HMS Amazon (D39)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | J I Thornycroft |
| Laid down: | 29 January 1925 |
| Launched: | 27 January 1926 |
| Commissioned: | 5 May 1927 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping 25 October 1948 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons |
| Length: | 311 ft 9 in p/p |
| Beam: | 31 ft 6 in |
| Draught: | 9 ft 6 in |
| Propulsion: | Three 3-drum Yarrow-type boilers, Brown-Curtis single-reduction turbines, 2 shafts, 42,000 shp |
| Speed: | 37 kts |
| Range: | 433 tons oil, 3,400 nm at 15 kts |
| Complement: | 138 |
| Armament: | 4 x 4.7 in guns BL Mk.I 2 x triple tubes for 21 in torpedoes |
- For other ships with the same name, see HMS Amazon.
HMS Amazon was a prototype design of destroyer ordered for the Royal Navy in 1924. She was designed and built by Thornycroft in response to an admiralty request for a new design of destroyer incorporating the lessons and technological advances of World War I. Yarrow produced a similar rival, design; HMS Ambuscade (D38). Amazon was easily recognisable by her slab-sided funnels, characteristic of Thornycroft vessels. Most differences were internal. Unlike earlier designs, which were designed for home fleet service, they were designed for colonial use, with higher freeboard, cruising turbines and better ventilation.
Armament was identical to the late World War I V and W class destroyer, 4 single 4.7 in BL Mark I on mountings CP Mk. VI**. These weapons were based on an Army field piece and had separate bagged charges and no Quick Firing (QF) mechanism. The mountings had half shields and afforded 30° elevation. Fire control was by a 9 feet base rangefinder and the new "Destroyer Director Control Tower" (DCT). The latter would be fitted to all subsequent Royal Navy destroyer designs from the "C" class up to the "U" class of 1942. Amazon reached only 34.5 knots on her initial trials, and so was taken in hand for modifications, later reaching 38.7 knots. Such was the Navy's satisfaction with the design that they formed the basis of the next 77 subsequent destroyers, often known as the "interwar standard", up to the "Tribal" class of 1936.
Amazon was fitted out for service in World War II as a convoy escort. 'A' and 'Y' 4.7 in guns and her after set of torpedo tubes were removed. A 12 pdr (3 in) AA Mk.V was added in place of the torpedoes, to remedy the lack of a heavy AA weapon and a "Hedgehog" A/S projector was added on the forecastle. Radar Type 286P was added at the masthead, and the rangefinder and director on the bridge were replaced with a centimetric Radar Type 271 for detecting surfaced submarines. The 2 pdr guns were replaced with 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns, with a further pair added in the bridge wings. In 1943 the 12 pdr gun and the remaining torpedo tubes were removed to allow a 10-round depth charge pattern to be carried, and Radar Type 291 replaced 286P.
On 29 April 1940, Amazon assisted in the sinking of U50 off of Norway. She spent most of the war up to 1942 escorting North Atlantic and Russian convoys, moving to the Mediterranean until returning to home waters in 1943 for the duration of the war. By 1944 she was reduced to acting as a target and was broken up by West of Scotland Shipbreaking at Troon in 1949.
[edit] Bibliography
- Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
- Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
- Destroyers of World War II, An International Encyclopedia, M. J. Whiteley, Arms and Armour Press, 1988, ISBN 1-84509-521-8
United Kingdom
