HMS Duncan (D99)

HMS "Duncan" was a D-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1931 and served during the Second World War before being sold for scrap in 1945.

Construction and Commissioning

Ordered in the 1930 Build Programme, she was laid down on 3 September 1931 at Portsmouth Dockyard, launched on 7 July 1932 and commissioned on 5 April 1933cite web|url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4365.html|title=HMS "Duncan" at U-Boat.net|accessdate=2008-06-04] . Built as a Destroyer Leader, she displaced 25 tons more than the rest of her class and carried an extra 30 personnel. These personnel formed the staff of the Captain (D) of the flotilla.

Career

Pre-World War II

"Duncan's" first commission was as Leader of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet between May 1933 and September 1934. After refitting, the flotilla sailed for the Far East, arriving at Hong Kong in January 1935. The next few years were spent "flying the flag" around the Far East, and visiting Japan, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Thailand and Malaya. She was in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of 1937 and took part in the evacuation of 1300 British civilians to Woosung [cite web|url=http://www.empressofasia.com/shanghai.htm.|title=Empress of Asia - August 1937 Reinforcement and Evacuation|accessdate=2008-06-04]

1939

At the start of the Second World War in September 1939 "Duncan", accompanied by "Dainty", "Diana" and "Daring", were sent to the Mediterranean. All these destroyers were in poor condition, and, after repair, they conducted embargo operations during October and November. On the arrival of Royal Australian Navy destroyers, she and "Duchess" were transferred to Home waters and took passage from Gibraltar as escort for the battleship HMS "Barham". On 10 December "Duchess" was sunk in a collision with "Barham" in thick fog, with the loss of 124 lives.

1940

During December and January "Duncan" was employed as escort for Norwegian convoys and for screening of major units. She was damaged in a collision with a merchant vessel on 17 January whilst escorting Convoy ON18, and had to be taken under tow. After temporary repairs at Invergordon she was towed to Rosyth for refit and was not available again for fleet duties until 22 July. During this period her pennant number was changed to I99. She carried out post-refit trials and returned to Scapa Flow to rejoin the Home Fleet. On 11 August she deployed as an escort for ships of the 1st Minelaying Squadron, in company with the destroyers "Cossack", "Maori" and "Sikh", to conduct minelaying operations at the northern end of the East Coast Barrier. She transferred to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla based at Gibraltar in October, escorting "Ark Royal", "Barham", "Berwick", "Glasgow" and "Sheffield" from the Firth of Clyde to Gibraltar. As Flotilla Leader of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla she played an active part in screening warships and escorting convoys, including some of the famous Malta Convoys. She took part in Operations Coat (escort to "Barham") [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.41] , White (escort to "Argus") [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.43] , and Collar [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.43] during November, and the Battle Honour "Spartivento" was awarded to her. December saw her operating to the east of Gibraltar and conducting anti-submarine sweeps in the Strait of Sicily.

1941

In January 1941 she deployed with her Flotilla to intercept a Vichy French convoy off Oran. Later that month she took part in Operation Excess, a military convoy taking stores to Piraeus and Alexandria and screened battleships off Bizerta, coming under ineffective Italian air attacks on 9 January. As escort to "Ark Royal" she took part in Operation Picket, a delivery of aircraft to Malta at the end of January and into February. "Ark Royal" then conducted air operations at Livorno under the codename Operation Grog.

In March she was nominated for escort duty at Freetown, and on 10 March detached for escort of the battlecruiser "Repulse" and the aircraft carrier "Furious", taking replacement aircraft to Takoradi for delivery to the Middle East. Once on station at Freetown her duties consisted of escorting convoys in the local area, typically taking over from or supplementing the Ocean Escort force, bringing the convoy in to Freetown and then escorting it back out again. Throughout April, May and June she escorted convoys WS7, WS8A and WS8B in this way. By July she was back in Gibraltar, escorting the "Substance" convoy from Gibraltar to Malta in July 1941 [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.75] and the "Halberd" convoy in September. [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.88] She came under air attack several times, and gained the Battle Honours "Malta Convoys" (1941) and "Mediterranean" (1941). On 27 September she rescued the pilot of a Fairey Fulmar aircraft shot down in error by HMS "Rodney".

