HMS Defender (H07)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Defender
Ordered	2 February 1931
Builder	Barrow in Furness
Yard number	674
Laid down	22 June 1931
Launched	7 April 1932
Completed	31 October 1932
Motto	Fendendo vince; ("By defence I conquer");
Honours and; awards	Calabria 1940, Spartivento 1940, Matapan 1941, Malta Convoys 1941, Greece 1941, Crete 1941, Libya 1941
Fate	Sunk on 11 July 1941
Badge
General characteristics as built
Class and type	D-class destroyer
Displacement	1,375 long tons (1,397 t) (standard); 1,890 long tons (1,920 t) (deep);
Length	329 ft (100.3 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power	3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers; 36,000 kW);
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	5,870 nmi (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	145
Sensors and ; processing systems	ASDIC
Armament	4 × single 4.7 in (120 mm) guns; 1 × single AA gun; 2 × single 2-pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA guns; 2 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers;

HMS Defender was a

scuttled

by her consort on 11 July 1941.

Description

Defender displaced 1,375 long tons (1,397 t) at

deep load. The ship had an overall length of 329 feet (100.3 m), a beam of 33 feet (10.1 m) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 m). She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 36,000 shaft horsepower (27,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Defender carried a maximum of 473 long tons (481 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,870 nautical miles (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship's complement was 145 officers and men.^[1]

The ship mounted four 45-

21-inch torpedoes.^[2] One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.^[3]

Career

Ordered on 2 February 1931 under the 1930 Naval Programme, Defender was laid down at the

Admiralty supplied equipment such as guns, ammunition and wireless outfits. The ship was initially assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean and made a brief deployment to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea in September–November 1933.^[4]

Defender was refitted at Devonport Dockyard between 3 September and 23 October 1934 for service on the China Station with the 8th Destroyer Flotilla and arrived at Hong Kong in January 1935. The ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from November 1935 to June 1936 during the Abyssinian Crisis and then visited ports in East Africa for a month before returning to the China Station. Her boilers had to be retubed at Singapore between 5 November 1938 and 26 January 1939 and her superheaters were repaired at Hong Kong from 31 January to 14 March.^[5]

With the outbreak of war, Defender was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and arrived in

West African coast. Defender was transferred back to Gibraltar in April, escorting the light cruiser Neptune en route, and arrived there on 23 April 1940. The next month, she joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet^[5] and escorted Convoy US-2 carrying Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East through the Red Sea from 12 to 17 May.^[6]

On 27 June, together with sisters Dainty and Decoy, with the destroyers Ilex and HMAS Voyager, she sank the Italian submarine Console Generale Liuzzi south east of Crete. Defender took part in the Battle of Calabria on 9 July as an escort for the heavy ships of Force C and unsuccessfully engaged Italian destroyers without suffering any damage. Together with her sisters Dainty and Diamond, the Australian destroyer Stuart, and the light cruisers Capetown and Liverpool, she escorted Convoy AN.2 from Egypt to various ports in the Aegean Sea in late July.^[7]

On 6 November, Defender, together with the destroyers

anti-aircraft cruiser Coventry and four other destroyers sailed from Alexandria to rendezvous with a convoy coming from Gibraltar. After reaching Malta on 26 November, the destroyers joined the battleship Ramillies, and the light cruisers Berwick and Newcastle of Force D and sailed to rendezvous with Force H, also coming from Gibraltar. The next day, after the British forces had combined, they were spotted by the Italians and the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento was fought.^[9]

On 7 January 1941, Defender escorted Convoy MW.5 with her sister Diamond and the anti-aircraft cruiser

