Type II HUNT Class Escort Destroyer ordered from J S
White at Cowes IoW under 1939 War
Programme on 20th December 1939 with sister destroyer HM SOUTHWOLD. The
ship was laid down
on 29th July 1940 and launched on 12th August 1941, the first RN ship to
carry the name of the fox-hunt in Devonshire. Build was completed on 11th
December 1941. In March 1942 after a successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings
campaign sea was adopted by the civil Community of Williton
and Watchet in Somerset.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
LIBYA 1942 - MEDITERRANEAN 1942
- SICILY 1943 - SALERNO 1943 - AEGEAN 1943-44 - ANZIO
1941 - ADRIATIC 1944
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field White, within an annulet
murrey,
a demi unicorn erased Black.
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 4 1
December Contractors
trials and commissioned for service
11th Build
completion and commenced Acceptance Trials.
On
completion of trials and storing took passage to Scapa Flow
16th Deployed
at Scapa Flow to work-up for operational service with ships of Home Fleet.
23rd Sustained
damage in collision with HM Corvette HEARTSEASE and work-up suspended.
1 9 4 2
January Under repair
in Clyde commercial shipyard
Transferred to Southampton to complete repair work.
February Under repair
at Southampton in commercial shipyard.
March Carried out
post repair trials.
9th Passage
to Scapa Flow to resume work-up.
April Nominated
for service in Mediterranean on completion of work-up.
Took
passage to Clyde to join military convoy WS18.
15th Joined
Dutch destroyer VAN GALEN, HM Cruisers FROBISHER and GAMBIA in the Clyde
Assembly point for Ocean Escort of WS18 during passage to Freetown.
29th Detached from WS18 on arrival at Freetown.
May
3rd Rejoined
WS18 on departure from Freetown with HMS GAMBIA and HM Seaplane Carrier
ALBATROSS as Ocean Escort to Capetown.
15th Detached
from WS18 and took independent passage in Indian Ocean.
(Note: HM Depot Ship HECLA which was in WS18 was damaged by a mine off
Cape
of Good Hops and had to be towed to Simonstown by HMS GAMBIA.
June Passage
in Red Sea to Alexandria from Aden.
On
arrival joined 9th Destroyer Flotilla.
10th Deployed
for support of Tobruk garrison with sister ship HMS GROVE.
12th Sailed
from Tobruk with HMS GROVE.
Rescued 79 survivors from HMS GROVE which was sunk by torpedo from U77 in Gulf
of
Sollum.
See
WARSHIP LOSSES IN WW2 by P Kemp.
16th Under
heavy air attack assisting defence of ships returning to
Alexandria after failure of
passage of Malta relief
convoy (Operation VIGOROUS – See Naval Staff History for details.)
(Note: For details of this disastrous operation see Naval Staff History, ENGAGE THE
ENEMY
MORE
CLOSELY by C Barnett. THE BATTLE
FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN by D.
Macintyre and MALTA CONVOYS
by R Woodman.
July Deployed
for convoy escort and patrol off Palestine and Syria during military operations
against Vichy French in
Syria.
(Operation EXPORTER. See RELUCTANT ENEMIES by A Marder.)
August
4th Joined
HM Destroyers SIKH and ZULU in anti-submarine operation SW of Haifa.
(Note: These ships were engaged in hunt for U372 which had been reported by
WELLINGTON
aircraft of 231 Squadron RAF after a radar contact.)
Took
part in depth charts attacks on submarine that was forced to surface.
Crew
abandoned U372 which scuttled and sank in position 32.28N 34.37E.
(Note: Shared credit for this sinking, See U-BOATS DESTROYED by P Keep.)
16
German Navy personnel end a Lebanese civilian were rescued.
September Transferred to Aden with HM Destroyer HERO for convoy
defence in Red Sea
October Resumed Flotilla duties at Alexandria for escort and
patrol duties in Eastern Mediterranean.
November Eastern
Mediterranean deployment with Flotilla based at Alexandria in continuation/
17th Joined
Convoy MW13 with HM Destroyers ALDENHAM, BEAUFORT, BELVOIR, CROOME,
EXMOOR,
DULVERTON, HURSLEY, HURWORTH and Greek HUNT Class destroyer
PINDOS as Close Escort
for passage to
Malta in
place of HM Destroyers JAVELIN, JERVIS,
KELVIN, PAKENHAM,
PETARD and PALADIN which returned to
Alexandria
. (Note: HM Cruiser EURYALUS remained with
MW13 (Operation STONEAGE.
This
was the first relief convoy from Alexandria since
he disastrous VIGOROUS
CONVOY.)
