HMS Inglefield (D02)

HMS "Inglefield" (D02) was an I-class destroyer leader of the Royal Navy, that served during World War II. She was the navy's last purpose-built flotilla leader. She was named after the 19th century Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield (1820-1894), and is so far the only warship to carry the name of that seafaring family. In May 1940, its pennant number was changed to I02.

Anti-submarine Action

Upon the outbreak of war, "Inglefield" was deployed as the leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet, and was based at Malta. However, she was transferred to the Home Fleet before the end of September 1939 to patrol the Western Approaches. In this rôle, she escorted HM aircraft carrier "Courageous", but was answering a distress signal from SS "Kafirstan" when "Courageous" was attacked and sunk. "Inglefield" searched in vain for the U-boat "U-83" that sunk her. One month later, "Inglesield", along with her sister-ships HMS|Ivanhoe|D16|6 and HMS|Intrepid|D10|6, sunk U-boat "U-45" off the south-west coast of Ireland. She again came under attack from German U-boats when "U-18" fired numerous torpedoes at her, luckily, they all missed. A few days after that last attack, she was required to tow the submarine HMS "Triad" back to Stavanger, after it was damaged whilst on patrol in the North Sea. It sunk another German U-boat, "U-63", in early 1940 with the help of HMS|Imogen|D44|6 and HMS|Narwhal|N45|6, 24 Germans were rescued.

Operation Weserübung

In May 1940, after the failure of British forces in Norway, HMS "Inglefield" was called upon to evacuate British troops from the Norwegian town of Åndalsnes. In June, she escorted the damaged destroyers HMS|Antelope|H36|6 and HMS|Electra|H27|6 (which had collided with each other whilst escorting HMS|Ark Royal|91|6 during air attacks on Trondheim) back to port. It was a slow trip as "Electra"'s bow was damaged. Things were not helped by a violent storm which lasted for half of the journey time, during which, an ammunition locker on "Electra's" forecastle broke loose and started sliding around the deck.

Pursuing German Battleships

"Inglefield" was deployed to the North Sea with HMS|Zulu|F18|6 to escort the battleships HMS|Renown|1916|6 and HMS|Repulse|1916|6 in an unsuccessful operation to seek and destroy the German warship "Scharnhorst". It was believed that it was the pocket battleship "Deutschland", and a massive naval effort by the Royal Navy failed to stop it from returning to a German port.

Perhaps her most famous rôle was in May 1941 when she served as part of the escort for HMS|King George V|41|6 and HMS|Repulse|1916|6 in the pursuit and destruction of the German battleship Bismarck.

In August, she was present at Scapa Flow for a visit by King George VI, and even embarked the King for review of anchorage and then for return passage to mainland on 9 august.

Convoy Defence

She was part of the escort for the first convoy to the USSR, along with HMS|Victorious|R38|6, and then HMS|Argus|I49|6. She would regularly return to escort duties in the Arctic, as she was often deployed with the Home Fleet. But occasionally she was sent elsewhere on a particular mission. One example was in early 1942 when she supported commando raids on the Norwegian coast and bombarded Florø with HMS "Intrepid", an action which sunk three ships and damaged on-shore factories. Another example was in April 1942 when she was also deployed to the Mediterranean to escort the United States carrier USS "Wasp" to Malta in April 1942. On 3 July, 1942, she was taken from an Arctic convoy to search for the German battleship Tirpitz, which was reported to have left its normal anchorage. In 1943, she was removed from Arctic convoy duty for Atlantic convoy defence, but she still spent much of her time in home waters.

Italian Invasion

Her next major deployment was in July 1943, when she took part in the invasion of Sicily. She was one of 18 British, Greek and Polish destroyers which, along with 4 Royal Navy cruisers, made up the escort for HM Battleships "Nelson", "Rodney", "Warspite" and "Valiant", HM Aircraft Carriers "Indomitable" and "Formidable" in the Ionian Sea. "Inglefield"'s main rôle was to search for U-boats and to bombardment enemy positions ashore. Throughout the operations on Sicily, she was based at Malta. When the invasion of Italy took place, "Inglefield" supported the landings at Salerno in a similar way. After the beachhead was established, she formed the escort back to home waters, but was soon sent back to the Mediterranean Sea for operations in Italy. One task was to escort HMS|Renown|1916|6, with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on board, from Algiers to Alexandria.

During the Operation Shingle in early 1944, "Inglefield" carried out diversionary bombardment of Civitavecchia to draw Axis forces away from Anzio. She then bombarded the coastal road at Formia for two days before supporting forces on the ground at Anzio. She operated out of Naples, ferrying supplies and troops to the battle, as well as continuing its covering fire and bombardment of coastal roads.

Last Action

On 15 February 1944, she escorted an ammunition ship from Naples to Anzio. It then took up a defensive position to protect the anchorage in Anzio. It was in this capacity for ten days before sustaining a direct hit by a Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb launched by a German aeroplane during a dusk attack and was sunk with the loss of 35 lives. 157 survivors were rescued and returned to the United Kingdom.

References

* [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-28I-Inglefield.htm HMS Inglefield, destroyer]
* [http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/jw53.html Convoy JW-53]
* [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4411.html uboat.net]

ee also