HMS Mohawk (F31)

Coordinates: 34°56′0″N 11°42′0″E / 34.93333°N 11.70000°E / 34.93333; 11.70000
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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Mohawk.

Mohawk
History
United Kingdom
NameMohawk
NamesakeMohawk people
Ordered10 March 1936
BuilderThornycroft, Woolston, Southampton
Cost£339,585
Laid down16 July 1936
Launched5 October 1937
Completed7 September 1938
Commissioned9 September 1938
IdentificationPennant numbers: L31/F31/G31
FateSunk by Italian destroyer Luca Tarigo, 16 April 1941
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeTribal-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,891
    standard
    )
  • 2,519 long tons (2,559 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length377 ft (114.9 m) (o/a)
Beam36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught11 ft 3 in (3.43 m)
Installed power
  • 3 ×
    Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 44,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement190
Sensors and
processing systems
ASDIC
Armament
  • 4 × twin
    4.7 in (120 mm) guns
  • 1 × quadruple
    AA guns
  • 2 × quadruple
    anti-aircraft machineguns
  • 1 × quadruple
    torpedo tubes
  • 20 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers

HMS Mohawk was one of 16

Norwegian Campaign
of April–May 1940, escorting convoys to and from Norway.

The ship was assigned to the

attacked an Italian convoy
, with the loss of 41 of her crew.

Description

The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to improve the firepower of the existing destroyer

kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).[3] During her sea trials Mohawk made 36.2 knots (67.0 km/h; 41.7 mph) from 44,078 shp (32,869 kW) at a displacement of 2,017 long tons (2,049 t).[5] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 5,700 nautical miles (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[4] The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the flotilla leaders carried an extra 20 officers and men consisting of the Captain (D) and his staff.[6]

The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight

Admiralty Fire Control Clock. Anti-aircraft fire for the main guns was controlled by the Rangefinder/Director which sent data to the mechanical Fuze Keeping Clock.[8]

The ships were fitted with a single above-water quadruple mount for

ASDIC, one depth charge rack and two throwers for self-defence, although the throwers were not mounted in all ships.[9] Twenty depth charges was the peacetime allotment, but this increased to 30 during wartime.[10]

Wartime modifications

Heavy losses to German air attack during the

mainmast was reduced to a short pole mast.[12]

Construction and career

Authorized as one of seven Tribal-class destroyers under the 1935 Naval Estimates,

British Ambassador to Turkey back to Istanbul from his annual visit to the Helles Memorial and then cruised through the Aegean Sea before returning to Malta.[16]

The flotilla sailed to

Majorca. When Fascist Italy invaded Albania on 7 April, the Mediterranean Fleet was mobilised and remained on a war footing for most of May. During this time the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla was redesignated as the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. By July 7 tensions had decreased such that Mohawk and her sisters Gurkha, Afridi, and Sikh were able to escort the aircraft carrier Glorious on a visit to Athens, Greece. The following month, the fleet spent a week exercising in the area between the Greek island of Crete and British Cyprus. As tensions rose in Europe later in August, the fleet was mobilised and continued to train in preparation for war with Italy. As part of its preparations, the Admiralty had closed the Mediterranean to British shipping and Mohawk and seven other destroyers escorted one group of ships that had collected at Suez, Egypt, through the Red Sea to reduce the congestion.[17]

Second World War

When Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September, Mohawk was still in the Red Sea. As Italy took steps to prove her neutrality, the destroyers were released from their mission and returned to Alexandria where they began escorting convoys and conducting

abaft the ship's stern. The detonation badly damaged her steering and caused her to take on water. Mohawk was able to take her in tow until a tugboat arrived, after which Mohawk escorted the ships back to the Hawthorn Leslie yard from which both ships had recently emerged.[18]

