HMAS Queenborough
.jpg) HMAS Queenborough 1954 after conversion to anti-submarine frigate
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HMAS Queenborough came with the war building program in World War II as the destroyer HMS Queenborough (G70) of the Q and R class in the service of the Royal Navy and was with the Battle Honors Arctic 1942-43 , Sicily 1943 , Salerno 1943 , Mediterranean 1943 and Okinawa Awarded in 1945 .
After the end of the war, the destroyer remained with two sister ships on loan in Australia and replaced by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) previously used destroyers of the N-class , which were returned to the Royal Navy. The RAN had already taken over two Q-class ships ( Quiberon and Quickmatch ) as soon as they were completed in 1942 .
In 1950 the Royal Navy gave the Queenborough and its four sister ships away to Australia, where the destroyers were to be converted into anti-submarine frigates based on the British model ( Type 15 ) . Queenborough was rebuilt as the second ship until 1954 and was used by the RAN in various functions until 1972. In 1975 the ship was scrapped in Hong Kong.
History of the ship
The destroyer Queenborough was ordered with the "3rd Emergency Flotilla" (Q or Quilliam class) with a sister ship from Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson in Wallsend-on-Tyne . The active start of construction of the Q and R class destroyers was delayed by the war events , as the British shipyards were heavily used by the repairs and refitting of the existing ships after the events in Norway and northern France . The keel of the new building with hull number 1605 was laid on November 6, 1940, about a month after the sister ship Quality, which was also ordered from the shipyard . The destroyer named after the small town of Queenborough in Kent was launched on January 16, 1942. The name was already borne by five ships of the Royal Navy from 1671 to 1806, the last one being a cutter with twelve cannons. The fourth HMS Queenborough from 1747, a small frigate with 24 cannons, had distinguished itself in four battles off India in the Seven Years' War 1758/59 and was honored with four battle honors before it was lost in a hurricane in 1761. On December 10, 1942, the sixth Queenborough was delivered to the Royal Navy and went to Scapa Flow for training .
Calls
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The Queenborough , which was put into service, was assigned to the Home Fleet and from the end of 1942 assigned to securing the Northern Sea Convoys. As early as December 31, 1942, the destroyer was one of the units with which the Home Fleet reinforced the security of the convoys JW 51B and RA 51 after the battle in the Barents Sea . She went with the battleships King George V and Howe , the cruiser Mauritius and the destroyers Montrose , Musketeer , Raider , Worcester and the Polish Piorun , some of which, especially the sister ship Raider , had also recently entered service. The operation proceeded without any special events. At the end of January 1943, there was another deployment in the North Sea in the cover group for the convoy JW 52 in a largely different composition.
From the end of February to the beginning of May 1942, deployments followed in escorting troops in the Atlantic to Gibraltar , Freetown , Cape Town and Durban . In these missions Queenborough worked at least temporarily with the sister ships Quail , Quadrant , Quilliam as well as Raider and Racehorse . Queenborough belonged to the "4th Destroyer Flotilla" newly formed from the ships of the Q-class, which was assigned to Force H in the summer of 1943 for use in the Mediterranean and the planned Allied landing on Sicily.
When the Allied landing on the south and south-east coast of Sicily ( Operation Husky ) took place after the largest deployment of an Allied fleet on July 10, 1943, Queenborough with its sister ships Quilliam and Quail was part of the cover group for the entire deployment .
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For the planned transfer of the British troops to mainland Italy, the three Q-class destroyers took part in the first bombardment of the coast between Reggio Calabria and Pessaro with battleships, cruisers and other destroyers on August 31 . After further bombardments on September 2, the British XIII. Corps across the Strait of Messina the following day . In addition to the monitors Erebus , Roberts and Abercrombie and the gunboats Aphis and Scarab , the three destroyers continued to support the British troops advancing in Calabria. When the 5th US Army landed in the Bay of Salerno ( Operation Avalanche ) on September 9th, the three destroyers of the 4th Flotilla formed the Petard and five destroyers of the 24th Flotilla and nine of the 8th Flotilla as well the French large-scale destroyers Le Fantasque and Le Terrible the security umbrella to cover the operation with the battleships Nelson , Rodney , Warspite and Valiant and the aircraft carriers Illustrious and Formidable .
