HMS Saumarez (G12)
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HMS Saumarez (G12) was the commanding officer of the Royal Navy S-class destroyers during World War II . The destroyer, which was taken over into the fleet service in July 1943, was awarded the five battle honors "Arctic 1943-44", "North Cape 1943", "Normandy 1944", "Malaya 1945" and "Burma 1945".
The ship was involved in two successful classic torpedo attacks: On December 26, 1943, it attacked the retreating German battleship Scharnhorst with its sister ships Savage , Scorpion and the Norwegian Stord . The torpedo hits achieved significantly reduced the speed of the battleship, so that it could eventually be sunk by heavier British units approaching it.
On May 16, 1945, the Saumarez and the destroyers Verulam , Vigilant , Venus and Virago attacked the heavy cruiser Haguro with torpedoes and sank him in the Malacca Strait . The accompanying Japanese destroyer Kamikaze was only damaged and escaped the British ships.
On October 22, 1946, the Saumarez, the main victim of the so-called Corfu Canal incident, was hit by a serious mine. The badly damaged destroyer was returned to Great Britain, but not repaired. From October 1950, the destroyer was scrapped in Charlestown (Fife) on the Firth of Forth .
History of the ship
In January 1941, Hawthorn Leslie in Newcastle received two orders for destroyers of the “5th Emergency Flotilla” (S-Class) . Both ships were completed as special forms of the S-Class. The keel of the new building with hull number 651 was laid on August 22, 1941, which was completed by June 1943 as the eighth Savage of the Royal Navy. The destroyer differed from the other destroyers of the S-, T-, U-, V- and W-class by its main armament with 4.5-inch guns , which from the 10th Emergency Flotilla (Z-class) of the war building program as new main armament of the fleet destroyers were introduced. For this purpose, both of its bow guns were installed in a double mount, as it was used in fleet service from the Battle class in 1945.
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The keel laying of the second new building of the shipyard in Hebburn with the construction number 650 took place on September 24, 1941 and should be completed as the flotilla leader of the "5th Emergency Flotilla". The new building was the second ship of the Royal Navy to be named Saumarez in honor of Admiral James Saumarez (1757-1836). In 1916, Cammell Laird had delivered a Parker-class flotilla commander to the Royal Navy as Saumarez . This ship, assigned to the reserve since 1919, was retired by the Navy in 1931.
Since the Tribal class of 1936 , no more deviating flotilla leaders were built for the British destroyers and the number of units usually ordered in flotillas was reduced to eight. The guide boats had to have additional rooms because of the space required for the additional staff of a flotilla staff, which led to slight deviations in the superstructures. In particular, the aft deckhouses as classic accommodation for the officers on board were usually somewhat larger, which led to an increase in the standard displacement of around 20 ts.
As the S-Class flotilla leader, the Saumarez displaced 1730 ts as the standard and fully loaded 2530 ts. Like the other destroyers of the class, she was 362 ft 9 in length, 35 ft 8 in width and up to 14.5 ft draft. It was propelled by two Parson gear turbine sets, one each Drive screw shaft. The total drive power of 40,000 hp was generated with the steam from two Admiralty boilers and gave the ship a top speed of over 36 knots . At full load, the Saumarez could carry up to 615 ts of fuel, with which she could cover up to 4675 nm at a cruising speed of 20 kn. Its crew normally consisted of 225 men.
When it was completed on July 1, 1943, the destroyer was armed with four 4.7-inch (120-mm) L / 45 Mark XII guns , which became real multi-purpose weapons with the new suspension. A Bofors 40 mm twin gun in a carriage of the Hazemeyer type developed in the Netherlands and four automatic twin guns of the 20 mm Oerlikon type were available to ward off air attacks . In addition, the destroyer was armed with two 21-inch quadruple torpedo tube sets and usually had 70 depth charges on board, which were deployed via two drainage rails and four launchers. The Saumarez came into service as the third S-Class ship after the Scorpion made by Cammell Laird and the Savage built next to her in Hebburn . From this type of emergency Destroyers were with the at & John Brown Co. incurred flotilla Troubridge and the destroyer tumult of the same yard as well as built at Swan Hunter Tuscan and Tyrian and Grenville (Leader U) and Ulster just six destroyers of the following classes in the service .