Operation Demon, the evacuation of Allied troops from Greece. On 27 April 1941 Defender and the destroyers Hereward, and Hero, and cruiser HMS Phoebe, covered Convoy GA.14 as it left Souda Bay, Crete, for Alexandria. A German air attack sank the Dutch troop ship Costa Rica, but Defender, Hereward, Hero and Phoebe rescued all her crew and all 2,600 soldiers.^[11] She then escorted Convoy GA.15 on 29–30 April from Souda Bay to Alexandria. An Italian destroyer and two torpedo boats attacked the convoy at night as it was transiting Kaso Strait east of Crete, but were rebuffed by the escorts without inflicting any damage.^[12] The following month Defender assisted in the evacuation of troops from Crete to Egypt after the Germans invaded on 22 May (Operation Merkur).^[5]

On 10 June, Defender, and the other three ships of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, arrived off the Lebanese coast to reinforce Royal Navy forces supporting

capsized and sank.^[14]

Loss

On 11 July 1941, Defender was returning from Tobruk in company with the Australian destroyer

Gerhard Stamp on a reconnaissance flight along the coast before dawn.^[16] The bomber scored a near-miss on Defender which detonated under the ship, just forward of the engine room. The shock broke the ship's back and flooded the engine room, although there were no casualties among her crew or passengers. Vendetta took Defender in tow, leaving a skeleton crew aboard the damaged ship,^[5] but she started to break up and Vendetta was forced to scuttle her with a torpedo and gunfire^[15] off Sidi Barrani about five hours later.^[5]

Notes

^ Whitley, p. 102
^ Friedman, pp. 215, 299.
^ English, p. 141.
^ English, pp. 51, 57
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f English, p. 57
^ Rohwer, p. 20
^ Rohwer, pp. 30, 32, 34
^ Rohwer, p. 47
^ O'Hara, pp. 65–73
^ Rohwer, p. 55
^ Kindell, Don. "Naval Events, April 1941 (Part 2 of 2)". British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day. Naval-History.net. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ O'Hara, pp. 115–16
^ O'Hara, p. 130
^ Rohwer, p. 82
^ ^a ^b Rhoades, Commodore Rodney (31 December 1979). "The Tobruk Run". Naval Historical Society of Australia. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
^ Taghon, p. 261

References

English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal: World Ship Society.
ISBN 0-905617-64-9
.

Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8
.

Lenton, H.T. (1998). British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN 1-55750-048-7
.

O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3
.

Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN 1-59114-119-2
.

Taghon, Peter (2004). Die Geschichte des Lehrgeschwaders (in German). Vol. 1: 1936–1942. Zweibrücken: VDM Heinz Nickel.
ISBN 3-925480-85-4
.

Whitley, M.J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN 0-87021-326-1
.

External links

31°45′N 25°31′E / 31.750°N 25.517°E / 31.750; 25.517

[w78-1] Whitley, p. 102

[2] Friedman, pp. 215, 299.

[3] English, p. 141.

[4] English, pp. 51, 57

[e7-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f English, p. 57

[6] Rohwer, p. 20

[7] Rohwer, pp. 30, 32, 34

[8] Rohwer, p. 47

[9] O'Hara, pp. 65–73

[10] Rohwer, p. 55

[11] Kindell, Don. "Naval Events, April 1941 (Part 2 of 2)". British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day. Naval-History.net. Retrieved 4 July 2023.

[12] O'Hara, pp. 115–16

[13] O'Hara, p. 130

[14] Rohwer, p. 82

[rhoades-15] Rhoades, Commodore Rodney (31 December 1979). "The Tobruk Run". Naval Historical Society of Australia. Retrieved 22 April 2011.

[16] Taghon, p. 261

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v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in July 1941
Shipwrecks	1 Jul: Adjutant, HMS Malvernian 5 Jul: Anselm 11 Jul: HMS Defender 14 Jul: Lesbian 15 Jul: NMS Aurora 19 Jul: HMS Umpire 20 Jul: HMS Union 23 Jul: HMS Fearless 27 Jul: Smely 30 Jul: HMS Cachalot
Other incidents	14 Jul: Georgic
1940 1941 1942 June 1941 August 1941