March, the destroyer was involved in the Second Skirmish in the Syrte as part of Force K when, on March 22, she joined the supply convoy MW 10 with the cruiser Penelope with four transports ( Clan Campbell , Breconshire , Pampas and Talabot ), the cruiser and destroyer the Mediterranean Fleet (Force B) since protecting Alexandria. When it came to combat contact with the Italian fleet on the 22nd, the two British units had already united. The Legion was one of the units that attempted a torpedo attack on the Italian unit.
After the end of the battle, the destroyer was dispatched on the 24th to support Clan Campbell , accompanied by the Hunt destroyer Eridge , to secure the further march to Malta. The ships were the target of violent attacks by the Air Force II Air Corps, which sank the transporter by a torpedo and a few bomb hits. A close hit with the Legion led to a temporary drive failure. A drive train could be used again and the damaged destroyer was aground at Marsaxlokk . On the 25th, the Legion was brought into the port of Valletta , where it was to be repaired at the naval shipyard. At the pier of the shipyard, the destroyer received two bomb hits during an air raid by the Axis powers on the 26th, and the magazine in the forecastle exploded. The capsizing ship tipped with its superstructure onto the pier of the naval shipyard. All attempts to use at least parts of the ship failed and from 1943 (until 1946) the legion was slowly broken off.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d HMS LEGION (G 74) - L-class Destroyer
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 3./4.3.1941, Norway / radio reconnaissance
- ^ Rajputana on uboat.net
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 22.-23.6.41, Atlantic
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 10-23, 1941, North Atlantic
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. September 24–30, 1941, Mediterranean Sea, Operation Halberd : Supply convoy GM.2 from Gibraltar to Malta.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. October 17–29, 1941, North Atlantic, Operation of the submarine group in Breslau
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. November 10-14, 1941, Mediterranean Sea, Operation Perpetual
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. December 1–15, 1941, Mediterranean Sea, New Italian convoy operations to North Africa.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 15–19 December 1941, Mediterranean Sea, British escort operation MF.1 to Malta.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 1. – 18.1.1942, Mediterranean, British submarine operations in the central Mediterranean.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 16. – 20.1.1942, Mediterranean Sea, British supply company MF.3 for Malta.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. January 24–28, 1942, Mediterranean Sea, British supply company MF.4 for Malta.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. February 12–16, 1942, Mediterranean Sea, British supply operation MF.5 for Malta.
Remarks
- ↑ In 1940, the Royal Navy delivered ten newbuilding orders for fleet destroyers: in addition to the Legion , five H-class destroyers started for Brazil , the Kimberley as the last K-class ship and the first three N-class destroyers (the one for allied navies came into service). In 1941 thirteen newbuilding orders were delivered: in addition to the six L and M class destroyers mentioned, the first five of the O and P class war emergency program and two other N class destroyers (which came back into service for the Australian Navy ).
Web links
- The Legion at uboat.net (engl.)
- Allied Warships: The L-Class Destroyers (Retrieved January 9, 2006)
- Legion Technical Details (Retrieved January 9, 2006)
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