HMS Gurkha (F20)
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See HMS Gurkha for other ships of this name.
HMS Gurkha (L-20/F-20) was a Tribal-class destroyer laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 6 July 1936, launched on 7 July 1937 and commissioned on 21 October 1938. Gurkha served with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean, on North Sea escort duty and in the Humber Striking Force, and attacked and sank the enemy German submarine U-53 south of the Faroe Islands on 23 February 1940. Gurkha was attacked by enemy German Ju-88 and He-111 bombers as she withdrew from the planned attack on Bergen during the German invasion of Norway and sank in the North Sea south-east of Bergen in Norway on 9 April 1940 with the loss of 15 of her crew, the first British destroyer to be sunk by air attack.
