HMS Thanet (H29)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Thanet
Ordered	July 1917
Builder	Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn
Laid down	13 December 1917
Launched	5 November 1918
Commissioned	3 August 1919
Identification	Pennant number: H29
Motto	In hoc signo: 'By this sign you will conquer'
Fate	Sunk on 27 January 1942
Badge	On a field Blue a Cross fitched Gold
General characteristics
Class and type	S-class destroyer
Displacement	1,075 tons
Length	276 ft (84 m) o/a
Beam	26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)
Draught	10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
Propulsion	Brown-Curtis, steam turbines, 2 shafts, 27,000 shp
Speed	36 knots
Range	250-300 tons of oil
Complement	90
Armament	3 × QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mark IV guns , mount P Mk. IX 1 × QF 2 pdr Mark II "pom-pom" 4 × Lewis Guns 2 × twin tubes for 21 in torpedoes 2 × fixed 14 in tubes for torpedoes (later removed)

HMS Thanet was an

Thanet had been one of the ships on the

On 26 January 1942 Malaya Command received intelligence that a Japanese troop convoy was approaching Endau, and attempted to attack it with nine Lockheed Hudsons of No. 1 and No. 8 Squadrons, and 12 Vickers Vildebeests.^[7] The attack went badly, losing five Vildebeests, and was unable to inflict significant damage. The Japanese commander, Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa had received intelligence reports that two cruisers were at Singapore, and so concentrated his forces off Endau.^[7] The two cruisers were in fact Thanet, and the destroyer HMAS Vampire, and following the failure of the air attacks, Malaya Command ordered them to sea to intercept the convoy. They steamed from Singapore at 4:30 pm on 26 January, carrying only three torpedoes each.^[7][8] Early in the morning of 27 January they ran into the covering force of Japanese warships, consisting of three destroyers, later joined by the Japanese cruiser Sendai. Thanet was hit in the engine room and disabled, and began to sink.^[7] Vampire attempted to lay down a smoke screen but was driven off under heavy fire, and managed to escape.^[7] Thanet sank with the loss of 12 men afterwards.^[9] Sixty-five crewmen managed to get to the coast and arrived at Singapore, but 31 were picked up by Shirayuki and handed over to Japanese troops the next day. It is believed they were executed in retaliation for heavy Japanese losses sustained in an ambush by the Australian 2/18th Battalion which occurred at the same time as the naval battle off Endau.^[10]

See also

• Battle of Singapore

Citations

General references

• Banham, Tony (2009). We Shall Suffer There: Hong Kong's Defenders Imprisoned, 1942-45. Hong Kong University Press.
  ISBN 978-962-209-960-9
  .
• Cannon, Peter (2014). "Night Action, Malaya 1942". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2015. London: Conway. pp. 62–80.
  ISBN 978-1-84486-276-4
  .
• ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
  .
• Field, Andrew (2004). Royal Navy Strategy in the Far East, 1919–1939: Preparing for War Against Japan. Routledge.
  ISBN 0-7146-5321-7
  .
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9
  .
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press.
  ISBN 0-85177-245-5
  .
• Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. Continuum International Publishing Group.
  ISBN 1-85285-417-0
  .
• 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
  .
• Stanford, David (2006). Roses in December. Lulu.com.
  ISBN 1-84753-966-1
  .
• Swain, Bruce T. (2001). A Chronology of Australian Armed Forces at War 1939–45. Allen & Unwin.
  ISBN 1-86508-352-6
  .
• Warren, Allen (2007). Britain's Greatest Defeat: Singapore 1942. Continuum International Publishing Group.
  ISBN 978-1-85285-597-0
  .

• HMS THANET - Old S-class Destroyer