HMS Boadicea (H65)

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Career (UK)

Name:	HMS Boadicea
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie
Laid down:	11 July 1929
Launched:	23 September 1930
Completed:	7 April 1931
Fate:	Sunk, 13 June 1944, Lyme Bay (16 miles SW of Portland Bill)
General characteristics
Class and type:	B class destroyer
Displacement:	1,360 tonnes
Length:	98.5 metres (323 ft)
Beam:	9.83 metres (32.3 ft)
Draught:	3.73 metres (12.2 ft)
Propulsion:	2 shafts; geared steam turbines, 3 oil fired boilers, 34,000 hp (25.4 MW), 380 tons oil fuel
Speed:	35.25 knots (65 km/h)
Complement:	138
Armament:	4 × 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns 2 × 2-pounder anti-aircraft 8 × 21 inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Boadicea.

HMS Boadicea (H65) was a B-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II.

HMS Boadicea was constructed by Hawthorn Leslie and was launched on the 23 September 1930 and completed on the 7 April 1931.

Her earliest major engagement of the war was in support of the evacuation of the 51st Highland Division from Le Havre in June 1940. During this action she was extensively damaged and needed to return to Portsmouth for repair. During 1942 and 1943 she served on convoys to Russia and in support of Operation Torch; the invasion of North Africa.

HMS Boadicea was sunk on the 13 June 1944 while escorting a convoy of merchant ships from Milford Haven in support of the Normandy invasion. She was struck by an Hs 293 air-to-surface missile launched by a German Junkers 88; only 12 of her crew survived.

Her wreck lies 16 miles South West of Portland at 50:28:12N, 02:29:30W in 53 metres of water. The bows of the ship are blown off forward of the engine rooms. The stern section is upright and reasonably intact.