HMS Savage (G20)

HMS *Savage*
	The HMS Savage
Ship data
flag	United Kingdom
Ship type	destroyer
class	S to W class
Shipyard	Hawthorn Leslie , Hebburn
Build number	651
Order	January 19, 1941
Keel laying	December 7, 1941
Launch	September 24, 1942
Commissioning	June 8, 1943
Whereabouts	demolished in Newcastle from November 1962
Ship dimensions and crew
length	110.6 m ( Lüa ) 103.5 m ( Lpp )
width	10.9 m
Draft	Max. 4.32 m
displacement	1710 tn.l. , max 2620 tn.l.
crew	180–225 men
Machine system
machine	3 Admiralty Kessel ; Parson turbines; 2 shafts
Machine ; performance	40,000 hp
Top ; speed	36.75 kn (68 km / h)
propeller	2
Armament
	1 × 2 113 mm L / 45 Mk.IV guns ; 2 × 1 113 mm L / 45 gun; 5 × 2 Oerlikon 20 mm automatic cannons ; 2 × 4 torpedo tubes Ø 533 mm; 2 drop racks u. 4 launchers for up to 130 depth charges ;
Sensors
	Radar , sonar ,

HMS Savage (G20) was an S- to W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy , which came into service in 1943 as a test ship for future destroyer armaments. In World War II , the Savage was awarded the Battle Honors North Cape 1943 and Arctic 1943-45.

History of the Savage

The Savage with a twin tower

The main armament of the Savage differed from the other destroyers of the previous War Emergency program. The single ship received new guns of the 113 mm caliber by adapting the newly developed multi-purpose guns for aircraft carriers and modernized battleships. For this purpose, these guns had to be modified for installation on the considerably smaller destroyers with regard to the shell feed and the fairing. The twin gun installed on the foredeck was a new development modified for the lower ship, which was further developed and went into series use on the destroyers of the Battle class before the end of the war. The individual guns could use the mount of the previous 120 mm guns modified .

The Saumarez with individual guns

The test destroyer Savage did not have a 40-mm Bofors twin gun in Hazemeyer-Lafette and received only five 20-mm Oerlikon twin automatic cannons and later two individual Oerlikons in the unoccupied B position behind and above the front twin turret.
As additional armament, the destroyer, like its sister ships, had two quadruple torpedo tube sets and four depth charges , initially with 70 depth charges.
HMS Savage was ordered by the Royal Navy (RN) with the other destroyers of the S group on January 9, 1941. The keel of the destroyer with hull number 651 did not take place until December 7, 1941 at Hawthorn Leslie , which was then launched as the seventh Savage of the RN on September 24, 1942. The name predecessor in the RN was launched in 1910 as a Beagle-class destroyer at Thornycroft and sold for demolition in 1921. On June 8, 1943, the destroyer came with its different main armament as the sixth ship of the class then into the service of the Royal Navy after four ships of the T group of John Brown and Swan Hunter ( see Tuscan ), the half-sister Scorpion built by Cammell Laird and Grenville , leader of the U group, already supplied by Swan Hunter .

Warfare of the Savage

On July 8, 1943, the Savage pushed with three battleships , the carrier Furious and other units of the Home Fleet against the Norwegian coast. A US Navy task force with two battleships, two heavy cruisers and five destroyers was also involved. The diversionary attack called Operation Camera because of the Allied landing in Sicily was unsuccessful because it was not discovered by the Germans.
In July 1943, an advance by the carriers Illustrious and Unicorn against the Norwegian coast ( Operation Governor ) was secured . In August, the destroyer and other units secured the transfer of the two carriers to Gibraltar , which were to be used in the Mediterranean in the future . The destroyer now being used on the access routes to Great Britain was also used in mid-October to secure the battleship King George V on the march back from Gibraltar to Scapa Flow .

First missions in the North Sea

During her active time, the Savage was mostly used in the North Sea. First, from November 3 to 9, 1943, she secured the return of the RA 54A with ships that could not return from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1943. This was followed by further missions of the destroyer on the convoy JW 54B at the end of the month and, from December 18, 1943, on the JW 55A , JW 55B and RA 55 convoys in the long-range cover group, which on December 16 accompanied the Soviet destroyer Kuibyshev initially the Kola -Fjord and then ran to Akureyri in Iceland for oiling . It did not reach the northern Norwegian sea area again until the 26th to take over the remote cover of convoy JW 55B , which had already been unsuccessfully attacked by German aircraft and submarines. The long-range coverage group under the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet , Admiral Bruce Fraser , included the battleship Duke of York , the cruiser Jamaica and the Savage with her half-sisters Saumarez , Scorpion and the Norwegian Stord .