From October 1943, the Queenborough with Quilliam and Quail supported the advance of the Allied troops on the Italian east coast in the Adriatic. The sister ships were stationed in Bari . When entering the port, the quail was badly damaged by a mine hit on November 15 and was never used again. Queenborough and Quilliam shot at Durrës (Durazzo) in Albania on December 1, 1943 .
British Eastern Fleet
The changed war situation in the Mediterranean by the loss of the Italian fleet and the Vichy-loyal French naval units made a considerable reinforcement of the British Eastern Fleet , which had only eleven destroyers at the beginning of the year. In addition to battleships, carriers and cruisers, a number of destroyers were also relocated to the Indian Ocean. These included the “16th Destroyer Division” with four P-class destroyers , the “11th Destroyer Flotilla” with eight R-class destroyers and the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” with the six destroyers Quilliam , Quadrant , Quality , Queenborough , Quiberon and Q-Class Quickmatch . Of the latter, however, the Australian Quiberon and Quickmatch had been in use there since the end of February 1943, mostly as escort vehicles, and the British Quadrant and Quality since September 1943.
During her time with the Eastern Fleet, Queenborough took part in three carrier operations in the spring, in which she secured the Illustrious . On March 21, part of the Eastern Fleet left Trincomalee to pick up the American carrier Saratoga with three destroyers southwest of Cocos Island (Operation Diplomat). Quilliam and Quality were also involved in securing the Illustrious and the Australian destroyers Napier , Norman , Nepal and Quiberon were also part of the association.
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After the American carrier had been successfully picked up, the Eastern Fleet carried out a carrier raid against Sabang ( Operation Cockpit ) with both carriers in mid-April , which was attacked by 81 aircraft on April 19. The destroyers Quilliam , Quadrant , Queenborough and the American destroyers Cummings , Dunlap and Fanning secured the carriers. In the support association were u. a. also used Quiberon , Napier , Nepal and Nizam .
Another carrier raid against Surabaya with 85 aircraft ( Operation Transom ) followed on May 17 , which took place at the same time as an American attack near Wakde in New Guinea . The same six destroyers together with the cruisers Ceylon and the Gambia of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) secured the two carriers. The one with the carrier association on May 6 from Colombo leaked battlecruiser Renown came on the first day of the initiative to come from Trincomalee support bandage with the battleships Queen Elizabeth , Valiant and the French Richelieu , the cruisers Newcastle , Nigeria and the Dutch Tromp , the destroyers Rotherham , Racehorse , Penn as well as the Australian Napier , Nepal , Quiberon and Quickmatch and the Dutch Van Galen . Before the attack, the associations had supplied themselves in Exmouth Bay (NW Australia) on the 15th from six fleet tankers and one water tanker, which were secured by the cruisers London and Suffolk . After the attack, the Saratoga and its destroyers separated from the unit and returned to the Pacific via Australia, while the units of the Eastern Fleet reached Ceylon again on May 27 .
On October 15, 1944, the Queenborough ran out of Trincomalee for her last major mission with the Eastern Fleet. Shelling and air strikes on Japanese bases on the Malay Peninsula and the Nicobar Islands were intended to create the impression that the Allies were planning to land on the peninsula (Operation Millet). The fleet was divided into three groups. Queenborough formed the first group of the association with Quilliam , the Australian Quiberon and the flagship Renown . The second group was formed by the cruisers London , Cumberland and Suffolk and the destroyers Relentless , Raider , the Australian Norman and the Dutch Van Galen . The third group consisted of the aircraft carriers Indomitable and Victorious , the cruiser Phoebe and the destroyers Whelp , Wakeful , Wessex and Wager . On October 17 and 19, the porters launched attacks on the Nicobar Islands. After the cruiser group shot at Car Nicobar on the 17th and London , Norman and Van Galen in the night, Renown , Suffolk , Raider , Quilliam and Queenborough continued the bombardment on the 18th. A distraction of the Japanese did not succeed, however. On November 22, 1944, the British Eastern Fleet was split into two fleets. The smaller remained as the East Indies Fleet in the Indian Ocean , while the larger part was to be relocated to the Pacific as the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) . Queenborough and the "4th Destroyer Flotilla" were assigned to the BPF, which moved to Australia in December.
