HMS Vidette (D48)

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HMS Vidette (D48) was an Admiralty V class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Alexander Stephens & Sons Limited in Linthouse, Govan on February 1, 1917, was launched on February 28, 1918, and completed on April 27, 1918.

She spent most of the 1920s and 1930s in reserve, but was brought back to active service in 1939 for World War II. In the picture, taken probably in 1939, she is wearing the funnel bands of the 16th Destroyer Flotilla based at Portsmouth; one red over one white. Early in the war she would have landed the after set of torpedo tubes and shipped a QF 12 pdr 20 cwt gun in lieu.

For the first three years of war she was based at Gibraltar, as part of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla. She took part in the attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940, but spent most of her time escorting Atlantic convoys into and out of Gibraltar.

She was converted to a long-range escort destroyer in September 1942 and served with Peter Gretton's 'B7' escort group in the crucial battles around convoys HX-231, ONS-5 and SC-130 in the Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945). She helped to sink four submarines: U-531, U-274, U-282 and U-413.

Vidette was sold for scrapping in 1947.