The Germans decided - in ignorance of the return of the long-range cover group - to deploy a combat group under Rear Admiral Bey (i. V.) against the convoy from the battleship Scharnhorst and the 4th destroyer flotilla (Kpt.zS Johannesson ) with Z 29 , Z 30 , Z 33 , Z 34 and Z 38 . In the early morning of the 26th, the German destroyers began to search for the convoy in heavy seas. From the southeast, the British cruiser cover group under Vice Admiral Burnett approached with the cruisers Belfast , Norfolk and Sheffield and located the Scharnhorst with radar. Without calling for support from her destroyers, the Scharnhorst turned and engaged in a first brief battle with the cruisers. Both sides scored hits. A hit by the Norfolk put the Scharnhorst's main radar out of action. The search for the convoy was broken off by the Germans in the mistaken belief that they were facing a battleship, and the scattered destroyers were released to the base. The convoy was now evasively heading north and Burnett kept his cruisers and destroyers pulled by JW 55B and RA 55A in a position between the German battleship and the convoys to be protected.
While the Germans ran back to their bases with their battleship and the four destroyers separately, Burnett protected the two convoys with his cruisers and some of the destroyers and followed the Scharnhorst . The cover association under Fraser tried to cut off the Scharnhorst , which was well recognized on the British radars. Although the British successfully shot at the German battleship from maximum distance, the destroyers were sent forward to stop the battleship. When the destroyers attacked in the evening, Savage and the Saumarez formed the first group whose attack failed, but which scored several hits in a second attack and finally stopped the escape of the German battleship.

HMS Saumarez and

The Savage enters Scapa Flow after the Battle of the North Cape, in which the Scharnhorst was destroyed

The undamaged Savage rescued some of the castaways of the sunk German ship and secured the march of the damaged Saumarez to Murmansk after the battle . This had to remain in the Soviet Union for the time being, while the Savage returned with the two other half-sisters to Scapa Flow, where the success of the North Cape was celebrated.

As early as January 16, 1944, the Savage was back in action on convoy JW 56A , which after storm damage on the first stage started the voyage from Iceland around the North Cape with only 15 ships. Six destroyers, including the Savage , ran immediately after arriving in front of Kola Bay towards the following convoy, JW 56B , which had already lost three freighters to submarines. The Savage was able to save two lifeboats with 56 men of the sunken American Liberty freighter Penelope Barker and bring them to Murmansk.
The destroyer then secured the counter-convoy RA 56 at the beginning of February . At the end of the month, the next mission followed on the polar route in the cover group for the convoy JW 57 together with twelve other destroyers and four cruisers, of which the destroyer Mahratta was lost (only two survivors). The Germans lost U 601 . When the RA 57 was returned from March 2, the Savage was one of the thirteen destroyers of the Ocean Escort. Airplanes of the escort carrier Chaser destroyed three attacking submarines, while the convoy only lost the cargo ship Empire Tourist (7062 GRT), whose crew was taken over by the Halcyon class mine sweeper Gleaner . After the convoy season, the Savage and other destroyers secured the carrier Furious and British escort carriers in successful attacks against German coastal traffic off Norway in May 1944 .

Company Overlord

The Obedient was in use in the Canal with the sister ship Opportune and the Savage in the summer of 1944

After the Allied landing in Normandy, the destroyer moved to the southern North Sea to prevent major reinforcements of the German naval forces in the canal. When, on the night of July 27, 1944, four speedboats of the German 6th S-Flotilla attacked a western escort off Dungeness from Boulogne and torpedoed the British freighters Fort Perrot (7171 GRT) and Empire Beatrice (7046 GRT), the pursuing destroyers succeeded Obedient , Opportune and Savage failed to confront the four German attackers. This remained the Savage's only combat mission during 0verlord .