The destroyer returned to escort duties afterwards, both for convoys and the Home Fleet. While escorting the newly completed ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth through the Firth of Clyde on 3 March 1940, Mohawk was slightly damaged when the cargo ship SS Gartbrattan collided with her; repairs were completed on 19 March. The 4th DF was then allocated to Plan R 4, a preemptive occupation of cities in western Norway after a German invasion had begun, and was tasked to escort the troop-laden ships of the 1st Cruiser Squadron to Bergen and Stavanger. The Germans decided to move first and occupied most Norwegian ports in a sea- and airborne assault (Operation Weserübung) on 9 April that took both the Norwegians and the Allies by surprise.[19]

Norwegian Campaign

Main article:
Norwegian Campaign
Maps covering the operations in central and southern Norway, April–May 1940

Receiving word that the RAF had attacked north-bound German warships in the North Sea on 7 April, the Home Fleet put to sea that evening. The

Wing 26 (Kampfgeschwader 26) and Bomber Wing 30, sinking Gurkha and lightly damaging the battleship Rodney.[20]

After refuelling at Scapa Flow the following day, Mohawk, five of her sisters and two light cruisers departed on the evening of 11 April, arriving off

Stadlandet the following morning. The destroyers were split up to search the area for German ships before rendezvousing with the cruisers at dusk, but an inaccurate spot report of a German battlecruiser and cruiser that afternoon forestalled the searches as the destroyers were recalled. On the morning of 13 April the destroyers were sent to search the Romsdalsfjord and only found four merchant ships. As they were leaving Ålesund they were unsuccessfully attacked by a dozen bombers from III Group, Demonstration Wing 1 (Lehrgeschwader 1). The following morning they were ordered north to the Namsos area to examine its suitability for an Allied landing and to coordinate with local Norwegian forces. Harbour facilities were assessed as inadequate and that troops should be landed elsewhere and transferred to destroyers for off-loading at Namsos. The Admiralty ordered that the 148th Infantry Brigade, already at sea, to be diverted to the anchorage at Lillesjona; its troopships arrived there at dawn on 16 April and began transferring their troops to the destroyers after they had completed refuelling. Half-a-dozen Luftwaffe bombers disrupted the transfer that afternoon with little effect. The destroyers unloaded their troops that night and the rest of the troops arrived the following evening. The destroyers and their covering cruisers were ordered home on 19 April.[21]

Mohawk and four other destroyers escorted a small supply convoy to

Independent Company to Mo i Rana. The ship embarked British diplomats in The Hague, the Netherlands, on the 11th. With tensions rising with Italy, the Admiralty ordered a total of 17 destroyers, including Mohawk and her sister Nubian transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 14 May, although the destroyer received a brief refit before departing.[22]

Mediterranean service

En route to Alexandria, the ship suffered steering problems and had to divert to Gibraltar for repairs, finally arriving on 29 May to joint the 14th DF. On 27–30 June Mohawk was part of the escort force for convoys coming from the

Cap Bon that broke her back. Mohawk took off the survivors while Hero scuttled Hostile with torpedoes. The three ships arrived in Gibraltar on the 29th; the following day, the destroyers proceeded to sea and rendezvoused with the fleet on 2 September.[23]

Mohawk and Nubian were escorting the

Sollum, Egypt.[24]

1941

Mohawk was one of the escorts for the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet as they bombarded Bardia on 3 January 1941. The following week she participated in

bow; Mohawk was detailed to tow her stern-first to Malta where they arrived the following day. After refuelling she departed to go to the assistance of the light cruisers Southampton and Gloucester which had been attacked by German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers. The former's fires burnt out of control and she had to be scuttled. The 14th DF covered the bombardment of Tobruk by the Inshore Squadron on the night of 19/20 January. A few days later, the flotilla formed part of the escort for the damaged Illustrious as she steamed from Malta to Alexandria on 23–25 January.[25]

