H . M . S
. S A B R E ( H 1 8 )
Admiralty "S" Class destroyer ordered in April 1917 from
Alex Stephens at Govan, Glasgow with the 11th Order of the 1917-18 Programme. The ship was laid down
on 10th September 1917 and launched on 23rd September 1918 as the
first RN ship to carry this name. After end of WW1 she was transferred for after launch for completion by Fairfield shipyard in
Govan.. Build was completed on during 1919 and the ship commissioned for Fleet service. BY 1938 she had
been de-militarised for use as a target ship but brought forward for service in 1939 despite her age
and unsuitability. During March 1942 after a successful WARSHIP WEEK National
Savings campaign she was ‘adopted’ by the civil community of
Bebington, Cheshire.
B a t t
l e H o n o u r s
DUNKIRK 1940 - ATLANTIC 1940-43
H e r al d i c D a t a
Badge : On a Field Argent per fess wavy Azure thereon a a
cavalry helmet
Argent
with badge or plume gules, two cavalry sabres in Saltire all
Poper with hilts and sword knots gules.
D e t a i
l s o f W a r
S e r v i c e
1 9 3 9
August Took up war Station on
mobilisation of the Fleet
September Deployed in Western Approaches for
convoy defence
to
December
1 9 4 0
January Atlantic
convoy defence in continuation.
February Sustained major structural
damage off west coast of Scotland and disabled.
Taken in tow for repair.
March Under repair.
April On
completion of post repair trials resume Atlantic convoy defence deployment.
May Transferred to support
evacuation of allied troops from coast of France and took passage
to Dover for service in Dover Command.
28th Deployed for evacuation (Operation
DYNAMO0.
30th Embarked 1500 men during two trips to Dunkirk.
Under heavy and
sustained air attacks.
31st Sustained damage during air attacks whilst deployed for
evacuation.
June On completion of repair
resumed evacuation duties.
(Note : Made further eight trips to beaches and in all
carried over 5,000 soldiers.)
12th Transferred for further evacuation from French ports in Bay of Biscay (Operation AERIAL)
Deployed with HM Destroyer VEGA for evacuation of personnel from Alderney.
On release from AERIAL redeployed in Forth.
July Transferred for duty
with HM Destroyer WITCH for Experimental Minesweeping trials
based in Forth area,
August Resumed Atlantic convoy defence in Western
Approaches.
September Atlantic convoy defence deployment
in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 1
January Atlantic
convoy defence in continuation.
to Nominated
for refit
August Under
refit during which Sonar equipment was modified to improve operational
efficiency.
Transferred to 1st
Escort Group based at Liverpool on completion of post refit trials.
September Convoy
defence deployment in Atlantic with Group.
to
October
November
22nd Sustained damage in collision with HM Trawler ST APOLLO off
the Hebrides.
(Note : This requisitioned trawler was sunk.)
December Resumed Atlantic convoy defence on
completion.
1 9 4 2
January Atlantic convoy defence with
Group in continuation
to (Note
: See CONVOY ESCORT COMMANDER by P Gretton for
further details.)
February
March
10th Detached for escort of Russian Convoy PQ13 during initial
stage of passage to Iceland in
NW Approaches
with HM Destroyers SALADIN, LAMERTON and Polish ORP
BLYSKAWICA. See CONVOYS TO RUSSIA by RA Ruegg
and ARCTIC CONVOYS by
R Woodman.
16th Detached from PQ13 on arrival in Iceland and resumed service with Group
for Atlantic
convoy defence.
April Atlantic convoy defence
with Group in continuation.
to
September
October Transferred to 21st Escort
Group in continuation of convoy defence in NW Approaches.
November Atlantic convoy defence in
continuation
to
December
1 9 4 3
January Deployment with Group for
Atlantic convoy defence in continuation.
to
June
July Detached for duty with
Torpedo School Experimental unit at South Queensferry.
August Carried out extensive series
of trial on FOXER Noise making equipment prior to
to its
introduction into operational use for defence against attacks by acoustic
torpedoes
September (Note :
These had been developed specifically for use against escorts of convoys and
were
known as ZAUNKONIG or T5 weapons.).
October Resumed service in Western
Approaches with 21st Escort Group based in Iceland
to Deployed
for convoy defence in central Atlantic for support of anti-submarine
December operations
including RAF Coastal Command aircraft.
1 9 4 4
January Atlantic convoy defence and
support based in Iceland
to
September
October Transferred for coastal convoy
defence when ships of Group replaced by new US built
CAPTAIN Class
Frigates,
(Note : This type of WW1 built destroyer was quite unsuitable
for deployment in
the Atlantic and several instances of men being lost overboard in
rough weather
are recorded for this vintage of destroyer.)
