HMS Tartar (F43)
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2010) |
 Tartar at a buoy
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Tartar |
| Namesake | Tatars |
| Ordered | 19 June 1936 |
| Builder | Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend |
| Cost | £339,750 |
| Laid down | 26 August 1936 |
| Launched | 21 October 1937 |
| Commissioned | 10 March 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 1946 |
| Identification | Pennant numbers: G43, later F43 |
| Nickname(s) | 'Lucky Tartar' |
| Honours and awards | 12 battle honours |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 6 January 1948 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Tribal-class destroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 377 ft (114.9 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 36 ft 6 in (11.13 m) |
| Draught | 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
| Range | 5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 190 |
| Sensors and processing systems | ASDIC |
| Armament |
|
HMS Tartar was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in most of the naval theatres of World War II. She had an eventful career, eventually receiving the nickname 'Lucky Tartar' due to her numerous escapes from dangerous situations.[1] She was one of only four from the sixteen Royal Navy-operated Tribal-class destroyers to survive the war.
Description
The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to improve the firepower of the existing destroyer
The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight
The ships were fitted with a single above-water quadruple mount for
Wartime modifications
Heavy losses to German air attack during the
Construction and career
Authorized as one of nine Tribal-class destroyers under the 1936 Naval Estimates,
After commissioning she was assigned to the 2nd Tribal Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, and was later transferred to the re-designated 6th Destroyer Flotilla. A period of trials and exercises was interrupted by the sinking of the submarine Thetis in Liverpool Bay on 1 June 1939. Tartar was one of the Home Fleet ships sent to the scene of the accident to assist in search and recovery efforts, and formed the Headquarters ship for rescue operations. Further work-up exercises revealed defects, and Tartar was under repair in Devonport Dockyard until the end of July 1939, after which she joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.
Home Waters: the North Sea
On the outbreak of the
By December she was experiencing extensive leaking due to high speed operations in heavy weather conditions. This was a defect common to the Tribal-class destroyers, and Tartar was under repair at the yards of Alexander Stephen and Sons in Govan on the River Clyde until 29 December. January and February 1940 were spent escorting convoys to and from Norway, and screening fleet units. In March, she and Mohawk escorted the ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth through the Western Approaches on her maiden voyage, before moving to Rosyth to carry out convoy escort duties.
In April, Tartar escorted convoys HN-24 and HN-25, with breaks to search for German warships operating in the North Sea. She then supported allied operations off Norway, including escorting the damaged cruiser Suffolk and covering the evacuation of allied troops from Åndalsnes and Molde. She continued to operate off Norway until the end of May, at which point she returned to Scapa Flow. She was back in the North Sea in early June, escorting the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and the battleship Valiant. She also escorted a number of allied evacuation convoys, and carried out another unsuccessful search for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau after the sinking of the aircraft carrier Glorious.
Tartar then embarked in an anti-submarine patrol with sisters Bedouin and Mashona. On 19 June she rescued survivors from a torpedoed Portuguese merchant vessel, and on 20 June, in company with Mashona, she seized control of the Swedish destroyers Romulus and Remus. After intense diplomatic activity they were later returned to Sweden. In the meantime, Tartar became the Leader of the 6th Flotilla whilst her sister Somali was under repair. Tartar herself needed repairs in mid July after sustaining damage to her rudder.
On 8 August she was temporarily assigned to
In January and February 1941 she was used to escort a number of minelaying operations in the North Sea. On 1 March she was one of the destroyers escorting the landing ships of
Arctic Ocean
Tartar resumed her duties with the Home Fleet in June 1941, when she was attached to a small force whose aim was to capture a German
Tartar continued to operate in the
On 20 August Tartar escorted the troopship Empress of Australia and support ship RFA Oligarch to Spitsbergen to establish a garrison. Having successfully achieved this, she then escorted Empress of Australia to Murmansk, carrying members of the Russian and Norwegian populations of the island. She then underwent a refit, carried out by Green and Silley Weir, Royal Albert Dock, London, which lasted from September until mid-October. The work included removing the original mainmast to improve gunnery arcs, shortening the after funnel, relocating depth charge positions and installing the Type 285 gunnery radar for main armament fire-control. She returned to Scapa Flow after the completion of these works and became the Leader of the 6th Flotilla.