Mission history
Northern convoys
Saumarez , put into service on July 1, 1943, was first assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Home Fleet and then to the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla . After a short run-in period, the destroyer was used to secure the British convoys in the North Sea , with which the Western Allies transported material to support the Soviet Union to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk . On October 23, she left the destroyers Milne as the lead ship, Mahratta , Matchless , Musketeer , Savage , Scourge , Scorpion and Westcott , the Norwegian corvette Eglantine and the mine sweepers Harrier and Seagull of the Halcyon class Seyðisfjörður in Iceland to work as part of the Lend- Lease support provided five minesweepers T-111 to T-115 ) of the American Admirable class (530 ts) and six submarine fighters ( BO-201 , BO-204 , BO-208 to BO-211 of the American 110ft submarine chasers (121 ts) to the Kola bay delivered directing where the federation arrived on 28 October. Even more important was the pick of thirteen cargo ships from Arkhangelsk that were there since the spring and the interruption of the North sea convoys. with this as a convoy RA 54A was The return march started on November 1 and all transporters arrived in British ports on November 13 and 14. The return march was only hindered by thick fog Also three submarines were set up in front of the entrance to the Altafjord and the cruisers HMS London and USS Augusta were at sea with the destroyer escort HMS Middleton .
As of November 23, the Saumarez was part of the security of convoy JW.54B , which comprised fourteen transporters and a rescue ship. The security led by the Hardy also included the other destroyers Beagle , Savage , Scorpion , Scourge , Venus and Vigilant , three corvettes of the Flower class and the mine sweeper Halcyon . On the last section, two Soviet destroyers and three mine sweepers reinforced the security of the convoy, which reached Arkhangelsk on December 3 without losses. The battleship Anson , four cruisers and four other destroyers were still at sea in two cover groups .
Sea battle off the North Cape
On December 16, Saumarez left the Kola Bay with Savage , Scorpion and the Norwegian Stord , initially accompanied by the Soviet destroyer Kuibyshev ; the destroyers of the S-class should form the long-range cover group for the next Allied convoy operation with the battleship Duke of York and the cruiser Jamaica . The long-range coverage group under the command of the Home Fleet, Vice Admiral Bruce Fraser , ran to Akureyri (Iceland) for oiling and did not reach the sea area off the North Cape again until December 26th . The convoy JW.55B was already further to the east and had repulsed the first attacks by German planes and submarines. The Kriegsmarine searched for the convoy with a combat group under Rear Admiral Bey on the battleship Scharnhorst and the 4th destroyer flotilla with Z 29 , Z 30 , Z 33 , Z 34 and Z 38 ( Operation Eastern Front ). From the southeast, the British cruiser cover group approached under Vice Admiral Burnett with Belfast , Norfolk and Sheffield and pinpointed the Scharnhorst with radar. Without calling in their destroyers for support, Scharnhorst turned around and engaged in a brief skirmish with the cruisers on the morning of the 26th. Norfolk scored two hits, one of which put the Scharnhorst's main radar out of action. Bey then canceled the search for the convoy and released his destroyers to march back to their bases. The Scharnhorst , which was also expiring , was discovered again by Burnett's cruiser association and attacked around noon. In the again differentiated battle, the German commander gained the impression that a battleship belonged to the British unit and finally broke off his attempt to attack the convoy. Burnett and his unit remained in a position between the convoy and the Germans and now had four destroyers from convoy RA.55B . The Scharnhorst turned off at high speed to shake off the British association, the composition of which, due to the lack of a powerful measuring device, had no clear idea.
The British long-range coverage group under Admiral Fraser approaching from Iceland tried to relocate the German battleship to its base. Since the Germans had not discovered her, the Scharnhorst got in her way. When the enemy was detected by radar for the first time in the afternoon at a distance of over 40 km on the Duke of York , the group's course was corrected so that the British battleship opened fire on the Scharnhorst from all ten heavy artillery half an hour later could only open eleven km distance. Despite heavy hits and the intervention of the Burnett Association from a northerly position, the Scharnhorst threatened to escape because the distance to her had increased to 20 km again in the battle and she reached 26 knots again. Fraser had therefore sent his four destroyers to keep the German ship busy and, if necessary, to stop or destroy it with torpedo hits. Their leaders formed two squads, of which Saumarez and Savage first attacked from the port side but were discovered early and broke off their attack because of the massive defensive fire. Meanwhile, Scorpion and Stord came closer to the German battleship on the starboard side. Of the 16 torpedoes from the two destroyers, only one of the Scorpions reached the target. The successful evasive movements of the German ship enabled the other two destroyers to catch up again. Of the Savage's eight torpedoes , three hit. Saumarez ran extremely close to the German ship, but could only fire four torpedoes, one of which hit. The destroyer had received a severe hit in its fire control station, which - without exploding - penetrated the ship and killed eleven men.
