HMS Zulu (F18)

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Zulu
HMS Zulu FL21966.jpg
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type destroyer
class Tribal class
Shipyard Alexander Stephen and Sons , Glasgow
Build number 552
Keel laying August 10, 1936
Launch September 23, 1937
Commissioning September 7, 1938
Whereabouts Sank on September 14, 1942 after being hit by coastal artillery and one bomb hit
Ship dimensions and crew
length
114.9 m ( Lüa )
108.4 m ( Lpp )
width 11.12 m
Draft Max. 2.75 m
displacement Standard : 1,854 ts
maximum: 2,519 ts
 
crew 190-217 men
Machine system
machine 3 Admiralty three drum boilers
2 Parsons - geared turbines
Machine
performance 		44,000 PS (32,362 kW)
Top
speed 		36 kn (67 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

last

for 120 mm twin gun in the X position
  • additionally 1941: 2 single 40-mm-2pdr-L / 39-Flak

HMS Zulu (F18 / G18 / L18) was a (second) Tribal class destroyer of the British Royal Navy . She was one of the first seven ships ordered on March 10, 1936 and was initially used in the Mediterranean fleet .

After the start of the war, the ship was ordered to the Home Fleet with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla and was in service with the sister ships from April to June 1940 to repel the German attack on Norway . In September 1941 the ship returned to the Mediterranean.

After an unsuccessful attack on Tobruk, the Zulu, severely damaged by air raids, sank in the tow of an escort destroyer on September 14, 1942. In the morning, she had tried to drag her sister ship Sikh , which had been disabled by a coastal battery, out of the danger zone, which sank. After that, the Zulu had to torpedo the anti-aircraft cruiser Coventry , which had been badly hit by an air raid, after the crew had been recovered , before becoming the third ship and six MTBs to fall victim to this operation. Except for 36 men, the Zulu crew could be recovered.

The history of the ship

The first HMS Zulu

The ship was laid on August 10, 1936 at the shipyard of Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow , launched on September 23, 1937 as the second Zulu of the Royal Navy and put into service on September 7, 1938. The first HMS Zulu was a first tribal class boat put into service in 1910 , the forecastle of which was merged with the rear of the HMS Nubian, which was also severely damaged, after a severe mine hit in 1916 to form the new destroyer HMS Zubian , which was used from 1917 to 1919.

After the acceptance tests, the Zulu was posted to the Mediterranean and arrived on November 18, 1938 in Malta , where she was assigned to the "1st Tribal destroyer flotilla" (from April 1939 4th destroyer flotilla).

War missions

After the outbreak of war, the Zulu secured the Allied shipping traffic in the Mediterranean with her sister ships until she was transferred to the Home Fleet with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in October 1939. In December 1939 and January 1940, a turbine repair failed because similar damage to almost all sister ships had occurred on it. On April 8, 1940, the Zulu went to sea with the sister ships Afridi , Gurkha , Sikh , Mohawk and Cossack as well as the heavy cruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron to participate in the defense against the German attack on Norway . On April 15, the Zulu and the flotilla leader Faulknor investigated the situation in Narvik and the nearby fjords after the destruction of the German destroyers. On the 24th, she participated in the bombardment of the German positions in and near Narvik by the battleship Warspite and the cruisers Effingham , Aurora and Enterprise . On May 12, the Zulu sank the Norwegian steamer Nord-Norge, which had been confiscated by the Germans, in Hemnesberget . The mail steamer sought by the destroyer and the cruiser Calcutta had been used as a transport for mountain fighters to bypass British troops at Mosjoen.
In addition to the missions off Norway, the destroyer also took on security tasks on the routes to the British Isles, for example at the end of May with a large Canadian troop transport and in August with Punjabi and Tartar , when Force H was relocated from Gibraltar to the Home Fleet.

In May 1941, the Zulu was part of the escort of the WS-8B convoy . The five destroyers Zulu , Cossack , Maori , Sikh and the Polish Piorun were withdrawn from the convoy on May 26, 1941 to find the German battleship Bismarck . They found the Bismarck and carried out torpedo attacks during the night. These attacks were unsuccessful, but forced the crew of the German battleship to remain in full combat readiness through the night . These attacks also reduced the German ship's ammunition inventory.

On September 13, the Zulu secured the porters Ark Royal and Furious with Gurkha , Legion , Lively , Lance , Foresight and Forester , who again launched hurricane hunters to reinforce Malta.

The Zulu stationed in Malta in January at "Force K" took part on the 18th with the cruiser Penelope and the destroyers Sikh , Lance , Lively and Jaguar in the pick-up of the convoy MW.8A / B coming from Alexandria, of which originally four transporters one was already sunk and one had broken off the journey. The two remaining ships were brought to Malta on the 19th. When the "Force B" from Alexandria and the "Force K" met, the Legion and Maori switched to the "Force K" in Malta and the Jaguar returned to Alexandria.