18th Fleet
units joined to provide Distant Cover.
Under
air attacks of Derna during which HM Cruiser ARETHUSA was torpedoed and had
to
return
to Alexandria under tow by HMS PETARD.
20th Detached
on arrival of MW13 in Malta.
Return passage to Alexandria with destroyers of Close Escort.
December
1st Joined
HMS Destroyers ALDENHAM, BELVOIR, CROOME, EXMOOR, HURSLEY and Greek
PINDOS as escort for Convoy MW14 during passage to Malta.
(Operation PORTCULLIS/MH1.)
2nd HM
Cruiser ORION, HM Destroyers PAKENHAM., PETARD and Greek destroyer VASILISSA
OLGA
joined to provide additional cover.
4th HM
Cruisers CLEOPATRA, DIDO and EURYALUS, HM Destroyers JAVELIN, JERVIS,
KELVIN and NUBIAN of Force K based in Malta joined MW14.
5th Detached
with other escorts on arrival of MW14 in
Malta.
Passage to join 22nd Destroyer Flotilla based at Algiers for convoy defence and
support
duties in
central Mediterranean.
1 9 4 3
January
Mediterranean Flotilla deployment in continuation.
Escorted HM Cruiser ORION from Malta to Alexandria during cover for passage of a
Malta
relief convoy.
February
1st Rescued
survivors from HM Minelaying Cruiser WELSHMAN after its sinking off Sollum by
U617 east of Tobruk. See above references.)
March Deployed in
eastern and central Mediterranean on patrol and escort duty.
to
Nominated for escort duties and support of planned allied landings in Sicily.
May (Operation
HUSKY)
June
Transferred to Malta In continuation and prepared for HUSKY landings.
July Joined
Support Force East for Sicily
landings. See above references.
Deployed as part of Escort Group Q and took
passage to Alexandria.
3rd Sailed
from Alexandria as part of escort for assault Convoy MWS26.
6th Carried
out anti-submarine operations in defence of MWS26.
Detached from MWS26 and took passage to Benghazi
8th Part of
escort of ships from Benghazi during passage to join follow-up convoy MWF36
10th Escorted
Landing Ship HMS ULSTER MONARCH to ACID beachhead.
Provided naval gunfire support at
Augusta.
Deployed for patrol to intercept any attempt by enemy surface craft to interfere
with landings
and for AA defence.
13th In action
with E-Boats off Sicily In defence of shipping.
August Supported of
operations In Sicily and convoy escort in central Mediterranean.
to
September Joined Task
Force 85 (Northern Attack Force) for Salerno landings
(Operation AVALANCHE. For details see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY, Naval
Staff
History and BRITISH INVASION FLEETS by J de Winser for information about all
ships
involved.)
9th Assisted
in defence of shipping off beaches and convoy escort.
October Transferred
to Alexandria for convoy escort and support of operations in the Aegean islands
to
after
surrender of Italian Government.
November Took part in
interception of craft carrying German troops. Transferred to 22nd Destroyer
Flotilla based in
Malta.
December Flotilla
deployment in Central Mediterranean in continuation for convoy escort and
patrol.
Nominated for support of allied landing at Anzio.
1 9 4 4
January Joined
Northern Attack Force (Peter) at Naples for support of planned allied landings
at Anzio
(Operation SHINGLE)
Passage to Naples.
See
above references for details
21st Deployed
under overall US Navy command and sailed from
Naples as part of Force X
22nd Provided
naval gunfire support during initial assault landings.
February Transferred
to Adriatic for convoy escort and support of military operations.
to Bombarded Milos
with HM Cruiser AURORA and HM Destroyer TYRIAN.
August
September Provided naval gunfire
support and convoy escort during re-occupation of
Aegean islands.
Deployed to intercept craft evacuating personnel and stores.
October Deployed in
Adriatic and off coast of Greece during allied re-occupation.
to
Provided naval support to military operations (Operation MANNA).)
December (Note: See
Military Staff History for Mediterranean Area.)
1 9 4 5
January Deployment
for support of military operations in Greece and Albania continued.
to
March
April Deployed
off Italian coast to assist military operations.
Slightly damaged during bombardment of Genoa with HM Destroyer MARNE.
Nominated for return to UK for
refit.
May Passage to
UK.
Nominated for service In Indian Ocean after refit at Gibraltar.
June Passage
to Gibraltar.
5th Taken In
for refit by HM Dockyard.
July Under
refit.
