HMS Diamond (D35)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Diamond.
Career (United Kingdom)
Name: HMS Diamond
Ordered: 24 January 1945
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number: 632 [1]
Laid down: 15 March 1949
Launched: 14 June 1950 [2]
Commissioned: 21 February 1952
Identification: Pennant number: D35
Motto: Honor clarissima gemma
(Latin: "Honour is the brightest jewel")
Fate: Scrapped at Rainham, Kent, 12 November 1981 [1]
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:Daring-class destroyer
Displacement:Standard: 2,830 tons, full load: 3,820 tons [1]
Length:391 ft (119 m)
Beam:43 ft (13 m)
Draught:22.6 ft (6.9 m)
Propulsion:54,000 shp (40 MW)
Speed:30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:Approximately 300
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:

HMS Diamond was a Daring-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched on 14 June 1950. This ship was John Brown & Company's first all-welded ship (as opposed to the rivetted construction more commonly used up to that time).[1]

In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[3] On 29 September 1953, she sustained severe bow damage in a collision with the cruiser HMS Swiftsure during Exercise Mariner, held off the coast of Iceland.[4][5]

In 1956 she was sent into Port Said to show the flag prior to the Franco-British assault, but the Egyptian government was unmoved and she sailed out to join the main attack force for the Suez landings at Port Said. She underwent a refit in 1959 at Chatham Dockyard. In 1964 she was involved in another collision, this time with HMS Salisbury, in the English Channel during a naval demonstration.[6] In 1970, she became a dockside training ship in Portsmouth and remained in this role until replaced by HMS Kent. She was scrapped in Rainham in Kent in 1981.[1]

Commanding officers

FromToCaptain
19531953Captain C B Alers-Hankley DSC RN
19571957Captain J A C Henley DSC RN
19601960Captain H H Dannreuther RN
19631965Captain J D Cartwright

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "HMS Diamond". Clydebuilt Ships Database. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  2. "HMS Diamond". Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  3. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
  4. "British Warships In Collision". The Times (52741): Col C, p. 6. 1 October 1953.
  5. "Letter from P. D. Haynes, Trafford Branch" (PDF). Vanguard (The Official Journal of the Royal Naval Association No 10 area). April 2009. p. 21. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  6. "Two Warships Collide". The Times (56048): Col D, p. 12. 26 June 1964.

Publications