HMS Volunteer (D71)
HMS Volunteer underway on the River Clyde during World War II.
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Volunteer |
Namesake | volunteer |
Ordered | January 1918[1][2] |
Builder | William Denny and Brothers, Dunbarton[1] |
Laid down | 16 April 1918[1] |
Launched | 17 April 1919[1] |
Completed | 7 November 1919[1] |
Commissioned | 7 November 1919[2] |
Decommissioned | early 1930s[1] |
Recommissioned | August 1939[1] |
Decommissioned | May 1945[1] |
Motto | Pro aris et focis ("For Hearths and Homes ")[1] |
Honours and awards |
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Fate | Sold for scrapping 3[1] or 4[2][3][4] March 1947 |
Badge | A gold barry of three, all on a blue field[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Admiralty Modified W-class destroyer |
Displacement | 1,140 tons standard, 1,550 tons full |
Length | 300 ft (91.4 m) o/a, 312 ft (95.1 m) p/p |
Beam | 29.5 feet (9.0 m) |
Draught | 9 feet (2.7 m), 11.25 feet (3.4 m) under full load |
Propulsion | steam turbines , 2 shafts, 27,000 shp |
Speed | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
Range |
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Complement | 127 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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The fourth HMS Volunteer (D71), later I71, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.
Construction and commissioning
Volunteer was ordered in January 1918
Service history
Before World War II
Volunteer entered service with the fleet in 1919. During 1921 she was assigned to the
In August 1939, Volunteer was recommissioned with a reserve crew for the
World War II
1939
The United Kingdom entered
1940
On 8 January 1940, Volunteer joined the destroyers
In April 1940, Volunteer was detached to serve under
In May 1940 – the month in which her pennant number was changed to I71 – Volunteer continued to deploy off Norway. On 27 May, she, the destroyer Amazon, and the sloop Fleetwood escorted the damaged destroyer Eskimo, under tow from Skjelfjord, Norway, to the United Kingdom for repairs.[1]
With the German conquest of Norway bringing the Norwegian Campaign to a close, Volunteer returned to Western Approaches Command in June 1940 for convoy defence and patrol duties in the Western Approaches and North Atlantic. On 7 June 1940, Volunteer, the destroyer
In July 1940, Volunteer escorted a convoy bound for
In September 1940, Volunteer was transferred to convoy defence and anti-invasion patrol duties in the English Channel. She participated in night sweeps along the French coast, and in October 1940 took part in Operation Medium as one of two destroyers covering a naval force which bombarded Cherbourg, France. In November[1] or December[5] 1940 (sources differ), she returned to Western Approaches Command and resumed convoy escort operations in the Western Approaches and North Atlantic.[1]
1941
In January 1941, Volunteer was reassigned to the 5th Escort Group, based at Londonderry (also called Derry), Northern Ireland, in which she joined Vanoc, Walker, the destroyer Caldwell, and nine Flower-class corvettes. She continued convoy defence operations in the North Atlantic with the group, which was under the command of Commander Donald Macintyre. In March 1941, Volunteer, Vanoc, Walker (serving as Macintyre's flagship), the destroyers Sardonyx and Scimitar, and the corvettes Bluebell and Hydrangea were escorting Convoy HX 112 when the German submarine U-110 sighted it. After Vanoc detected U-110 with radar, the escorts forced the submarine to submerge and depth-charged her. HX 112 then came under attack on 16–17 March by five German submarines, and its escorts were heavily engaged in its defence, during which Vanoc and Walker sank U-99, capturing her commanding officer, Otto Kretschmer, and Vanoc sank U-100, killing her commanding officer, Joachim Schepke.[1]
In April 1941, Volunteer was deployed at Devonport. On 10[1] or 17-18[5] April (sources differ) she was taking part in a local exercise when the destroyer Newark accidentally rammed her off the coast of Ireland.[1][5] Volunteer suffered six men killed and serious damage to her forward structure. Later in the month, she proceeded to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for repairs at a commercial shipyard until September 1941.[1]
