B-Class Fleet
Destroyer ordered from Palmers, Hebburn, Newcastle on 22nd March 1929 under
1928 Programme and laid down on 22nd July 1929. The ship was launched on 25th
July 1930 as the 6th RN ship to carry the name introduced in 1781 and last
used by a destroyer built in 1898 and sold in 1922. Build was completed on 8th
April at a cost of £221,156 excluding Admiralty supplied items. Initially the
ship was part of the Mediterranean Fleet in the 4th Destroyer Flotilla and in
1935 transferred with the Flotilla to the Home Fleet. She took part in the
attempted rescue of the crew of HM Submarine THETIS which sank off Liverpool
during trials in June 1939.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
NORWAY 1940 - ENGLISH CHANNEL 1940
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Red, trumpet
Gold.
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
September Deployed as part of 19th
Destroyer Flotilla based at Dover for convoy defence in English
Channel and North
Sea.
7th Carried out
unsuccessful attack on submarine.
October Patrol and escort duties
in continuation.
13th During patrol with
sister- destroyer HMS BOREAS rescued three survivors from U40 which had
been sunk by mine
in Dover Straits.
November Flotilla duties in
continuation.
22nd Augmented escort for
HM Auxiliary Minelayer PRINCESS VICTORIA during minelay in
Dover Barrage
with HM Destroyers CODRINGTON, ESK and EXPRESS.
(Operation GF -
For details see Naval Staff History (Mining).)
1 9 4 0
January Flotilla duties at Dover
in continuation.
February Transferred to Rosyth for
convoy defence.
15th Escorted HM Destroyer
DUNCAN with HM Destroyer BOREAS during tow after being
mined in North
Sea.
18th Joined Convoy HN12
(Norway - Methil) with HM Destroyer ENCOUNTER to replace HM
Destroyer DARING
which had been torpedoed
Rescued survivors
of Norwegian merchant ship SANGSTAD with HM Destroyer DIANA.
21st Escorted HM
Auxiliary Minelayer TEVIOTBANK with HM Destroyer BOREAS during the
lay of section of
North Sea Barrage in Thames Estuary.
(Operation CML9
-See above reference).
March Escorted HM Auxiliary
Minelayer TEVIOTBANK with HMS BOREAS during lay of deep
minefield in
Moray Firth.
(Operation PA2 -
See above reference).
April Transferred for duty
with Home Fleet after German invasion of Norway.
13th Joined escort of
Convoy NP1 carrying landing troops to Namsos.
(Operation
RUPERT/R4 - See NARVIK by D MacIntyre).
15th Carried out
anti-submarine search with HM Destroyer FEARLESS.
Took part in
sinking of U49 in Vaagsfjord (Position 68.53N 16.59E).
(Note: Some
documents were recovered but proved of little value for the decryption of
ENIGMA traffic. )
All but one of
the submarine crew of 42 were rescued.
(See HITLER'S
U-BOAT WAR Volume 1 by C Blair and U-BOATS DESTROYED by P Kemp.)
16th Part of escort for HM
Battleships RODNEY, VALIANT and HM Battlecruiser RENOWN
during return to
Scapa Flow from Norwegian waters.
18th Arrived at Scapa Flow
27th Escorted troopship
GUNVOR MAERSK to Namsos with H M Destroyers KIMBERLEY and
WOLVERINE.
28th In action with
aircraft off Namsos without damage.
May Deployed off Norway in
support of shore operations.
2nd Escorted Convoy FP3
to Narvik.
3rd Detached on arrival
at Narvik.
Escorted French
troopships carrying Polish Brigade to Tromso.
28th Released from Home
Fleet detachment to resume operations in southern North Sea based at
Harwich.
(For details of
the disastrous operations off Norway see NARVIK by D Macintyre, THE
DOOMED EXPEDITION
by J Adams, CARRIER GLORIOUS by J Winton and Naval Staff
History).
30th During passage struck
submerged rock off the Wash and sustained some structural damage aft.
June Passage to Hull for
repair to plating in commercial shipyard.
Taken in hand on
arrival.
July Nominated for
transfer to 1st Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth.
Passage to
Portsmouth to join Flotilla for Channel convoy defence
8th In action with
aircraft in defence of coastal convoy off Hythe.
20th Whilst escorting
Channel Convoy CW7 in Straits of Dover came under heavy air attack.
Several near
misses caused major structural damage.
Back of ship was
broken.
(Note: During
this engagement three aircraft were claimed by ships gun crews.)
Ship sank during
tow after direct hit in engine room in position 51.05N 01.1?E.
One of ship's
company was killed.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS BRAZEN
by Don Kindell
This convoy list has not been cross-checked with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date convoy
sailed |
Joined convoy
as escort |
Convoy No. |
Left convoy |
Date convoy
arrived |
|
|
|
|
|
15/03/40
|
15/03/40
|
TM 027
|
16/03/40
|
16/03/40
|
29/03/40
|
29/03/40
|
TM 035
|
30/03/40
|
30/04/40
|
11/04/40
|
13/04/40
|
NP 001
|
15/04/40
|
15/04/40
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note
on Convoys)