HMS Foresight (H68)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 17 March 1933, 1933 Naval Programme |
| Laid down: | 21 July 1933 |
| Launched: | 29 June 1934 |
| Commissioned: | 15 May 1935 |
| Fate: | Sunk, Operation Pedestal, August 1942 |
| Struck: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1350-1405 tons standard 1886-1940 tons deep |
| Length: | 318 ft 3 in (97 m) between perpendiculars 329 ft (100.25 m) overall |
| Beam: | 33 ft 3 in (10.13 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 3 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 300 psi 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines 36,000 shp |
| Speed: | 36 knots (67 km/h) |
| Range: | 471 tons oil, 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h). |
| Complement: | 145 (173 in 1942) |
| Armament: | 4 x 4.7 guns (4x1) 8 x 50 cal. machine guns (2x4) 5 x .303 inch machine guns (5x1) 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x4) 2 x depth charge racks 60 depth charges 1940: 4-21 inch torpedo tubes replaced by 1 × 3 in (76 mm) /50 and 2 x 20 mm Oerlikon (2x1) |
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HMS Foresight was a Royal Navy F class destroyer. She operated as a fast minesweeper during World War II, and was sunk by air attack during Operation Pedestal, an attempt to bring supplies to Malta.
On 18 June 1941 Foresight took part in the sinking of the German submarine U-138 west of Spain, together with her sister ships Faulknor, Fearless, Forester, and Foxhound.
On 6 April 1942, she left Scapa Flow for a routine convoy patrol, escorting convoy PQ14. Of the 24 ships that made up the convoy, sixteen were forced by unseasonal ice and bad weather to return to Iceland, and another was sunk by a U-Boat. Along with the remaining seven convoy vessels, Foresight arrived in Murmansk on 19 April. She then left, on 29 April, to cover the return convoy QP11. On 30 April, en route back from the Kola Peninsula, the German submarine U-456 (under the command of Captain Max-Martin Teichert), which had been alerted to the convoy by German aerial reconnaissance, fired a torpedo into the starboard side of the cruiser Edinburgh. The ship began to list heavily, but did not sink. Soon after, Teichert launched a second torpedo, which struck the stern of Edinburgh, wrecking her steering equipment and effectively crippling her. Taken in tow, she attempted to limp back to Murmansk, and was hounded constantly by German torpedo bombers. On 2 May, she was attacked by three German destroyers off Bear Island, and torpedoed yet again. As she began to sink, her crew-members abandoned ship and took refuge in accompanying destroyers. Foresight had the task of scuttling the cruiser.
During Operation Pedestal in August 1942, while operating as a fast minesweeper, she took a torpedo from an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 plane, severing her stern section entirely. With no power, the arrival of the Tribal class destroyer Tartar and her attempt to tow was fruitless, and she was scuttled by a torpedo after her crew was taken off.
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