H . M . S
. V I S C O U N T ( D 9 2 )
Thornycroft V-Type Destroyer ordered from John
I Thornycroft at Woolston, Southampton with the 9th Order of the 1916-17
Programme. The ship was laid down on 20th December 1916 and launched on 29th
December 1917 as the 1st RN warship to carry this name. She was completed on
4th March 1918. After the Armistice she served in the Atlantic and
Mediterranean Fleets before being deployed for local duties in Home waters. She
was attached to the 6th Submarine Flotilla at Portland in 1938. Following a
successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in March 1942 she was
adopted by the civil
community of Chislehurst and Sidcup in Kent.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
ATLANTIC 1939-44 - BISCAY 1943
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge : On a Field White, a
Viscount's Coronet Proper.
M o t t o
Nobile qui nobilis : ‘Handsome is as handsome does ‘
D e t a i l s
o f W a r S e r v i c e
1 9 3 9
September
3rd Deployed with 19th Destroyer Flotilla
at Plymouth for convoy escort duties and anti
submarine operations in Channel and SW Approaches.
October Channel
and SW Approaches convoy defence in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 0
January Deployed for convoy defence in
Western Approaches Command based at Plymouth.
7th Deployed with HM Destroyer VANOC and joined inward Convoy
HG13
as relief for two French warships as escort during passage
in SW Approaches to Liverpool.
8th HM Destroyers VENETIA, VOLUNTEER and HM Trawler ARCTIC
RANGER joined escort.
10th Detached from HG13 and took passage to Plymouth.
February
18th Deployed with HM Destroyer VANQUISHER and joined inward
Convoy HG18 to relieve
French warship as escort for remainder of passage to Liverpool from Gibraltar.
19th Detached from HG18 on arrival at Liverpool and took passage to Plymouth.
March Western Approaches convoy
defence based at Plymouth in continuation.
April
8th Deployed with HM Sloop ROCHESTER, HM Destroyers VIMY and WITCH
to join inward
Convoy HG25F as
escort for passage into Liverpool from Gibraltar.
Relieved French warship.
9th HMS VIMY and HMS WITCH detached.
11th Detached from HG25F with HMS ROCHESTER on arrival at Liverpool
Based at Liverpool for Western
Approaches convoy defence.
(Note : Headquarters of Western Approaches Command had been
transferred to Liverpool and
some escorts had been transferred for detached service with
Home Fleet after German
invasion of Norway.).
May Pennant
Number for visual signalling purposes changed to I92 to conform with changes
introduced for all RN warships.
15th Escorted HM Aircraft Carrier GLORIOUS
with HM Destroyers DIANA and VETERAN
during passage from Clyde to Norwegian coast.
June
7th Passage to join troopships returning
from Norway delayed by
fog.
(Note : HM Destroyers ATHERSTONE, ANTELOPE, WITHERINGTON and
WOLVERINE
were also deployed.)
Joined
troopships and HM Cruiser VINDICTIVE in position 61N 6W and took passage to
Clyde as part of
escort.
8th Under air attack which was repelled.
See Naval Staff
History (HMSO, 2002) for details.
July Resumed
Atlantic convoy defence in NW Approaches.
August Atlantic
convoy escort in continuation
September Detached
for escort of HM Auxiliary Minelayers MENESTHEUS, PORT NAPIER,
SOUTHERN
PRINCE and PORT QUEBEC during minelay in Northern Barrage with HM
Destroyers VANSITTART, WHITEHALL and
WITHERINGTON.
(Operation SN42).
October Atlantic convoy escort in continuation.
November Part
of escort of Convoy HG47 with HM Sloop FOLKESTONE and HM Corvette GENTIAN.
Detached to Join HM Canadian Destroyer ST LAURENT in escort for
Convoy HX90.
December
1st In action with U-Boats attacking
HX90.
(Note : This convoy was subjected to a series of attacks and
had scattered.
Six
U-Boats were involved and in all sank 10 merchant ships.
Many
weaknesses in defence tactics used were exposed and corrected.
See
THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC by Donald MacIntyre, Naval Staff History
and U-BOAT WAR IN THE ATLANTIC (HMSO)).
1 9 4 1
January Atlantic
convoy escort duty in continuation.
to
May
June Taken
in hand at Liverpool for conversion to Long Range Escort.
(For
details see BRITISH DESTROYERS by Edgar J March)
July . Under
conversion
to
November
December On
completion of Post Refit trials worked-up for operational duties.
Resumed convoy defence duties in NW Approaches.
1 9 4 2
January Atlantic convoy escort in continuation.
to
March
April Joined
Norwegian Corvettes ANDENES (Ex HMS ACANTHUS), SOROY (Ex EGLANTINE),
HM
Corvettes ROSE and POTENTILLA as 6th British Escort Group for Atlantic convoy
escort.
May Escorted
Convoy SC83 with corvettes of Group.
June Atlantic
convoy escort with Group in continuation
to (Note
: Surface warning radar Type 271 and HEDGEHOG Ahead Throwing Mortar fitted
July by this period. See RADAR AT SEA by D Howse,
SEEK AND STRIKE by W.
Hackmann and THE
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC by D
Macintyre).
August HM
Norwegian Corvette MONTBRETIA Joined Group.
Escorted Convoy ONS122 with Group.
13th Under series of
sustained attacks from LOHS Group of U-Boats.
23rd Intercepted radio transmissions from U-
Boat and obtained 'fix' on position with cross bearing on
fitted direction finding set in another escort.