P o s
t W a r N o t e s
Planned
deployment was cancelled after VJ Day and on end of refit ship returned to UK to be Paid-off. Reduced to
Reserve
status at Portsmouth in January 1946 the upper deck equipment was preserved in
1953. Transferred to lay-up at Penarth in 1953 she
was later towed to Gibraltar. The ship was put on the Disposal List in
1955 and taken to Barrow-in Furness
under tow for de-equipping. She was sold to BISCO for demolition by T W Ward in
August and arrived at the breaker’s yard in Milford Haven on 24th September
that year .
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS
of HMS TETCOTT
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date convoy sailed
|
Joined convoy
as escort
|
Convoy No.
|
Left convoy
|
Date convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
28/07/44
|
unknown
|
XIF 019
|
unknown
|
03/08/44
|
28/05/44
|
unknown
|
IXF 015
|
unknown
|
01/06/44
|
11/06/44
|
unknown
|
IXF 016
|
unknown
|
15/06/44
|
24/08/44
|
unknown
|
IXF 020
|
unknown
|
28/08/44
|
09/06/42
|
09/06/42
|
AT 049/M
|
11/06/42
|
11/06/42
|
11/06/42
|
11/06/42
|
MW 011
|
14/06/42
|
16/06/42
|
17/06/42
|
17/06/42
|
TA 049/M
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
29/09/42
|
29/09/42
|
AP 003
|
02/10/42
|
unknown
|
01/12/42
|
01/12/42
|
MW 014
|
05/12/42
|
05/12/42
|
07/12/42
|
07/12/42
|
ME 011
|
11/12/42
|
11/12/42
|
17/12/42
|
17/12/42
|
MW 017
|
20/12/42
|
20/12/42
|
28/12/42
|
28/12/42
|
ME 014
|
01/01/43
|
01/01/43
|
07/01/43
|
07/01/43
|
MW 019
|
11/01/43
|
11/01/43
|
21/01/43
|
25/01/43
|
MH 003/M
|
26/01/43
|
26/01/43
|
13/02/43
|
13/02/43
|
ME 017
|
15/02/43
|
18/02/43
|
24/05/43
|
30/05/43
|
GTX 001
|
unknown
|
04/06/43
|
16/06/43
|
23/06/43
|
KMS 016
|
28/06/43
|
28/06/43
|
03/08/43
|
03/08/43
|
MWF 039
|
07/08/43
|
10/08/43
|
19/08/43
|
19/08/43
|
MKF 022
|
25/08/43
|
09/09/43
|
06/09/43
|
06/09/43
|
TSF 001
|
09/09/43
|
09/09/43
|
17/10/43
|
23/10/43
|
MKF 025
|
27/10/43
|
04/11/43
|
27/10/43
|
06/11/43
|
KMF 025A
|
11/11/43
|
11/11/43
|
06/12/43
|
09/12/43
|
GUS 024
|
10/12/43
|
03/01/44
|
16/12/43
|
16/12/43
|
MKF 027
|
unknown
|
04/01/44
|
16/12/43
|
26/12/43
|
KMF 027
|
30/12/43
|
30/12/43
|
21/02/44
|
28/02/44
|
KMF 029
|
02/03/44
|
05/03/44
|
18/02/44
|
01/03/44
|
UGS 033A
|
02/03/44
|
29/02/44
|
13/02/44
|
08/03/44
|
UGS 033
|
11/03/44
|
12/03/44
|
22/05/44
|
23/05/44
|
XIF 015
|
28/05/44
|
28/05/44
|
05/06/44
|
05/06/44
|
XIF 016
|
10/06/44
|
10/06/44
|
21/06/44
|
21/06/44
|
MKF 032
|
27/06/44
|
04/07/44
|
01/07/44
|
01/07/44
|
NSF 026
|
03/07/44
|
03/07/44
|
04/07/44
|
04/07/44
|
SNF 026
|
06/07/44
|
06/07/44
|
18/07/44
|
28/07/44
|
KMF 033
|
30/07/44
|
31/07/44
|
07/08/44
|
07/08/44
|
XIF 019A
|
12/08/44
|
12/08/44
|
11/08/44
|
11/08/44
|
IXF 019
|
15/08/44
|
15/08/44
|
19/08/44
|
19/08/44
|
XIF 020
|
23/08/44
|
23/08/44
|
03/09/44
|
03/09/44
|
MKF 034
|
07/09/44
|
14/09/44
|
01/10/44
|
08/10/44
|
KMF 035
|
11/10/44
|
11/10/44
|
16/11/44
|
16/11/44
|
MKF 036
|
23/11/44
|
30/11/44
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note on Convoys)
|