January and February 1942 were spent escorting Russian convoys, including convoys
Mediterranean
In August 1942, Tartar was assigned to support Royal Navy operations in the
On her return in September, she formed part of the escort for
In June, she was supporting operations off Pantelleria, and in July was escorting convoys as part of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. On 11 July, she rescued some 200 survivors from the hospital ship Talamba, which had been sunk by German air attack off the beach head. On 12 July Tartar sank the Allied Ammunition ship SS Baarn, which was on fire after being damaged in air attacks. On 13 July, she took the damaged destroyer Eskimo in tow to Malta, after Eskimo had been damaged by air attacks. In August, she supported the Allied invasion of Italy, by covering the landings at Calabria, and later the landings at Salerno. On 19 September, Tartar provided gunfire support during a German counter-attack, and subsequently came under attacks from radio-controlled glider bombs She returned to the UK at the end of October and spent the last months of 1943, and January and February 1944, under refit at Devonport.
Home waters: the English Channel
In March and April 1944 she deployed as the Leader of the
On 9 June she and the flotilla were
Far East
Tartar underwent another refit from November 1944 until February 1945, after which she was assigned to serve with the
Further deployments included screening duties and attacks on enemy shipping, during which time she came under repeated air attacks, but without damage or casualties. She was then assigned to the planned Operation Zipper, but it was never carried out. She spent the rest of the war on escort and screening duties until the Japanese surrender. She was present at the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
Post-war
After the end of the war, Tartar sailed for Penang on 7 September 1945 and from there to the UK, where she arrived at Plymouth on 17 November. She was paid off and placed in reserve in early 1946 after having been de-stored. She was used as an Accommodation Ship for Reserve Fleet personnel before being placed on the Disposal List in 1947.
Tartar was sold to
Battle honours
Inherited honours
- Velez Malaga 1704
- Ushant 1781
- Baltic 1855
- South Africa 1899-1900
- Belgian Coast 1914-16
World War II
- Norway 1940-41
- Bismarck1941
- Arctic 1942
- Malta Convoys 1942
- North Africa 1942-43
- Sicily 1943
- Salerno 1943
- Mediterranean 1943
- Normandy 1944
- English Channel 1944
- Biscay 1944
- Burma 1945
Citations
- ^ Uboat.net
- ^ Lenton, p. 164
- ^ English, p. 14
- ^ a b Lenton, p. 165
- ^ a b English, p. 12
- ^ March, p. 323
- ^ a b Whitley, p. 99
- ^ Hodges, pp. 13–25
- ^ Friedman, p. 32
- ^ Hodges, pp. 30–31, 40
- ^ English, p. 15
- ^ Friedman, p. 34; Hodges, pp. 41–42
- ^ Whitley, p. 116
- ^ Brice, p. 11
- ^ Colledge & Warlow, p. 345
- ^ English, pp. 13, 16
- ^ Despatch on raid on military and economic objectives in the Lofoten Islands (Norway) 1941 Mar., by Admiral Sir John C. Tovey, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet
- ^ "Franz Landskron" (in German). Deutsches Marine Archiv. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
- ^ "Chronik des Seekrieges 3./4.3.1941" (in German). Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
- ^ On His Majesty's Service Observations of the British Home Fleet from the Diary Reports and Letters of Joseph H Wellings Assistant US Naval Attache London 1940-41., p.237
- ^ Wellings, p.238.
- ^ Wellings, p.237.
References
- Birchfield, B.; Borgenstam, Carl; Caruana, Joseph & Frampton, Viktor (1988). "Question 3/87". Warship International. XXV (2): 205–210. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Brice, Martin H. (1971). The Tribals. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0245-2.
- English, John (2001). Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937–43. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
- ISBN 1-86176-137-6.
- Haarr, Geirr H. (2010). The Battle for Norway: April–June 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-051-1.
- Haarr, Geirr H. (2009). The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-310-9.
- Hodges, Peter (1971). Tribal Class Destroyers. London: Almark. ISBN 0-85524-047-4.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
Further reading
- Whitby, Michael (2022). "The Challenges of Operation 'Tunnel', September 1943 — April 1944". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 29–46. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.
External links