British Pacific Fleet
In January 1945, the Queenborough in Australia was equipped for use with the American fleet in Australia. Your identifier changed from G70 to D19 in line with the American system . In February 1945 Queenborough , Quality and Quadrant accompanied the battleship Howe on a visit to New Zealand by the BPF's Commander in Chief Bruce Fraser . Then the association practiced deviating signaling and maneuvering procedures of the Americans and from January 28th moved to the new advanced base of the BPF in Manus , which was reached on May 7th. After a delayed approval by the American Chiefs of Staff, the BPF was able to march on to the US base in Ulithi on March 18, from there to participate in the preparation of the landing on Okinawa as Task Force 57 under Vice Admiral Philip Vian on March 23 .
The British association consisted of the four carriers Indomitable , Victorious , Illustrious , Indefatigable , the two battleships King George V. and Howe , the five cruisers Swiftsure , Euryalus , Black Prince , Argonaut as well as the Gambia of the RNZN and the eleven destroyers Grenville , Ulster , Undine , Urania and Undaunted (25th DF), Kempenfelt , Whirlwind and Wager (27th DF) as well as the Australian Quickmatch and Quiberon and the British Queenborough (4th DF). The task of the British Association was to turn off the airfields on the Sakishima Gunto archipelago of the southern Ryūkyū Islands . A supply group with escort carriers Striker , Speaker , Sloops Crane , Pheasant , the frigate Findhorn and three tankers were available to supply the attack group . With her were also the destroyers Quality and Whelp , which replaced Kempenfelt and Whirlwind . The British task force continued these operations until April 20, 1945, during which not only aircraft were destroyed, but Japanese security units and transporters were also sunk. When she withdrew from the combat area for short supply breaks for two / three days, she was replaced by a US escort group. In use, the British Task Force was less exposed to kamikaze attacks than the units and units that directly supported the Allied troops that had landed. The carriers Indefatigable and more easily the Illustrious were hit, as well as the destroyer Ulster , which was towed to Leyte by the New Zealand cruiser Gambia .
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As early as May 1, 1945, the British Association left Leyte to return to the fighting area around Okinawa. Again, the association consisted of four carriers, Formidable now the Illustrious replaced the two battleships King George V and Howe , five cruisers, the Uganda of the Royal Canadian Navy , the Argonaut replaced, and now fourteen destroyers in which heavily damaged by Kamikaze Ulster was missing and Ursa and Urchin were used for it, again with Kempenfelt , Whirlwind and the Wessex in place of the Wager and in addition to Quickmatch , Quiberon and Queenborough also Quilliam and Quality of the 4th destroyer Flotilla. This time, the islands of the Sakashima Gunto group were not only attacked from the air, but also shot at by the battleships, cruisers and half of the destroyers. While in action, Formidable received two kamikaze hits and was released to the base before the final attacks, Indomitable suffered minor damage, and later Victorious also received a kamikaze hit.
The now larger British supply group included four escort carriers, the Australian destroyers Napier , Nepal , Norman and Nizam , four sloops , three River-class frigates , three Australian mine sweeping corvettes and other units. The destroyers Napier , Nepal , Troubridge , Tenacious and Termagent were also used at times in the attack force . The destroyer Quilliam was badly damaged in a collision on May 20 and had to be towed to the base. From May 23, the New Zealand cruiser Achilles was also used by the British Task Force.
The Queenborough was released on May 15, 1945 from the association of the British Task Force due to propulsion problems after close hits and ran back to Leyte with the escort carrier Speaker . She then returned to Sydney to carry out repairs and, after the repairs were completed in June 1945, remained in Australia until the end of the war.
When the Second World War ended, the RAN had three Tribal-class destroyers built in Australia, four N-class destroyers (one loss of war) and two Q-class destroyers on loan from the Royal Navy, as well as two old units of the " Scrap Iron Flotilla " present at the start of the war (three war losses). It was decided to return the N-class destroyers to the Royal Navy and replace them with three Q-class destroyers of the Royal Navy in service in the Far East. These units were also only borrowed at first. Thus came Quadrant , Queensborough and Quality in the fall of 1945 in the service of the Royal Australian Navy. Queenborough remained in service in Australian waters until she was assigned to the reserve on May 20, 1946.
In May 1950, work began on converting the ship at Cockatoo Island Dockyard into a modern, fast British-style anti-submarine frigate. During the conversion, the ship's armament and all superstructures were removed. The frigate conversions received a new, larger deckhouse made of sheet aluminum with much more spacious accommodation for the crew and a large operations center for the use of the many new sensors. The ship's bridge was completely closed. The Queenborough's new armament consisted of a 102 mm twin gun behind the long structure, which could be used as a sea target gun and for anti-aircraft defense. There was also a 40 mm Bofors twin gun in front of the bridge and a limbo depth charge mortar in the rear deckhouse area. The fuel supply for the conversions was smaller and resulted in a reduced driving range. The modifications increased the standard displacement to 2200 ts. The normal draft of the conversions was 4.7 m compared to the original 2.9 m.