Volunteer returned to action with the 5th Escort Group in October 1941, and with the group formed part of the escort of
In December 1941, Volunteer was "adopted" by the city of Hereford in a Warship Week national savings campaign.[1]
1942
On 12 January 1942, Volunteer put to sea from the Clyde with Vanoc, Walker, Witherington, and the destroyer Vanquisher as the local escort of the military convoy WS 15 during its passage of the Northwestern Approaches, detaching on 15 January to return to the Clyde. Similarly, she departed the Clyde on 23 March 1942 with the destroyers Antelope, Beverley, Boadicea, Keppel, Leamington, Newport, and Rockingham and the escort destroyer Badsworth as the local escort for the military convoy WS 17 while it transited the Northwestern Approaches during the first leg of its voyage to the Middle East. After Keppel achieved a radio direction-finding fix on the German submarine U-587 on 26 March 1942, the escorts sighted the submarine on the surface and expended all of their depth charges in attacking her after she submerged. Volunteer shared credit with Leamington and the escort destroyers Aldenham and Grove for sinking U-587 in the North Atlantic west of Ushant at 47°21′00″N 021°39′00″W / 47.35000°N 21.65000°W with the loss of her entire crew of 42. Volunteer detached from the convoy later that day to return to the Clyde.[1][2][5]
From 18 to 20 April 1942, Volunteer, Badsworth, Boadicea, the destroyers Georgetown, Lancaster, St. Marys, and Salisbury, and the escort destroyer Lauderdale escorted the military convoy WS 18 during the first leg of its voyage in the Northwestern Approaches after departing the Clyde, detaching with Boadicea to return to the Clyde. Volunteer put to sea from the Clyde on 10 May 1942 along with Keppel, Leamington, St. Marys, and the destroyer Castleton to escort the military convoy WS 19 during the first leg of its voyage in the Northwestern Approaches; she detached to return to the Clyde on 13 May.[1]
After her return, Volunteer was assigned to the support of
Upon her return, Volunteer entered a dockyard at Rosyth, Scotland, in July 1942 for a refit and to undergo conversion into a Long-Range Escort. She was in dockyard hands for the rest of 1942.[1][5]
1943
With her conversion complete, Volunteer underwent post-conversion
In March 1943, Volunteer was the
In May 1943, Volunteer joined the 5th Escort Group in escorting Convoy ONS 7. The convoy underwent a series of attacks by German submarines of the Donau 1 ("Danube" 1) group from 11 to 13 May, and attacks resumed on 17 May. However, the convoy took evasive action and lost only one merchant ship.[1]
Volunteer continued her North Atlantic convoy defence operations from June to September 1943, but also began escorting convoys between the United Kingdom and
1944-1945
Volunteer continued on North Atlantic convoy escort duty until April 1944, when she was reassigned to operations in the
In early June 1944, Volunteer joined the
In July 1944, Volunteer came under the
Decommissioning and disposal
Withdrawn from operational service at the end of May 1945,[1][5] Volunteer was decommissioned and placed in reserve in June 1945,[5] and by July 1945, she no longer appeared on the Royal Navy's active list.[2] Placed on the disposal list in 1947, she was sold to BISCO on 3[1] or 4[2][3][4] March 1947 (sources differ) for scrapping by either M. Brechin[3][4] or by Granton Shipbreaking[1] (sources differ). She was towed to the shipbreaker's yard at Granton, Edinburgh, Scotland, in December 1947[4] or April 1948[1] (sources differ) and scrapped there in April 1948.[1][3]
Notes
Bibliography
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Cocker, Maurice. Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1075-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- 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.
- Preston, Antony (1971). 'V & W' Class Destroyers 1917–1945. London: Macdonald. OCLC 464542895.
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1979). 'V' and 'W' Class Destroyers. Man o'War. Vol. 2. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 0-85368-233-X.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Whinney, Bob (2000). The U-boat Peril: A Fight for Survival. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35132-6.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
- Winser, John de D. (1999). B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-91-6.