HMS Loyal (G15)
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HMS Loyal (G15) was one of eight British L-class destroyers of the Royal Navy ordered on March 31, 1938 . The destroyer was delivered in October 1942 by the Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company . It was completed as the eighth and last ship of the new L-box and was completed with the double mounts for new 120 mm guns newly developed for the class .
The Loyal was awarded the Battle Honors Sicily 1943 , Salerno 1943 , Mediterranean 1943 , Anzio 1944 and Adriatic 1944 during World War II .
The destroyer was at the end of the Second World War in Taranto but not operational since a mine hit on October 22, 1944. The ship, towed to Malta in 1946, was classified as a total loss in 1947 and sold for demolition. In June 1948 the Loyal arrived in tow in Milford Haven , where it was scrapped.
history
The Loyal was laid down on November 23, 1938 at Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock as a new building with hull number 579 together with her sister ship Lookout . The shipyard was the only one that built four ships of this type, as Scotts also received an order for two replicas of the M-Class on July 7, 1939. All four ships were also completed with the 120 mm L / 50 Mk.XI guns newly developed for this type in the new turret -like double mounts.
The launch of the Loyal as the eighth and last ship of the L-class took place eleven months after its sister ship on October 8, 1941. The delay was due to the damage to the shipyard and the problems of its workers after two heavy air raids by the Luftwaffe on October 6. and May 7, 1941.
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The name Loyal had previously been given to a 1913 L-class destroyer built by Denny Brothers from 1912 to 1914 , which was scrapped in 1921.
The commissioning of the second Loyal of the British Navy did not take place until October 31, 1942 as the last ship of the original order, when six destroyers of the following M-Class were already in service with the Navy, including the Milne launched at Scotts , their expansion at John Brown & Company in Clydebank .
Calls
The new destroyer was assigned to the "19th Destroyer Flotilla" after completion and began its work-up with the units of the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow on November 11th . On December 16, he then moved to his shipyard in Greenock in order to remedy some deficiencies and to be equipped for use in the Mediterranean. On December 26, 1942, the march to the Mediterranean Sea began to secure a supply convoy to Algiers . From there the ship moved to Bône (today Annaba ) to the "Force Q", where the flotilla leader Laforey and the sister ships Lightning and Lookout were stationed.
During one of her first missions, the Loyal sank the German freighter Favor (ex Ste Roseline , 1323 GRT) south of Sardinia on January 18, 1943 with the Lightning . The Laforey was used during the final battle of the German-Italian tank army for Tunis , the securing of the Allied landing on Pantelleria ( Operation Corkscrew ) and finally on Sicily ( Operation Husky ).
During the operation at the Allied landing near Salerno ( Operation Avalanche ) the Loyal fought primarily on land targets. She was not hit in the attacks by the German Air Force , but suffered slight damage from close hits. In a battle with a 8.8 cm battery on September 9, the enemy scored a hit that put a boiler room out of action. Like the similarly hit Laforey , the Loyal remained briefly in action at reduced speed before she went to Malta for repairs , where the damage could be repaired quickly and she went back to Salerno, where she was damaged again by further close hits on September 13th. Before landing at Anzio ( Operation Shingle ), the destroyer and other units fired at multiple targets on the mainland coast.
Before Anzio, the destroyer rescued part of the shipwrecked cruiser Spartan , which had been sunk by a radio-controlled bomb. On February 9, 1944, the Loyal was hit by a coastal battery off Anzio and went to Taranto via Naples for a six-week repair . Remaining work was carried out in Malta and a training program was completed with a partly replaced team before the destroyer was used again in the Anzio area. On May 9th, after close hits by German air raids, the ship had to be towed back to Taranto for repairs, where the necessary work was done from May 27th to August 18th, 1944. The Loyal was now stationed in the Adriatic Sea and used Ancona as a base. The ship was used in the area around Rimini with other units for artillery support of the army.
The end of loyal
At the beginning of October 1944, the Loyal fired at Cesenatico near Rimini with the Lookout . On the march back, the destroyer set off a mine. The mine explosion damaged the hull and threw parts of the machine out of its anchorage. The Lookout towed the sister ship to the base.
On October 21, the Loyal was towed to Taranto to investigate the damage. The extent of the damage turned out to be very significant. A repair in Malta appeared possible, but should not be done until suitable towing capacity is available. The Loyal was therefore decommissioned in December 1944.
It was not until 1946 that the destroyer was towed to Malta. After the renewed examination, the only thing that seemed to make sense was to convert it into a residential ship. This was also waived and the destroyer was sorted out and sold in 1947. A naval tug brought the Loyal from July 15 to 31, 1948 to Milford Haven , where it was demolished.
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).
- John English: Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937-43. World Ship Society, Gravesend 2001, ISBN 0-905617-64-9 .
- Mark Llewellyn Evans: Great World War II Battles in the Arctic. Greenwood Pub Group, 1999, ISBN 0313308926 .
- Norman Friedman: British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2006, ISBN 1-86176-137-6 .
Web links
- Service History HMS LOYAL (G 15) - L-class Destroyer on naval-history.net (engl.)
- HMS Loyal (G15). on uboat.net
- HMS Loyal (G15) Casualty List on HMS Cavalier Association
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e f g Service History HMS LOYAL (G 15) - L-class Destroyer
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 9-16 September 1943, Tyrrhenian Sea, Operation Avalanche .
- ↑ Rohwer: Seekrie. 22-29 January 1944, Tyrrhenian Sea, Operation Shingle .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 9-12 October 1944, Mediterranean / Adriatic.
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