HMS Blean (L47)

HMS Blean (L47) was a Type III Hunt class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was named after the Blean Beagles Hunt at the village of Blean just north of Canterbury.

Built at Hebburn-on-Tyne by Hawthorn Leslie, she was launched on 15 January 1942 and commissioned on 23 August. Escorting British convoy KMF-4 off the Algerian coast, she was intercepted by "U-443" on 11 December 1942 11 miles north-west of Oran. The U-boat aimed one torpedo against her and then one against the convoy, but both hit "Blean" and sank her 60 miles off the coast, with the loss of 89 men.

A memorial to her was unveiled in the church of St.s Cosmus and Damian in the village of Blean at 3pm on 10 December 2006 by Patrick Evans, Archdeacon of Canterbury, at a service attended by a daughter of a survivor, nephews of one of those lost, Mrs Jeanne Harrison (Sheriff of Canterbury), Commodore Jim Patrick RN, and Viscount De L'Isle (Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Kent).

External links

* [http://www.hmscavalier.org.uk/L47/ HMS Cavalier site]
* [http://www.hmscavalier.org.uk/blean/ Casualty list]
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4671.html U-boat.net]
* [http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/Martlesham.html War memorial with one of the casualties]
* [http://www.bleanchurch.net/hmsblean.html Photos of the service]