The pincer attack by the destroyers led by the Saumarez had significantly delayed the Scharnhorst's escape , reduced their possible maximum speed slightly and further reduced the ammunition supplies. For this purpose, the Fraser and Burnett units had come within ten kilometers in the evening and began the radar-based bombardment and destruction of the German battleship.
While only 36 survivors of the 1972 crew of the Scharnhorst were rescued by British destroyers from the freezing northern sea, the Saumarez was the British ship with the highest number of casualties, with eleven dead.
The severely damaged Saumarez ran to Murmansk with the one still usable machine , where the first emergency repairs were carried out; In January 1944, the destroyer moved back to Great Britain, where the repair was continued. The Saumarez was repaired by March 1944, only to be used again in the North Sea.
It was used in the convoy JW 58 and RA 58 , which both reached their destination ports without enemy interference.
Further missions in the North Sea did not take place, as the Navy units were needed to support the Allied landing in northern France.
Support the invasion
In May, the Saumarez was assigned to an attack force for the Allied landing in Normandy ( Operation Neptune ) together with Swift and the Norwegian Stord and Svenner and took part in exercises for bombarding land targets. The association to be supported by her finally gathered in the Clyde .
At the start of the Normandy landings in June 1944, Saumarez was flotilla leader of the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla , which gave artillery support in the attack on Ouistreham . The forces for the Sword landing section consisted of Force D with the British battleships Warspite and Ramillies , the Monitor Roberts , the cruisers Mauritius , Arethusa , Frobisher , Danae and the Polish Dragon , the destroyers Saumarez as flotilla leader, Scorpion , Scourge , Serapis , Swift as well as their Norwegian sister ships Stord and Svenner , plus Verulam , Virago and Kelvin and the Hunt destroyers Middleton , Eglinton and the Polish Slazak . On the night of June 8th, Saumarez, together with Stord , Virago and Isis, tried in vain to capture the eight German speedboats of the 4th Flotilla from Boulogne , which attacked a convoy of landing craft and sank two LSTs as they quickly retreated to Le Havre . The attempt on the night of the 14th with the Onslaught and other lighter British and US American units to prevent a German escort to the Channel Islands also failed. In the battle off Saint Peter Port on Guernsey with the minesweepers of the 24th M-Flotilla securing a transport, both destroyers were slightly damaged and had personnel losses.
Further missions in the North Sea
From September 1944, the Saumarez was again used to secure convoy trains in the North Sea in support of the Soviet Union. From mid-September to early October, the Saumarez was involved in securing the northern sea convoys JW 60 and RA 60 . Since there was still uncertainty about the operational capability of the Tirpitz , the British Home Fleet formed a strong security group with the escort carriers Campania and Striker , the cruiser Diadem and twelve fleet destroyers as well as two escort groups . At times the security was strengthened by a sub-association that carried out the supply of Spitzbergen . From October 31 to November 6, Saumarez then belonged to the security group of the special convoy JW 61A next to the Campania , the cruiser Berwick with Norwegian troops on board to participate in Soviet operations to liberate the Arctic coast, the destroyers Scourge , Serapis , Cassandra , Cambrian and Caprice , the 3rd Escort Group with six escort destroyers of Captain class , the Sloop Cygnet , the Canadian frigate Nene and the U-submarine destroyers Beagle and Westcott . The special convoy consisted of the two large troop transporters Empress of Australia (21,860 GRT, 1919, ex Tirpitz ) and Scythia (19730 GRT, 1921), which had 11,000 Soviet prisoners of war liberated in Normandy on board and transported from England to Murmansk. The convoy remained undetected by the Germans. For many of the passengers, it was not a return to freedom, but to new camp detention. From November 11 to 17, the large passenger steamers ran as convoy RA 61A , secured from Berwick , Campania and the Saumarez with Savage , Scorpion , Scourge , Serapis and the three aforementioned Ca class destroyers from Murmansk back to the Clyde.
