HMS Fearless (H67)

HMS Fearless (H67) was an E class destroyer built for the Royal Navy, that was commissioned in 1934, and saw service early in World War II before being sunk in July 1941.^[1]

Construction

The ship was ordered from Cammell Laird at Birkenhead under the 1932 Programme. She was laid down on 17 July 1933, and launched on 12 May 1934, as the seventh RN ship to carry this name, and completed on 22 December 1934.^[1]

Service history

Force H, 1940–1941

On 3 July 1940 she took part in the attack on the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir ("Operation Catapult"), and was part of the screen for the carrier Ark Royal and other ships during air attacks on the French battleship Dunkerque two days later. On the 8th she escorted Force H ships during a planned attack on Cagliari, which had to be abandoned after Italian air attacks ("Operation MA5"). The attack was eventually carried out on 2 August (Operation Crush), but on the 4th, while returning to the UK Fearless was involved in a collision with the trawler Flying Wing and was repaired at the Barclay Curle shipyard on the Clyde. On 11 October she prepared for operational duty with the Flotilla, but on the 30th was involved in another collision with SS Lanark at Greenock. More repairs followed at Troon, and Fearless did not return to duty at Gibraltar until January 1941.^[1]

On 31 January 1941 she took part in "Operation Picket", an air attack on the Tirso Dam on Sardinia, and also in Operation Grog, an naval bombardment of Genoa on 6 February. In March Fearless was deployed with three other destroyers of the Flotilla and the cruiser Sheffield to intercept a Vichy convoy. A later attempt to capture the French merchant ship Bangkok off the port of Ghazaouet, Algeria, was prevented by shore battery fire. In early April Fearless and four other destroyers escorted the Sheffield, battlecruiser Renown, and the carrier Ark Royal in Operation Winch, which delivered 12 Hurricane fighter aircraft to Malta. Later in the month she was part of the screen for the same ships escorting Force S, a group of reinforcement ships for the Fleet in Alexandria (Operation Salient).^[1]

In early May she was part of destroyer screen with five other destroyers for the battleship Queen Elizabeth, and the cruisers Naiad, Fiji and Gloucester which were joining the Fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean. This was part of Operation Tiger which included a supply convoy taking tanks to the Middle East and the transfer of warships. After arrival in Malta on the 12th Fearless carried out a minesweeping operation to enable the ships of 5th Destroyer Flotilla to safely leave harbour for an offensive operation against Italian convoys. On the 19th she and three other destroyers escorted the heavy cruiser London to cover the delivery of further aircraft to Malta by the carriers Ark Royal and Furious.^[1]

In June she was deployed in the Atlantic on anti-submarine operations with the Flotilla. On the 16th Fearless and four other destroyers sank the U-138 off Gibraltar. On the 22nd she was deployed with four other destroyers to intercept a German supply ship spotted heading towards towards the French coast. The next day the Flotilla intercepted the SS Alstertor which was scuttled by her crew on the approach of the British ships. They rescued 78 British POWs taken from ships sunk by German raiders and the crew.^[1]

In July Fearless resumed duty with "Force H" in the Mediterranean. On the 20th she joined Force X in "Operation Substance", another Malta convoy.^[1] On the 23rd whilst screening Ark Royal she was torpedoed and heavily damaged by Italian aircraft. Her crew was rescued by Forester, which then sank the wrecked and burning ship with torpedoes about 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) north-north-east of Bône, Algeria, in position .^[2]

Notes

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9. 
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-59114-081-8. 
• Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7. 
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2. 
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.