The renovation was completed in 1954 and on December 7, 1954, the HMAS Queenborough for the "1st Frigate Squadron" of the RAN was put back into service. In February 1955, the Queenborough moved to the Royal Navy Anti -Submarine School in Northern Ireland for training purposes and did not return to Australia until December 1955. From September 1956 to July 1957, the ship served on Far East Station in Singapore with other Commonwealth units . For this use during the so. "Malayan Emergency" she was later awarded the Battle Honor Malaya 1957 . At the Far East Station , the ship was used five more times from 1959 to 1963. On July 10, 1963, the Queenborough was decommissioned and launched in Williamstown Dockyard.
. On July 28, 1966, the frigate was put back into service as a training ship , in which it remained until April 7, 1972. By then she had covered 443,236 miles in service with the Australian Navy.
On April 8, 1975, the ship was sold to Hong Kong for demolition. On May 2, the Queenborough left Sydney Harbor in tow and arrived in Hong Kong on June 20, 1975, where it was scrapped.
The Australian Q destroyers / frigates
| Surname | finished | takeover | reserve | Conversion type 15 |
finished frigate |
a. D. | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiberon | G81 07/15/1942 | 7/6/42 | 05/15/50 | 11.50 | F03 12/18/57 | 06/26/64 a. D. | 2.72 abort |
| Quickmatch | G92 09/23/1942 | 09/14/42 | 05/15/50 | 4.51 | F04 09/23/55 | 04/26/63 a. D. | 2.72 abort |
| quadrant | G11 11/26/1942 | 10/18/45 | 06/20/47 | 4.50 | F01 07/16/53 | 08/16/57 a. D. | 2.63 abort |
| Queenborough | G30 December 10, 1942 | 10/20/45 | 05/20/46 | 5.50 |
F02 12/7/54 57 07/28/66 |
07/10/63 a. D. 4.07.72 a. D. |
4.75 abort |
| Quality | G62 September 7, 1942 | 11/28/45 | 01/25/46 | == | == | == | 4.58 Abort |
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.
- Leo Marriott: Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983 , Ian Allan (1983), ISBN 0-7110-1322-5 .
- Antony Preston: Destroyers , Hamlyn, ISBN 0-60032955-0 .
- Alan Raven, John Roberts: War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes , Bivouac Books, London 1978, ISBN 0-85680-010-4 .
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War 2 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1988, ISBN 0-87021-326-1 .
Web links
- Queenborough 1942 on tynebuiltships with good pictures
- Service History HMS QUEENBOROUGH (G 70) - Q-class Destroyer on naval-history.net
- HMAS Queenborough on navy.gov.au
- List of pictures of the converted Queenborough on flickr
- Q and R groups destroyers on navypedia
- Service Histories Destroyers Q-class & R-class on naval-history.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j HMS QUEENBOROUGH (G 70) - Q-class Destroyer
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 10/07/1943 Mediterranean, Operation Husky .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , August 31, 1943 Mediterranean, Operation Hammer .
- ↑ Rohwer: Sea War , 2.– 3.9.1943 Mediterranean Sea, Operation Baytown .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , 9-16 September 1943 Mediterranean, Operation Avalanche .
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 11.- 01.31.1944 Indian Ocean, reinforcement of the British Eastern Fleet.
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 21.3.- 02.04.1944 Indian Ocean, Operation Diplomat .
- ^ Rohwer: Seekrieg , April 16–24, 1944 Indian Ocean, Operation Cockpit .
- ^ Rohwer: Seekrieg , May 6–27, 1944 Indian Ocean, Operation Transom .
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 15.- 19.10.1944 Indian Ocean, operation Millet .
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 23.- 31.03.1945 Central Pacific, preparation phase of the landing on Okinawa.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War , April 1945, Central Pacific, Battle of Okinawa.
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 3.- 29/05/1945 Central Pacific, continuation of operations at Okinawa.
- ↑ a b c HMAS Queenborough
- ^ Lenton: Warships of the British and Commonwealth Navies , pp. 78 ff.
- ↑ Queenborough 1942 with picture