November Deployed for coastal convoy
defence in Home waters,
to
December
1 9 4 5
January Coastal convoy duties in
continuation
to
April
May Removed from operational
use after VE day and laid-up in Reserve.
to
August
P o s t W a
r N o t e s
HMS SABRE was placed on the Disposal List after the
end of hostilities in the Far East. The ship was sold to BISCO for demolition and arrived at the
breaker’s yard at Grangemouth on the Forth in 1946.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS SABRE
by Don Kindell
Date convoy
Joined convoy
Convoy
No. Left convoy Date convoy
Sailed as escort arrived
25/06/40 07/07/40 HX 053 10/07/40 10/07/40
03/09/40 05/09/40 OG 042 07/09/40 16/09/40
24/09/40 24/09/40 OB 218 27/09/40 29/09/40
24/09/40 24/09/40 OL 004 27/09/40 27/09/40
10/09/40 28/09/40 SL 047 unknown 28/09/40
01/10/40 01/10/40 OB 222 04/10/40 05/10/40
19/09/40 05/10/40 SL 048 07/10/40 09/10/40
07/10/40 08/10/40 WS 003B 12/10/40 28/10/40
21/10/40 21/10/40 OB 232 21/10/40 26/10/40
18/11/40 18/11/40 OB 245 22/11/40 22/11/40
11/11/40 22/11/40 HX 085/1 25/11/40 25/11/40
30/11/40 01/12/40 OB 252 04/12/40 04/12/40
22/11/40 05/12/40 SC 013 07/12/40 07/12/40
15/02/41 15/02/41 OG 053 20/02/41 01/03/41
03/02/41 18/02/41 HX 107 20/02/41 20/02/41
06/02/41 22/02/41 HG 053 24/02/41 24/02/41
12/03/41 12/03/41 OB 297 17/03/41 17/03/41
05/03/41 17/03/41 HX 113 20/03/41 21/03/41
24/03/41 24/03/41 OB 302 unknown 30/03/41
17/03/41 29/03/41 HX 115 03/04/41 03/04/41
22/04/41 23/04/41 OB 313 27/04/41 28/04/41
15/04/41 27/04/41 HG 059 01/05/41 01/05/41
05/05/41 07/05/41 OG 061 10/05/41 19/05/41
17/04/41 10/05/41 SL 072 12/05/41 13/05/41
17/05/41 19/05/41 OB 323 23/05/41 25/05/41
10/05/41 23/05/41 HX 126 27/05/41 28/05/41
02/06/41 03/06/41 OB 330 07/06/41 07/06/41
27/05/41 08/06/41 HX 129 12/06/41 12/06/41
15/06/41 17/06/41 OB 336 22/06/41 23/06/41
10/06/41 24/06/41 SC 034 28/06/41 29/06/41
06/07/41 06/07/41 OB 343 12/07/41 21/07/41
30/06/41 13/07/41 HX 136 18/07/41 18/07/41
01/07/41 13/07/41 SC 036 18/07/41 19/07/41
01/08/41 12/08/41 HX 142 15/08/41 18/08/41
01/08/41 18/08/41 SC 039 19/08/41 19/08/41
27/08/41 29/08/41 ON 010 01/09/41 11/09/41
21/08/41 02/09/41 HX 146 05/09/41 06/09/41
11/09/41 11/09/41 ON 015 14/09/41 16/09/41
04/09/41 15/09/41 HX 148 16/09/41 17/09/41
05/09/41 16/09/41 SC 043 20/09/41 20/09/41
28/09/41 30/09/41 ON 021 02/10/41 14/10/41
28/09/41 09/10/41 HX 152 13/10/41 14/10/41
20/10/41 20/10/41 ON 028 25/10/41 03/11/41
17/10/41 31/10/41 SC 050 04/11/41 04/11/41
08/11/41 18/11/41 HX 159 23/11/41 23/11/41
01/12/41 02/12/41 ON 042 06/12/41 14/12/41
28/11/41 10/12/41 SC 057 13/12/41 15/12/41
21/12/41 22/12/41 ON 049 27/12/41 05/01/42
21/12/41 01/01/42 HX 166 03/01/42 05/01/42
09/01/42 20/01/42 SC 064 23/01/42 23/01/42
26/01/42 27/01/42 ON 060 02/02/42 15/02/42
10/03/42 10/03/42 PQ 013 16/03/42 31/03/42
14/03/42 29/03/42 SL 103 31/03/42 02/04/42
01/04/42 01/04/42 DS 025 04/04/42 04/04/42
08/04/42 08/04/42 SD 025 11/04/42 11/04/42
17/04/42 17/04/42 UR 020 22/04/42 22/04/42
24/04/42 24/04/42 RU 020 28/04/42 28/04/42
01/05/42 01/05/42 UR 022 05/05/42 05/05/42
08/05/42 08/05/42 RU 022 12/05/42 12/05/42
21/05/42 21/05/42 UR 025 27/05/42 25/05/42
27/05/42 27/05/42 RU 025 30/05/42 01/06/42
25/06/42 25/06/42 DS 029 26/06/42 26/06/42
28/06/42 28/06/42 SD 029 29/06/42 29/06/42
12/07/42 20/07/42 HX 198 21/07/42 23/07/42
27/07/42 27/07/42 UR 034 01/08/42 01/08/42
03/08/42 03/08/42 RU 034 07/08/42 07/08/42
04/08/42 22/08/42 SL 118 23/08/42 26/08/42
08/09/42 08/09/42 TA 021 09/09/42 14/09/42
05/09/42 10/09/42 AT 022 11/09/42 11/09/42
28/02/43 13/03/43 HX 228 15/03/43 15/03/43
19/03/43 19/03/43 DS 038 21/03/43 21/03/43
22/03/43 22/03/43 SD 038 25/03/43 25/03/43
14/04/43 14/04/43 DS 039 16/04/43 16/04/43
19/04/43 19/04/43 SD 039 21/04/43 21/04/43
01/08/43 01/08/43 DS 043 03/08/43 03/08/43
06/08/43 06/08/43 SD 043 08/08/43 08/08/43
(Note on Convoys)