Again in the North Sea

From autumn 1944 the destroyer took part in the continuation of British attacks against German escorts on the Norwegian west coast.
On October 23, 1944, the Savage belonged to a British association around the carrier Implacable , which also included the cruiser Bellona and seven other destroyers, including four new builds with 113 mm main guns. The first porter attacks against Sørreisa and Bardufoss airfield took place on October 23 . Reconnaissance planes took photos of the Tirpitz anchored near Tromsö . The destroyer then took part in Operation Hardy , in which the machines of the escort carriers Campania and Trumpeter , whose machines mined the German supply route along the coast, attacked two German radio stations along the way and also sank two smaller Norwegian transporters. In addition to the Savage , the Saumarez , Scorpion and Serapis as well as the newer destroyers Zambesi and Zephyr and the heavy cruiser Devonshire belonged to the association. The march back was carried out to secure convoy RA 61A. Parallel to the RA 62 convoy , a British carrier association with the fleet carrier Implacable and the escort carriers Premier and Trumpeter attacked the German supply traffic off western Norway, which was accompanied by the cruiser Diadem and eight destroyers. On December 14th, the cruisers Diadem and Mauritius attacked the German shipping traffic off Stadlandet with four destroyers . The German air scouts found the escort carriers Premier and Trumpeter and the cruiser Devonshire accompanied by the destroyers Zealous , Serapis , Savage , Zephyr and the Canadian Algonquin and Sioux . 30 torpedo planes of II./KG.26 trying unsuccessfully to find the British ships and lost two Ju 88. On December 30, 1944, the convoy left JW 63 with 38 ships Loch Ewe to its securing the Savage belonged, and reached on January 8, 1945 the Kolafjord unnoticed by the Germans. The return journey of the Savage took place on January 11th with convoy RA 63 (31 ships) in a destroyer combat group running alongside the escort. The convoy was also not recorded by the German reconnaissance, but got into a severe storm near the Faroe Islands and did not arrive in Loch Ewe until January 21. After another mission with parts of the fleet off Norway, the Savage strengthened the safety of the return flight RA 64 with her half-sister Scourge from February 21 to 26 . The convoy had left Murmansk on February 17 with 33 freighters and on the same day lost the Thomas Scott freighter , the Bluebell corvette and the Lark sloop to submarines. On 20 attacked 40 Ju-88 torpedo planes of the KG 26 the convoy unsuccessfully. Six planes were shot down by Wildcat fighters in the Nairana . The Germans believed they sank two cruisers, two destroyers and at least eight freighters. In another attack attempt on the 23rd, a Ju 88 of the 8./KG 26 sank the latecomer Henry Bacon (7177 GRT) - the last ship sunk by German aircraft in World War II.

The escort porter Trumpeter

From March 15, the Savage belonged to the Scourge to secure the JW 65, which set out in Great Britain with 26 merchant ships on the 11th, and in particular of its escort carrier Trumpeter . Despite its strong security, the convoy lost two freighters and the sloop Lapwing to German submarines on the 17th off Kola Bay . On the 23rd, Savage moved back to Great Britain from the Kola Peninsula to secure convoy RA 65 with 26 merchant ships. The half-sisters Scorpion , Scourge and the Norwegian Stord also belonged to its extensive backup . Since Soviet minesweepers had cleared a new path, the convoy was able to bypass most of the German submarines or they were kept at a distance by the escort ships. Attempts by the German Air Force to get in touch with the convoy failed. The convoy reached Scapa Flow on March 31.

The end of the war and the whereabouts of the destroyer

On May 4, 1945, a British combat group under Admiral McGrigor advanced against the Norwegian coast in Operation Judgment . The combat group consisted of the escort carriers Searcher , Queen and Trumpeter , the cruisers Norfolk and Diadem and the other destroyers after unloading Carysfort , Opportune , Savage , Scourge and Zambesi as well as the Obedient and Orwell returning from Murmansk . When advance against the German waterway west of Narvik and the base Kilbotn in Harstad were U 711 the depot ship, Black Watch and the supply ship Senja sunk.

The Prinz Eugen on the march to Wilhelmshaven in 1945

On 12./13. May 1945 the Savage ran in the association of the future Flag Officer Norway (Rear Admiral Ritchie) with the cruiser Devonshire , the mine-layers Apollo - with the Norwegian Crown Prince Olav on board - and Ariadne as well as the destroyers Iroquois , Scourge and Arendal to Oslo. Devonshire soon ran on to Copenhagen with the destroyers Iroquois and Savage , where they replaced Birmingham , Zest and Zephyr . With the Dido they escorted the German cruisers Prinz Eugen and Nürnberg to Wilhelmshaven from May 24th to 26th .

In June 1945, a routine overhaul of the destroyer began at Chatham Dockyard . The ceasefire in the Far East led to the decision to use the destroyer in the future at the HMS Excellent ship artillery school in Portsmouth. The destroyer began service there in September 1945 and was then assigned to the Chatham reserve in 1948. The ship was used again in 1950 for tests with new drive shafts and propellers, but did not return to the active fleet despite a further overhaul and modernization. In 1960 the ship was separated and on April 11, 1960, it was broken off in Newport.

literature

Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981. Ian Allan, 1983, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7 .
Anthony Preston: Destroyers. Bison Books Ltd., 1977, ISBN 0-600-32955-0
Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-0097 .