H-Class Fleet
Destroyer ordered from Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Newcastle under the
1934 Programme on 13th December 1934, The ship was laid down on 27th March 1935
and launched on 25th February 1936 as the 17th Royal Navy warship to carry this
name, dating from I636. It had last been used for a destroyer built in 1895 and
sold in 1912. She was completed on 30th September 1936 at a build cost of
£253,167, excluding Admiralty supplied items such as guns and signalling
outfits. Her service prior to WW2 was with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in the
Mediterranean during which she was was badly damaged by a mine off the south
coast of Spain during the Spanish civil war. After repair lasting 18 months she
rejoined the Fleet in the Mediterranean.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
GABBARD 1653 - SCHEVENINGEN 1653 - BEACHY HEAD 1690 - BARFLEUR 1692
- VIGO 1702 - VELEZ MALAGA 1704 - LOUISBERG 1758 - QUEBEC
1759 - NARVIK 1940 - ATLANTIC 1939-44** - SALERNO 1943*
- SOUTH FRANCE 1944* - AEGEAN
1944* - BURMA 1945*
(** Shared with HMS HUNTER (ii), * Awarded to HMS HUNTER (ii))
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Green, a
Crossbow Gold between two arrows Silver.
M o t t o
' Follow on ’
D e t a i l s o f
W a r S e r v i c e
(for more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and type name in Site Search)
1 9 3 9
August Under refit
at Devonport
Nominated for war service based at
Freetown
for convoy defence.
27th On
completion prepared for war service.
September On passage to
Freetown.
4th Deployed
for trade defence and interception of blockade runners , based at Freetown.
October Freetown
deployment in continuation.
23rd
Transferred to West Indies and took passage to Bermuda.
November
4th Arrived
at Bermuda for convoy escort duty and patrol in Eastern Atlantic
December Trade defence
duties in continuation. Based at Bermuda.
4th At Halifax.
Escorted HM Battleship VALIANT with HM Destroyer HEREWARD during work-up in the
West
Indies.
1 9 4 0
January West Indies
deployment in continuation.
23rd Passage
to Halifax with HM Cruiser ENTERPRISE and HMS HEREWARD from Bermuda as
escort for HMS VALIANT.
30th
Arrived Halifax.
February Transferred
to Home waters for refit.
2nd Took
passage to Plymouth.
8th Taken in
hand for refit in commercial shipyard at Falmouth.
March Under refit.
9th On
completion carried out post refit trials.
Prepared for operational service in 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet.
17th Escorted
HM Battleship WARSPITE from Greenock to Scapa Flow.
Joined 2nd Destroyer Flotilla at
Scapa Flow
Deployed for Fleet screening duties.
31st
Nominated for escort of minelayers as Force WV (Operation WILFRED).
April Deployed
at Scapa Flow with Flotilla for Home Fleet duties.
6th Sailed
from Sullom Voe after refuelling with HM Destroyers HARDY, HOTSPUR and
HAVOCK as escort for HM Destroyers ESK, IMPULSIVE, ICARUS and IVANHOE to
lay
mines in Vest
Fjord, Norway.
(See
Naval Staff History (MINING) for details).
Joined HM Battlecruiser RENOWN until detached.
7th Detached
with Force WV
. 8th On
completion of minelay rejoined HMS RENOWN off Narvik.
Present during initial part of engagement with
SCHARNHORST but had to leave due
weather conditions.
Deployed with ships of Flotilla for patrol in Vest Fjord..
9th Rejoined
HMS RENOWN Renown off Narvik.
10th Took part
in action against German destroyers in Ofotfjord.
(1st
Battle of Narvik).
Received several direct hits which disabled steering and started fire.
Collided with HM Destroyer HOTSPUR and sustained further direct hits.
Ship
beached in position 68.20N 17.06E.
107
of ship's company were killed in this action and five later died of wounds.
(Note: 46 men were taken prisoner but released by Germans on April 13th and
repatriated
via
Sweden.
Details of the disastrous operations off
Norway in 1940 are given in
NARVIK by
D.
MacIntyre, THE DOOMED EXPEDITION by J Adams, CARRIER GLORIOUS
by J
Winton and
Naval
Staff History (HMSO-2001) .
S p e c i a l N o t e
This name was carried forward
and given to an Escort Aircraft Carrier transferred under lease lend from, US
Navy and originally USS BLOCK Island. to be named HMS TRAILER. In November 1942
the ship was renamed
and gave extensive and distinguished service during WW2 as shown
in the later Battle Honours. In 1983 a Coastal Training Craft of the ATTACKER-Class used by
University units was named HMS HUNTER and was the 19th RN ship to carry the
name.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS HUNTER
by Don Kindell
This convoy list has not been cross-checked with the text above
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Date convoy sailed
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Joined convoy as escort
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Convoy No.
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Left convoy
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Date convoy arrived
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21/09/39
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21/09/39
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SL 002
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21/09/39
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07/10/39
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23/10/39
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23/10/39
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SL 006
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26/10/39
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10/11/39
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10/12/39
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10/12/39
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TC 001
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17/12/39
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17/12/39
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22/12/39
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22/12/39
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TC 002
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24/12/39
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30/12/39
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30/01/40
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30/01/40
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TC 003
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01/02/40
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07/02/40
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(Note on Convoys)