HMS Montrose (D01)

HMS Montrose
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Montrose
Laid down: 27 March 1918
Launched: 29 May 1919
Commissioned: 14 December 1919
Honours and
awards:
Fate: Sold to be broken up for scrap on 25 July 1945
General characteristics
Class and type: Admiralty-type destroyer leader
Displacement: 1,530 tons
Length: 320 ft (98 m)
Beam: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion: Parsons Turbines, 2 shafts, Yarrow Boilers 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed: 36.5 knots
Complement: 164
Armament:

The first HMS Montrose was one of eight Admiralty-type destroyer leaders, sometimes known as the Scott class. They were named after figures from Scottish history; Montrose was named for the Graham Dukes of Montrose. She was built during the First World War, but was completed too late for service then. However, she had a long career in the inter-war years and saw extensive service during the Second World War.

Construction

Montrose was ordered under the Wartime Emergency Construction Programme in April 1917, from Hawthorn Leslie of Hebburn.[1][2] She was laid down at Hebburn-on-Tyne on 4 October 1917, launched on 10 June 1918 and completed on 14 September that year.[3]

Design

HMS Montrose was one of five Admiralty type flotilla leaders ordered from Cammell Laird in April 1917.[4][lower-alpha 1] The ship was 320 feet 0 inches (97.54 m) long between perpendiculars and 332 feet 5 inches (101.32 m) overall,[5] with a beam of 31 feet 9 inches (9.68 m) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches (3.81 m).[4] Design displacement was 1,580 long tons (1,610 t) normal and 2,050 long tons (2,080 t) full load.[5] The ship's machinery consisted of four Yarrow boilers that fed steam at 250 pounds per square inch (1,700 kPa) to two sets of Brown-Curtis single-reduction geared-steam turbines, rated at 43,000 shaft horsepower (32,000 kW). This gave a design speed of 36.5 knots (67.6 km/h; 42.0 mph) light, which corresponded to about 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) at full load.[6] Up to 504 tons of oil fuel could be carried, giving a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[7]

Service history

In 1921 Montrose was sent to the Mediterranean Fleet where she would be stationed for ten years, being involved in a number of operations during her attachment to the Fleet. One of her first duties was assisting in the evacuation of the remnants of the White Army at Novorossiysk, a harbour near the Black Sea, in March 1920. Many other Royal Navy warships assisted in the evacuation, along with British forces on land.

She finally returned home in 1929, serving initially in the Nore Reserve Fleet, then with the Home Fleet from 1930 to 1932, before being placed into Reserve until she was given her eventual refit at Devonport shortly before World War II began. In 1939 she was made leader of the 17th Destroyer Flotilla, stationed with the Western Approaches Command, and for the first few months back in active service was tasked with anti-submarine patrols in the East Atlantic.

On 26 May 1940 Operation Dynamo, the Evacuation of Dunkirk, began, with Montrose being ordered to take part. On 28 May she successfully evacuated 925 troops, landing them at Dover.[8][9] She was heading out on another run to Dunkirk early in the morning of 29 May when she collided in a fog bank with the tug Sun V, breaking the destroyer's stem. Montrose had to be towed back to Dover stern-first by the tug Lady Brassey.[10]

Two months later, after she had been transferred to the 18th Destroyer Flotilla, Nore Command, she was damaged once again by enemy aircraft, while protecting minesweepers on the east coast. While in this action she shot down at least one enemy aircraft, though she had been disabled due to damage that she had sustained by a number of near-misses. She was subsequently towed back to Chatham for repairs that were to last over a year. On return from these repairs she was reallocated to the 16th Destroyer Flotilla where she would see out the remainder of her career.

From September 1942 and well into January 1943, she was employed in escorting convoys to North Russia, before she resumed coastal patrols off Britain, as well as covering the east coast convoys. Her last action of the war came about supporting the Normandy Landings. She won the lineage its last battle honour during these operations. Montrose was also damaged while supporting the invasion and had to be towed to Immingham for repairs. These were never completed, and she was thus placed in reserve and subsequently decommissioned in 1946. She was sold to Hughes Bolckow Ltd on 31 January 1946 and scrapped at Blyth in Northumberland.[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ The other four ships were Mackay, Malcolm, Campbell and Stuart. Three more ships of the class Scott, Bruce and Douglas had been ordered earlier.[4]
  1. ↑ Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 72
  2. ↑ Friedman 2009, p. 166
  3. ↑ Friedman 2009, p. 314
  4. 1 2 3 Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 83.
  5. 1 2 Friedman 2009, p. 298
  6. ↑ Lenton 1970, p. 43
  7. ↑ Preston 1971, p. 101
  8. ↑ Mason, Geoffrey B. (1 July 2011). "HMS Montrose (D 01) - Scott-class Flotilla Leader". Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2. Naval-History.net. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Winser 1999, p. 93
  10. ↑ Winser 1999, p. 16
  11. ↑ 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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.

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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
  • Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allen. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Lenton, H. T. (1970). British Fleet and Escort Destroyers: Volume One. London: Macdonald & Co. ISBN 0-356-02950-6.
  • Preston, Antony (1971). 'V & W' Class Destroyers 1917-1945. London: Macdonald. OCLC 464542895.
  • Whitley, M.J. (2000). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 1-85409-521-8.
  • Winser, John de S. (1999). B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-91-6.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.