HMS Whitshed (D77)

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HMS Whitshed (pennant number D77) was a V and W class escort destroyer of the Royal Navy, laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend on June 3, 1918, launched in 1919 and commissioned on July 11 of that year. She served throughout the Second World War, finally being sold for scrap on 18 February 1947.

On February 21, 1940, she joined with the sloop HMS Fowey, the destroyers Valmy and Guépard of the French Navy, and a Short Sunderland patrol bomber from No. 228 Squadron RAF to engage German submarines which had earlier attacked Convoy OA-80G, sinking two merchant ships. In the resulting engagement, U-55 was sunk with only one survivor.

On July 13, 1940 she hit a mine off Harwich and was badly damaged, having to be towed into port by HMS Wild Swan.

On December 12, 1942, a group of six destroyers (Whitshed, Worcester, Vesper, Brocklesby, Albrighton and the Norwegian Eskdale) engaged German shipping in the English Channel. Two enemy vessels were sunk, with Whitshed torpedoing Gauss (Sperrbrecher 178).

The ship was named after Knight Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Hawkins Whitshed RN GCB. Whitshed joined the Royal Navy at age 15 (1777) and had a long and distinguished career becoming a captain at age 20, and a rear admiral in 1799 at age 37, and raising to the rank of Knight Admiral of the Fleet, becoming Britain's highest ranking naval officer as Commander in Chief of the Fleet. Earlier, as Captain of Namur, with 90 guns, he took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (14 Feb 1797). He also commanded the warship HMS Ceres against the Colonial Navy during the U.S. Revolution.

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