HMS Duchess (H64)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | D class destroyer |
| Name: | HMS Duchess |
| Ordered: | 2 February 1931 |
| Builder: | Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Scotstoun |
| Laid down: | 20 June 1931 |
| Launched: | 22 June 1932 |
| Commissioned: | 24 January 1933 |
| Fate: | Sunk in a collision with HMS Barham on 10 December 1939 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,375 tons |
| Length: | 329 ft (100 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Three x Admiralty 3-drum water tube boilers Parsons geared steam turbines 36,000 shp on two shafts |
| Speed: | 36 kt (66.7 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,500 nmi at 15 kt |
| Complement: | 145 |
| Armament: |
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| Motto: | Duchi non trahi ("To be led but not dragged") |
| Notes: | Badge: On a Field Blue, a Duchess's coronet Proper over a terrestrial globe Silver. |
HMS Duchess was a D class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served in the Second World War, operating briefly in Home waters and the Mediterranean, before becoming an early war loss after being sunk in a collision with the battleship HMS Barham on 10 December 1939.
[edit] Construction and commissioning
Duchess was ordered on 2 February 1931 under the 1930 Naval Estimates and was laid down at the yards of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Scotstoun on 20 June 1931. She was launched on 22 June 1932 and commissioned on 24 January 1933, at a total cost of £229,367, excluding equipment supplied by the Admiralty, such as weapons, ammunition and wireless equipment.
[edit] Career and loss
Duchess initially served in the Mediterranean, before undergoing a refit at Chatham Dockyard in 1934 for service on the China Station in the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. She served on the Station until September 1939, when the outbreak of the Second World War caused the Admiralty to order her to return to the Mediterranean to take up her war station with the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria. She then deployed out of Malta for duties including Fleet screening and interception of contraband.
In December she, along with HMS Delight and HMS Dainty, was assigned to escort the battleship HMS Barham back to the UK, and the ships departed Gibraltar on 6 December. Having successfully reached Home waters, the ships were sailing through the North Western Approaches on 10 December when disaster occurred.
At 0400 hours in the North Channel, nine nautical miles off the Mull of Kintyre, possibly due to fog in the area, the zigzagging pattern of the battleship and destroyer crossed. Barham collided with Duchess, cutting her in half and causing her to sink almost immediately. Only 23 survivors were recovered, whilst 124 went down with the ship.
[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 Duchess at Uboat.net
- HMS Duchess's career
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