For most of the Battle of Cape Matapan, Mohawk and the 14th DF escorted the fleet's battleships, but they were detached at dusk on 28 March to find and sink the badly damaged Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto. The flotilla turned around about six hours later based on an erroneous report of a drifting battleship and spotted the burning heavy cruiser Zara early on the morning of the 29th after she had been crippled by the British battleships at point-blank range the previous evening. The British ships picked up survivors and torpedoed the wreck. About an hour later they discovered the drifting heavy cruiser Pola which had had all power knocked out by a torpedo hit earlier in the day. The British rescued the survivors crewmen before sinking the cruiser with three torpedoes and rejoining the main body of the fleet.[26]

Mohawk's wreck lying in shallow water

The 14th DF escorted a convoy from Egypt to Greece from 1 to 6 April, although the convoy was attacked by Luftwaffe bombers, none of the destroyers were damaged. The flotilla arrived at Malta on 10/11 April with orders to interdict the Italian supply convoys between Italy and Libya at night. The first two patrols were uneventful, but British aircraft had located a small convoy off the Tunisian coast on the afternoon of the 15th. The destroyers sortied at dusk to search for the convoy and spotted it in the early hours of 16 April. The convoy consisted of five cargo ships escorted by three destroyers. Captain Philip Mack, commander of the 14th DF, manoeuvred his ships to silhouette the convoy against the moon and closed to a range of only 2,400 yd (2,200 m) before his flagship, Jervis and her sister Janus opened fire on the trailing destroyer, Baleno, at 02:20, quickly disabling her guns and turbines, and setting her on fire.[27]

Mohawk and Nubian were in the rear of the formation and engaged the rearmost

capsized a minute later with her stern touching the shallow bottom with the loss of 41 crewmen. The British ships rescued her surviving crew and Janus had to put four shells into her buoyant forecastle to put the ship fully underwater off the Kerkennah Islands.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ Lenton, p. 164
  2. ^ English, p. 14
  3. ^ a b Lenton, p. 165
  4. ^ a b English, p. 12
  5. ^ March, p. 322
  6. ^ a b Whitley, p. 99
  7. ^ Hodges, pp. 13–25
  8. ^ Friedman, p. 32
  9. ^ Hodges, pp. 30–31, 40
  10. ^ English, p. 15
  11. ^ Friedman, p. 34; Hodges, pp. 41–42
  12. ^ Whitley, p. 116
  13. ^ Brice, p. 11
  14. ^ Colledge & Warlow, pp. 230–231
  15. ^ Brice, p. 178; English, pp. 13, 16
  16. ^ Brice, pp. 178–179; English, p. 35
  17. ^ Brice, pp. 22–23, 179
  18. ^ Brice, pp. 23, 179–181; English, p. 35; Haarr 2013, pp. 239–240, 290
  19. ^ Brice, pp. 25, 180–181; English, p. 35
  20. ^ Brice, pp. 25, 181; Haarr 2009, pp. 86, 284–288
  21. ^ Haarr 2010, pp. 61, 106–113
  22. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2000, pp. 59, 86, 105; Brice, p. 27, 182; English, p. 36; Haarr 2010, pp. 97, 278
  23. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002a, pp. 23, 55, 57; Brice, p. 182–183; English, p. 36; Rohwer, pp. 30
  24. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002a, pp. 65–66; Admiralty Historical Section 2002b, pp. 13–14; Brice, pp. 183–185; English, p. 36; Rohwer, pp. 41–42, 47–48
  25. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002b, pp. 46; Brice, pp. 185–187; English, p. 36; Rohwer, pp. 54–55, 57–58
  26. ^ Brice, pp. 187–188; English, p. 36; Rohwer, p. 66
  27. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002b, pp. 89–91; Brice, pp. 188–189; English, p. 36; O'Hara, p. 110–111; Rohwer, p. 69
  28. ^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002b, p. 91; Brice, pp. 189–190; English, pp. 36–37; O'Hara, p. 111

Sources

External links

34°56′0″N 11°42′0″E / 34.93333°N 11.70000°E / 34.93333; 11.70000

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