Then was Saumarez in Newcastle overhauled from November to January in 1945 to continue as a flotilla of 26th Destroyer Flotilla ( V-class ) that their leader Hardy , had lost on 30 January 1944 in the North Sea in the British East Indies Fleet used to become.
Use in the Far East
At the end of January 1945, the Saumarez left the Clyde to meet with the aircraft carrier Formidable and to accompany him to Alexandria and Colombo , where they arrived on February 8th and transferred to Trincomalee on the 10th . As early as March 11th, the Saumarez made an advance into the Andaman Sea with the destroyers Volage and Rapid , during which they sank a junk in Stewart Sound . On March 17th, Saumarez , Rapid and Volage fired at Sigli in Sumatra and on 19th Port Blair in the Andaman Islands . Rapid and Volage were hit by a coastal cannon during the reconnaissance attempt. On March 25th, the Saumarez carried out another reconnaissance attempt, in which they were accompanied by Volage , Vigilant , Virago , Venus and Verulam . A Japanese convoy was discovered and attacked. After an initial unsuccessful attack, two Liberator bombers approached. In cooperation, the convoy was now completely destroyed. Of the 16 British torpedoes fired, only one hit. In April, the Saumarez secured an advance of parts of the British Eastern Fleet against the north coast of Sumatra with the destroyers Volage , Vigilant , Virago , Venus and Verulam . The association also included the battleships Queen Elizabeth and the modern French Richelieu , two heavy cruisers and the escort carriers Emperor and Khedive of the Ruler class . After the bombardment of Sabang by the heavy units on April 11, attacks by carrier aircraft on Padang and Emmahaven and on 14/15 followed. April was followed by a photo reconnaissance by carrier aircraft from Penang , Port Swetenham and Port Dickson . On the 16th there were two more attacks on Emmahaven and Padang.
During the Allied landing near Rangoon, the 21st carrier squadron took over the security of the landing unit. This squadron included the cruisers Phoebe , Royalist , the escort carriers Hunter , Stalker , Emperor , Khedive , the destroyers Saumarez , Venus , Virago , Vigilant , eight frigates and two sloops.
During the landing near Rangoon ( Operation Dracula ), Force 63 fired battleships, cruisers and the destroyers Rotherham , Saumarez , Venus , Vigilant , Verulam Port Blair on the Andamans on May 6th . The associations returned to Trincomalee on May 9th.
The battle with the Haguro
When the British discovered that a Japanese association around the heavy cruiser Haguro Singapore had left Singapore on May 10, 1945, they tried to form this association, which was supposed to evacuate Japanese troops from the Nicobar Islands and Andaman Islands . The Japanese acted cautiously, not wanting to lose their warships. On the 14th, the cruiser with the destroyer Kamikaze left the Malacca Straits , but was discovered the following morning by a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber of the escort carrier HMS Emperor . Saumarez , Verulam and Vigilant in one, and Venus and Virago in a second division, were marched to intercept the Japanese ships. The destroyers discovered the two Japanese ships on May 16, shortly after midnight. The Haguro sank after several torpedo hits at 2:09 a.m. about 45 minutes southwest of Penang with 923 men. She had previously only met Saumarez , who was temporarily out. The Japanese destroyer Kamikaze was hit, but managed to escape in the invisible night.
The end of the war and other missions
After a makeshift repair on site, the damaged destroyer ran to Durban to be repaired in South Africa . On June 6th, work began at the Navy shipyard in Simonstown , which was completed in August. Via Durban the Saumarez returned to the Eastern Fleet and the flotilla and then left Trincomalee on September 4 with fourteen other destroyers and other British ships to occupy Malaya. Although Japan had formally surrendered on September 2nd, the occupation took place as planned before the end of the war (Operation Zipper). On November 17, the 26th Destroyer Flotilla left the East Indies Station in Colombo and arrived home in early December 1945. The Saumarez came to the Navy yard in Plymouth for overhaul and preparation for future service in the Mediterranean. In 1946 she was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet in Malta , where she then moved in March 1946. In June and July inserts followed off the coast of Palestine to illegal immigration to prevent. After she had seized a sailing ship with 382 migrants in June and brought it to Haifa , she intercepted the steamer HaChayal Ha'Ivri ex Hochelaga (630 ts, 1900) on July 31 off Haifa , which had over 500 migrants on board. The former yacht of Archduke Karl Stephan of Austria had left Antwerp with Jewish emigrants on July 14, 1946 and was headed to Cyprus .
