HMS Contest (R12)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Contest.
HMS Contest on the Solent, 8 November 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Contest
Builder: White, Cowes
Laid down: 1 November 1943
Launched: 16 December 1944
Commissioned: 9 November 1945
Identification: Pennant number: R12 (later D48)
Fate: Arrived for breaking up at Grays, Essex on 2 February 1960
General characteristics
Class & type: C-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 1,885 tons (1,915 tonnes)
  • 2,545 tons full (2,585 tonnes)
Length: 362.75 ft (110.57 m) o/a
Beam: 35.75 ft (10.90 m)
Draught: 11.75 ft (3.58 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers,
  • Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines,
  • 40,000 shp (29.8 MW), 2 shafts
Speed: 36 knots (67 km/h) / 32 knots (59 km/h) full
Range:
  • 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
  • 1,400 nmi (2,600 km) at 32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement: 186
Sensors and
processing systems:
Radar Type 275 fire control on director Mk.VI
Armament:

HMS Contest was a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, built by J. Samuel White, Cowes. She was launched on 1 November 1943 and commissioned on 9 November 1945. She was scrapped in 1960.

Operational service

On commissioning Contest served as part of the 8th Destroyer Squadron in the Far East. She returned to the UK for a refit in 1948.[1] She was given an interim modernization and was fitted for minelaying.[2] In 1951 she was the Torpedo training ship at Portsmouth. She then served as part of the 6th Destroyer Squadron in the Home Fleet.[3] In 1953 she took part in the Coronation Review of the Fleet to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[4]

Decommissioning and disposal

Contest was paid off in the late 1950s. Following her sale she arrived at the breakers yard for scrapping at Grays, Essex on 2 February 1960.

Commanding officers

FromToCaptain
19481949Lieutenant-Commander R A M Hennessy RN
19531953Lieutenant-Commander H P Fleming RN
19561956
19581960

References

  1. Marriott, Leo (1989). Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945. Ian Allen Ltd. p. 65.
  2. Marriott, 1989. p.66
  3. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 102. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.
  4. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15 June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

Publications


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