HMS Electra (H27)

HMS "Electra" (H27) was a Royal Navy 'E' class destroyer (one of 16, including two flotilla leaders, in the E and F classes to be built). She was ordered on 1 November 1932 as part of the 1931 Naval Build Programme; launched on 15 February 1934 at the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside. The E class were similar to the preceding 'C' and 'D' classes of 1931, but with an improved hull form, modified bridge, three boiler rooms instead of two, and high angle 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns that could elevate to 40 degrees (as opposed to 30 degrees on the earlier classes). The costs to build the ship have been given as approximately £300,000 (Janes), £247,000 [http://navalhistory.flixco.info/G/69835x53053/281303/a0.htm] , or £253,350 (excluding the items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns and communications equipment) [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-21E-Electra.htm] .

Service

First Deployment

Upon commissioning in 1934, she was attached to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet, along with the rest of her E-class sister ships. In September 1935, the 5th Flotilla was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet for the duration of the Abyssinian crisis before returning to the Home Fleet the following March. In 1936, "Electra" was assigned to Non-Intervention Patrols in Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. On 26 August 1939, she attended a review by King George VI.

Early Second World War Service

At the beginning of World War II, "Electra" was attached to the 12th Destroyer Flotilla. On 3 September 1939, "Electra" took part in the rescue of survivors of the liner "Athenia", which was torpedoed by the German submarine "U-30". The Captain of "Electra", Lieutenant-Commander Sammy A. Buss, was the Senior Officer present at the scene so he took charge. He sent the destroyer , "Echo", and . , and were taken to Surabaya. When the submarine surfaced in the middle of the survivors, they weren't sure if it was friendly or enemy. One of the survivors recognized the submarine as being friendly, because it had an 'Admiralty' type anchor; and at that time, only United States submarines still had this type of anchor. One of the survivors died on the submarine on the way. After treatment in a Dutch hospital, 42 survivors were taken to Australia by the inter-island steamer "Verspeck", where they arrived on 10 March. One more survivor died at the hospital, and 10 others in critical condition were left at the hospital.

After spending some time there recovering, many of the survivors were put on the liner "Nankin", bound for Ceylon, and ultimately, home to Britain. On the way, the "Nankin" was attacked and sunk by the German raider . The survivors, after spending seven weeks on the raider's supply ship "Regensburg", were handed over to the Japanese, where they spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp.

On 29 March 1947, a stained glass window at St. George's Chapel at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, was dedicated to the crew of the "Electra".

The Wreck

In August 2003, the M/V "Empress" located the wreck of the "Electra". It is lying on its port side in approximately 160 feet (49 m) of water, completely covered with fishing nets. What is interesting is that she is located nowhere near where the Allied battle maps put her sinking, but is close to where the Japanese battle maps put her.

References

* Cain, Lieutenant-Commander Timothy J. "HMS Electra" (Frederick Miller Ltd, London, 1959), ISBN 0-86007-330-0. Lieutenant-Commander Cain (then a Warrant Officer Gunner, "Guns") was the senior surviving officer of "Electra".
* Barnett, Correlli "Engage the Enemy More Closely" (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1991) ISBN 0-393-02918-2
* Bradford, Ernle "The Mighty Hood" (World Publishing Company, Cleveland, 1959)
* English, John. "Amazon to Ivanhoe - British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s."
* Gardiner, Robert ed., "Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922 - 1946" (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1980) ISBN 0-85177-146-7
* Hoyt, Edwin P. "The Lonely Ships: The Life and Death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet" (Pinnacle Books, Los Angeles, 1977), ISBN 0-523-40162-0
* Lenton, H. T. "British Fleet and Escort Destroyers, Volume I" (Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1970)
* Middlebrook, Martin and Patrick Mahoney, "Battleship: The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse", (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1979)
* Rohwer, J. and Hümmelchen, G. "Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945." (2nd Edition, Annapolis, 1992).
* Van der Vat, Dan "The Atlantic Campaign: World War II's Great Struggle at Sea" (Harper and Row, New York, 1988) ISBN 0-06-015967-7
* Winslow, W. G. "The Ghost that Died at Sunda Strait", (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1989), ISBN 0-87021-218-4
* "Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II" (Janes Publishing, London, 1946) ISBN 0-517-67963-9

ee also

*List of ship launches in 1934

External links

* http://www.ships-badges.co.uk/electra.html Picture of the ship's badge of the "Electra"
* http://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/hms/electra.html Contains information on the wreck of the "Electra", and pictures of the ship.
* http://navalhistory.flixco.info/G/69835x53053/b281303/n0.htm
* http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4377.html
* http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hx122cruising.html
* http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/danfs/AP/ap23.html
* http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Singapore.html Has a list of Singapore convoys
* http://members.dodo.net.au/~mervynw/vendetta.htm Provides information on a destroyer being towed from Singapore to Java.
* http://www.ussvi.org/misc/030808.htm Provides a description of the rescue from the submarine's viewpoint
* http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/e+f_class.htm#HMS%20Electra
* http://www.hmshood.com/crew/remember/TedFlagship.html#Ch21 Contains Hood survivor recollections of the rescue
* http://www.hmshood.com/crew/remember/ElectraTaylor.html Contains survivor recollections
* http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-21E-Electra.htm
* http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/AreportaboutHMSElectraand.html
* http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hnonescorts.html