Corfu Canal Incident
On September 26, 1946, the Saumarez was with 24 other units of the Royal Navy on a Mediterranean tour. Part of the 1st Cruiser Squadron was supposed to run from south to north through the Strait of Corfu on October 22nd . After the cruisers Mauritius and Leander , the Saumarez followed through the previously searched Medri fairway when she was hit by a mine at 14:53. 30 men died on the badly hit destroyer, but the well-trained and guided crew prevented the total loss. The following Volage ran to the hit destroyer and, after difficulties, was able to tow it. However, the severely damaged Saumarez had to be towed with the stern forward. At 4:06 p.m., another mine exploded near the Volage , damaging its bow. Nevertheless, she was able to re-establish a towing connection to the Saumarez and the two damaged destroyers passed the Corfu Canal running backwards until 03:10 on 23 October.
Saumarez was then towed to Malta by salvage tugs that had arrived. The badly damaged destroyer remained there until September 1950. As early as February 1948, after a technical inspection, it was decided to scrap the Saumarez . The severely damaged destroyer was towed to Great Britain and broken up in Rosyth .
literature
- Roger Chesneau (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7
- John English: Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941–45. World Ship Society, Windsor 2001, ISBN 978-0-9560769-0-8
- Henry Trevor Lenton: British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1998, ISBN 1-55750-048-7
- Alan Raven, John Roberts: War Built Destroyers O to Z. Bivouac Books, London 1978, ISBN 0-85680-010-4
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers of World War 2nd Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1988, ISBN 0-87021-326-1
- John Winton: Sink the Haguro !: Last Destroyer Action of the Second World War. Macmillan, 1983, ISBN 0-330-28139-9
Web links
- HMS Saumarez (G12)
- Service history HMS Saumarez (G12) - S-class Destroyer
- "S", "T", "U", "V" and "W" destroyers (1943–1944)
- Jürgen Rohwer together with Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945. Published by the Library for Contemporary History, Württemberg State Library, 2007
- British 23rd Destroyer Flotilla Memorial. Hermanville-sur-Mer
Individual evidence
- ↑ SAVAGE, destroyer
- ^ Lenton, p. 174
- ↑ English, pp. 62f.
- ^ Rohwer: Chronicle of the naval war. November 1 - December 9, 1943, Arctic Ocean, Murmansk convoys resumed
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 12.-31. December 1943, Northern Sea
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. December 26, 1943, North Sea
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. June 6, 1944, Canal, Allied invasion ("Decision-Day") in Normandy
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 6-13 June 1944 Canal / North Sea, attempted attack by German surface ships against the invasion fleet.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 5th - 20th August 1944, Canal.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. September 15 - October 5, 1944, North Sea, convoy operation JW.60 / RA 60
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. October 20 - November 6, 1944, Arctic Ocean, convoy operation JW.61 / JW.61A.
- ↑ Stalin punished the survivors as "traitors" and "cowards"
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 11-17 November 1944, North Sea.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 26, 1945, Indian Ocean
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 8-18 April 1945, Indian Ocean, Operation Sunfish.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 10-16 May 1945, Indian Ocean
Saumarez (leader) | Savage | Scorpion | Scourge | Serapis | Swift
Norway : Shark / Svenner |
Success / Stord
Troubridge (leader) | Teazer | Tenacious | Termagant | Terpsichore | Tumult | Tuscan | Tyrian
Grenville (leader) | Ulster | Ulysses | Undaunted | Undine | Urania | Urchin | Ursa
Hardy (leader) | Venus | Verulam | Vigilant | Virago | Volage
Canada : Kempenfelt / Valentine / Algonquin |
Vixen / Sioux
Valentine / Kempenfelt (leader) | Wager | Whelp | Whirlwind | Wizard | Wrangler | Wakeful | Wessex
List of historic ships of the Royal Navy
Netherlands : Evertsen |
Cortenaer |
Piet Hein
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South Africa : Jan van Riebeeck |
Simon van der Stel |
Vry State
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Yugoslavia : Kotor |
Pula