On January 25th, "Force K" left Malta with the cruiser Penelope , the destroyers Zulu , Lance , Legion , Lively and Maori . She accompanied the empty vans Glengyle and Rowallan Castle . On January 26th, "Force K" met the convoy for Malta with the transporter Breconshire . The convoys exchanged the destroyers Kingston and Lance as well as the transporters and entered Malta on January 27 and Alexandria on January 28. Attempted air strikes yielded no results. On February 7th and 8th, Lively and Zulu sank the Italian lone drivers Grongo (316 GRT) and Aosta (494 GRT) in an advance west of Pantelleria . On February 13, the "Force K" ran out with the cruiser Penelope and the destroyers Zulu , Sikh , Legion , Lively , Fortune and Decoy from Malta with four emptied transporters to pick up three new transporters from Alexandria, all of which were lost in air raids went. Penelope , Legion, and the reassigned Lance returned to Malta. The Decoy and Fortune , slightly damaged in the sinking of the Maori in Malta , left the "Force K", Zulu , Sikh and Lively marched with the security forces of the western convoy to Alexandria and were supposed to return to Malta from there.

In response to the false report that an Italian cruiser had been torpedoed, Rear Admiral Philip Vian set sail from Alexandria on March 9, 1942 with the cruisers Naiad , Dido , Euryalus and the destroyers Kipling , Kelvin , Lively , Sikh , Zulu , Hasty , Havock and Hero , to intercept the ship and at the same time take up the cruiser Cleopatra and destroyer Kingston coming from Malta . Italian torpedo planes and German bombers attacked the unit unsuccessfully. On March 11, U 565 sank the flagship Vians, Naiad north of Sollum from the marching back formation . The crew was saved up to 82 men.

On March 20, 1942, the next convoy with four transporters left Alexandria for Malta. The Royal Navy's security forces included four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser and 18 destroyers. In the event of an attack by the Italian fleet, six divisions were to be formed to stop an attack and a local security consisting of five destroyer escorts of the Hunt class continue to run with the convoy and evade if necessary. In fact, on the 22nd there was a surface attack by the Italian fleet in two groups of one battleship, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and ten destroyers. Despite the massive use of smoke and fog by the British and the lack of radar equipment, the Italian units were able to cause significant damage to some British ships. The Italians broke off the action before dark. The Zulu suffered damage from the sea and some maneuvers at high speed. The change of course of the escort, forced by the battle, brought the escort long into the range of the Axis air forces on the following day and led to the loss of all transporters.

The Hunt II destroyer escort, HMS Croome

On August 4, 1942, Zulu met with the sister ship Sikh and the destroyer escorts HMS Croome and HMS Tetcott off Haifa on the German submarine U 372 , which sank shortly afterwards without losses.

The end of the Zulu

On September 13 and 14, she and Sikh covered a commando attack on Tobruk . The Sikh was badly damaged by coastal batteries . The Zulu were also hit while trying to rescue the Sikh survivors . On the march back the backup cruiser of the attack, the old Flakkreuzer was Coventry , by German bombers Junkers Ju 88 of I group of Lehrgeschwader 1 and Junkers Ju 87 of the eighth season of the dive bomber squadron 3 hit several times. The Zulu had to sink the burning cruiser with a torpedo. Shortly afterwards, she was made incapable of maneuvering herself by a bomb hit by an Italian plane. The crew of the HMS Zulu was largely taken over by the destroyer escort Croome , before the severely damaged destroyer on September 14, 1942 at 32 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  N , 28 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  E Coordinates: 32 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  N , 28 ° 56 '0 "  O in tow HMS Hursley sank.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rohwer: Sea War 1939–1945. 7th / 8th April 1940
  2. ^ Rohwer, April 24, 1940, Norway
  3. ↑ Use of the North Norge
  4. ↑ Rohwer, 10. – 15. May 1940, Norway
  5. ↑ Rohwer, 12. – 22. May 1940, North Atlantic
  6. ↑ Rohwer, 4th – 10th August 1940, North Atlantic
  7. ↑ Rohwer, 8. – 14. September 1941, Mediterranean
  8. ↑ Rohwer, 16. – 20. January 1942, Mediterranean
  9. ↑ Rohwer, 24. – 28. January 1942, Mediterranean
  10. ↑ Rohwer, 7-16 February 1942, Mediterranean
  11. ↑ Rohwer, 12. – 16. February 1942, Mediterranean
  12. ↑ Rower, 7-11 May March 1942, Mediterranean
  13. ↑ Rohwer, 20. – 26. March 1942, Mediterranean
  14. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1942. Retrieved on June 26, 2017 .

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