HMS Acheron (H45)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | A class destroyer |
| Name: | HMS Acheron |
| Ordered: | 29 May 1928 |
| Builder: | John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire |
| Laid down: | 29 October 1928 |
| Launched: | 18 March 1930 |
| Commissioned: | 13 October 1931 |
| Motto: | "Post tenbras lux" (After darkness light) |
| Fate: | Sunk on 17 December 1940 after hitting a mine |
| Badge: | On a Field Black, barry wavy of 4 Silver. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons standard |
| Length: | 323 ft (98 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draught: | 12.2 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers Thornycroft steam turbines Two shafts 34,000 shp |
| Speed: | 35 kt |
| Range: | 4,080 nmi at 15 kt |
| Complement: | 138 |
| Armament: | 4 x QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns Mark IX on mountings CP Mk.XIII 2 × QF 2 pdr Mk. II A/A 2 × Quad tubes for 21 inch torpedoes Mk. IX |
HMS Acheron was an A class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War in Home waters and off the Norwegian coast, before becoming an early war loss when she sank after hitting a mine off the Isle of Wight on 17 December 1940.
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[edit] Construction and commissioning
HMS Acheron was ordered on 29 May 1928 from the yards of John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire under the 1927 Naval Estimates. She was laid down on 29 October 1928 and was launched a year later on 18 March 1930. She was commissioned on 13 October 1931. She suffered from a number of mechanical problems which became evident in the first year of her service and would go on to plague her for the whole of her service, despite a succession of modifications and refits. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, she was under repair at Portsmouth and was not able to take up her war station until December 1939.
[edit] Wartime career
On completion of repairs and refit, she joined the 16th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on 23 March 1940. The flotilla was then deployed in the North Western Approaches and the North Sea. After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Acheron was deployed with the flotilla on convoy defence and fleet screening duties in support of the military landings in Norway. On 17 April she and HMS Arrow were part of the escort for the cruisers HMS Galatea, HMS Arethusa, HMS Carlisle and HMS Curacoa. The cruisers then landed troops at Åndalsnes and Molde. On arrival on at Åndalsnes on 18 April, Acheron was detached and deployed on patrol and escort duties. She then escorted the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious from Scapa Flow, before deploying with the destroyers HMS Antelope and HMS Beagle off Namsos.
On 31 May Acheron, HMS Acasta, HMS Ardent, HMS Highlander and HMS Diana escorted HMS Glorious and HMS Ark Royal to Norway to cover the final evacuation of British troops from Norway (Operation Alphabet). This was completed by 9 June, whereupon Acheron resumed her normal duties with the flotilla. She then operated in the English Channel to escort convoys and was in dock at Portsmouth on 21 June to have a 3 inch High Angle gun fitted to improve her anti-aircraft defence. Whilst sailing 10 miles south off St. Catherine's Point on 20 July, she was attacked by German dive bombers, and was damaged by nine near misses.
She began repairs at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 August, but on 24 August she was seriously damaged during an air raid which killed two of her crew and injured another three. One bomb hit her aft section and exploded, causing severe damage to her machinery, "Y" gun and superstructure. This caused her repairs to be extended until October, with her “Y” Gun being replaced by a mounting from the destroyer HMS Boadicea, which had been damaged in June. In November Acheron was nominated for service as gunnery training destroyer.
[edit] Sinking
Repairs were fully completed by 2 December and she began post refit trials. On 17 December she was sailing off the Isle of Wight. The trial was being conducted at night, in heavy seas and with a strong north-east wind in complete darkness. She was conducting steaming exercises over a measured mile, 8 nautical miles west-south-west of St. Catherine's Point. On one of the passes, she struck a mine. The explosion caused major structural damage forward and her own speed drove her under. She sank within four minutes, taking 196 crewmen and yard workers, who were on board for the trials, to the bottom. There were only 19 survivors. The mine was probably one of those laid by the Luftwaffe in no definite pattern along the Channel coast. Her sinking was not made public until 27 December 1940.
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- HMS Acheron at Uboat.net. Retrieved on January 5, 2008.
- Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd) (2002). HMS ACHERON - A-class Destroyer. Retrieved on 5 January 2008.
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