By this stage of the war she and HMS "Decoy" were the only survivors of the original class of 9 ships. In October she was nominated for refit in the UK, and was assigned as part of the escort for Convoy HG75 [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.93] (Gibraltar to Liverpool). Harried by U-Boats and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft, 4 out of the 17 merchant vessels were sunk, and HMS "Cossack" was lost 4 days after she was torpedoed by U-563. On 3 November she was detached from Convoy HG 75 on arrival in the Firth of Clyde and took independent passage to Sheerness. She was taken in hand for refit by Chatham Dockyard on 16 November.

1942

By 23 January 1942 "Duncan" had completed her refit, trials and ammunitioning, but she sustained weather damage during passage to Greenock, and had to be repaired there. By mid February she was assigned to Convoy WS16 (Clyde to Aden and Bombay) as escort to "Malaya", "Eagle" and "Hermione", detaching on 21 February and returning to Gibraltar to resume duties as Leader of 13th Destroyer Flotilla.

Several missions escorting Force H in its attempts to supply aircraft to Malta were abandoned during March [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 pp.127&130] , and "Duncan" was detached to support Operation Ironclad [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.136] , the invasion of Diego Suarez. On 22 May she was released to the Eastern Fleet for convoy escort and patrol duties in the Indian Ocean with the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla based at Kilindini. In May 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of the county of Angus in Scotland after a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign. After 4 months of operations in the Indian Ocean, it was decided to convert her to an Anti-submarine escort, and accordingly she returned to the United Kingdomas an escort for "Royal Sovereign" in October.

On 16 November she was detached from escort on arrival at Greenock and made passage to Tilbury. On 24 November she was taken in hand at a commercial shipyard on the Thames, and remained in refit until March 1943.

1943

In March of 1943 "Duncan" carried out sea trials and went to Tobermory for a work-up. In April she joined Escort Group B-7 as the Senior Officer's ship, with Cdr Peter Gretton joining her from HMS "Tay" as Captain and Senior Officer of the Escort Group at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic. She escorted Convoy ONS-5, then Convoy SC-130, being credited with assisting "Snowflake" in sinking "U-381" on 19 May 1943, for which the captain was awarded a bar to his DSO. Post-war analysis revealed that the attack was actually on "U-304" and "U-636", causing only minor damage. [cite web|url=http://www.uboat.net/boats/u381.htm|title=U381 at U-boat.net|accessdate=2008-06-11] After escorting Convoy ON-200, Escort Group B-7 served as a support group for convoys ON-206, ON-207, and ON-208. [Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 pp.240-242] On 16 October she rescued 15 survivors from "U-470" which had been sunk by aircraft attack. [cite web|url=http://www.uboat.net/boats/u470.htm|title=U470 at U-boat.net|accessdate=2008-06-11] On 23 October 1943 she sank "U-274" in the North Atlantic south-west of Iceland in position coord|57|14|N|27|50|W| by depth charge attack, assisted by HMS "Vidette" and a British Liberator aircraft of 224 Sqn RAF. Later the same month, on 29 October, "Duncan" shared the sinking of "U-282" south-east of Greenland (in position coord|55|28|N|31|57|W|) with "Vidette" and "Sunflower".

The condition of the ship gave rise to concern and a refit was required before she could continue Atlantic convoy defence duties. She was taken in hand by Harland and Wolff at Woolwich on 12 November.

1944

In May of 1944 "Duncan" conducted post refit harbour and sea trials, made passage to Tobermory for work-up, and then joined the 14th Escort Group for anti-submarine operations in the Western Approaches. The rest of the year was spent conducting convoy defence and anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic.

1945

January through to March of 1945 were spent continuing convoy defence and patrol duties. In April she was transferred to Coastal Escort Pool based at Greenock to counter the increasing threat to coastal traffic from Schnorkel-fitted U-Boats. On 13 May she was nominated for reduction to Reserve status, and on 9 June she paid off to await disposal. Approval was given to scrap her on 8 July, and she was officially placed on the disposal list. By this stage, her poor structural condition caused her to leak 5 tons of water per day. She was sold to be broken up for scrap in September 1945 and arrived at T W Ward's yard in Barrow to be scrapped in November. Demolition was not completed until 1949.

Commanding Officers

References

*

External links

* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/c+d_class.htm Battleships-cruisers.co.uk website - C & D Class Destroyers]
* [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersG.html#Gretton Peter Gretton bio at Unithistories.com]