HMS Kempenfelt (R03)
HMS Kempenfelt being towed into Newcastle after serving off the Normandy coast
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Kempenfelt |
Namesake | Richard Kempenfelt |
Ordered | December 1941 |
Builder | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
Laid down | 24 June 1942 |
Launched | 8 May 1943 |
Commissioned | 25 October 1943 |
Out of service | Sold to Yugoslavia in October 1956 |
Motto | Fideliter: Faithfully |
Honours and awards |
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Notes | Pennant number: R03 later changed to D103 |
Badge | On a field Black a Swan proper between two wings Green over wavelets Silver and Blue. |
Yugoslavia | |
Name | Kotor |
Namesake | City of Kotor |
Acquired | October 1956 |
Identification | R-21 |
Fate | Decommissioned in 1971 and sold for scrapping |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | W-class destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | 362.75 ft (110.57 m) o/a |
Beam | 35.75 ft (10.90 m) |
Draught | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) / 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) full |
Range | 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
Complement | 225 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried | None |
HMS Kempenfelt was a W-class destroyer flotilla leader of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War. She was the second destroyer of her name to have served in the war; the first Kempenfelt was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in October 1939 and renamed HMCS Assiniboine.
Construction and commissioning
Kempenfelt was ordered in December 1941 and was laid down at the
Wartime career
Mediterranean
Kempenfelt joined the 24th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean in December 1943, and in January was assigned to support the Allied landings at
Normandy
In May Kempenfelt returned to the UK, joining the 26th Destroyer Flotilla in preparation for the
Far East
She spent September under refit, and after working up, sailed in October to join the Eastern Fleet at
Kempenfelt took part in further screening operations in January, covering fleet units for
On 1 May Kempenfelt and a number of British destroyers screened operations off Okinawa, before Kempenfelt was deployed on 11 May as a screen for the cruiser Swiftsure, to provide advance warning of incoming kamikaze attacks. She was detached on 22 May to escort the carrier Formidable to Manus, after Formidable had been damaged by a kamikaze. She escorted Formidable to Sydney in June, after which Kempenfelt underwent a refit. On its completion, she returned to Manus in August, and on 15 August she sailed to Subic Bay to join the taskforce assembling to reoccupy Hong Kong. She sailed on 27 August with the destroyers Whirlwind, Quadrant and Ursa screening the carriers Indomitable and Venerable, and the cruisers Swiftsure, Euryalus and Black Prince to oversee the surrender.
Post war
Kempenfelt remained with the British Pacific Fleet until December 1945. She returned to Chatham in January 1946 where she was reduced to the reserve. She spent two years in the reserve, before transferring to Simonstown, South Africa. She returned to Britain in 1953 and was laid up at Portsmouth, before being placed on the disposal list.[1]
Kempenfelt and her sister, Wager, were sold to Yugoslavia in 1956, being towed to Yugoslavia for a refit in October. Kempenfelt was renamed R-21 Kotor and was re-commissioned on 10 September 1959.[2] She served until being decommissioned and scrapped in 1971.
Notes
- ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.
- ^ Blackman, Raymond V B (ed.). Jane's Fighting Ships 1963-4. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 443.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Marriott, Leo (1989). Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945. Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-1817-0.
- Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.