Carried out attacks on submarine after detection by ASDIC (Sonar).
Two
submarines damaged but four ships in convoy lost.
(Note : For details of improved capabilities using new radio
equipments see SEEK AND
STRIKE,
BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS by J Terraine and RADAR AT SEA
by D Howse.).
September Atlantic convoy escort in continuation with Group.
HM
Destroyer FAME Joined Group.
October Part
of escort for Convoy SC1CW with ships of Group.
Under
attack by ten U-Boats of WOTAN group.
15th Carried out
attacks on U607 after radar detection.
Rammed
and sank U661 in position 53.42N 35.56H.
For
details see U-BOATS DESTROYED by P Kemp
There
were no survivors.
Sustained
major structural damage and had to leave escort.
December Under
repair
1 9 4 3
January Under repair.
HM
Corvettes VERVAIN and KINGCUP joined Group.
February On
completion of repair rejoined Group.
Escorted Convoy ONS165 with ships of Group.
17th Under attack by
U-Boats of TAIFUN Group.
Sank
U69 in position 50.50N 40.50W, again by ramming.
There
were no survivors.
(Note : HMS FAME sank U201 during defence of this convoy.
See
above references. for details of new tactics and
weapons used in
the crucial 1943 convoy battles.
March Under
repair.
to
April
May Resumed
North
Atlantic convoy escort.
to Detached
during this period for offensive operations in Bay of Biscay.
July
August Attacks
were made in conjunction with aircraft against U-Boats in transit across
the Bay of Biscay to and from Atlantic convoy routes.
(Operation
DERANGE - See CONFLICT OVER THE BAY by N Franks).
September Deployed
with HM Escort Carrier FENCER, HM Destroyers INCONSTANT, WHITEHALL and
WRESTLER,
Polish ORP GARLAND and Polish ORP BURZA as 8th Support Group to escort
military convoy to Azores (Operation ALACRITY)
(Note : This operation was to establish air bases in the Azores).
October Deployment with 8th Support Group for ALACRITY in
continuation.
On
completion resumed Atlantic convoy defence.
November Atlantic convoy defence in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 4
January Deployed
for Atlantic convoy defence without significant engagements.
to (Note
: Not deployed for support or escort during Normandy landings).
December
1 9 4 5
January Atlantic and Home coastal waters convoy
defence
to Withdrawn
from operational service and placed on the Disposal List.
February (Note : Other new escort ships were available and crew
released could be used to man these
vessels. This ship had already made a valuable contribution
to the winning of The Battle
of the Atlantic and like her sisters of WW1 vintage could be retired
with honour).
March Paid-off
and reduced to Reserve status.
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS VISCOUNT was placed on the Disposal List in 1947 and
sold to BISCO for demolition by Clayton and Davie at Dunston, The ship arrived
in tow at Breaker's yard on 27th May 1947 for demolition.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS VISCOUNT
by Don Kindell
Date convoy
Joined convoy
Convoy
No. Left convoy Date convoy
sailed as escort arrived
18/09/39 18/09/39 BC 003/1 20/09/39 20/09/39
20/09/39 20/09/39 BC 002R 22/09/39 22/09/39
24/09/39 24/09/39 BC 005/1 26/09/39 26/09/39
30/09/39 30/09/39 BC 007/1 02/10/39 02/10/39
02/10/39 02/10/39 BC 006R 03/10/39 03/10/39
06/10/39 06/10/39 BC 009/1 08/10/39 08/10/39
08/10/39 08/10/39 BC 008R 10/10/39 10/10/39
25/10/39 25/10/39 OA 025 28/10/39 unknown
06/11/39 06/11/39 OA 031 10/11/39 10/11/39
31/10/39 10/11/39 HXF 007 12/11/39 12/11/39
10/12/39 10/12/39 OA 050G 11/12/39 unknown
11/12/39 11/12/39 OG 010 13/12/39 16/12/39
09/12/39 15/12/39 HG 010 16/12/39 16/12/39
27/12/39 27/12/39 OA 061 29/12/39 30/12/39
03/01/40 05/01/40 OA 065G 07/01/40 07/01/40
31/12/39 08/01/40 HG 013 10/01/40 10/01/40
11/01/40 12/01/40 OA 070G 13/01/40 14/01/40
13/01/40 24/01/40 SL 016F 27/01/40 27/01/40
28/01/40 28/01/40 OB 081 31/01/40 31/01/40
16/01/40 02/02/40 SL 017 04/02/40 04/02/40
09/02/40 16/02/40 HG 018 19/02/40 19/02/40
25/03/40 06/04/40 HX 030 09/04/40 09/04/40
02/04/40 08/04/40 HG 025F 11/04/40 11/04/40
01/05/40 01/05/40 HK 001 09/05/40 09/05/40
12/06/40 12/06/40 HEBREW 14/06/40 14/06/40
02/07/40 02/07/40 HGY 04/07/40 14/07/40
23/07/40 29/07/40 TC 006 01/08/40 01/08/40
04/08/40 04/08/40 OB 193 07/08/40 07/08/40
27/07/40 08/08/40 HX 061 11/08/40 11/08/40
15/08/40 15/08/40 OB 198 17/08/40 18/08/40
02/08/40 19/08/40 SL 042 21/08/40 21/08/40
26/08/40 26/08/40 OB 204 29/08/40 29/08/40
20/08/40 30/08/40 HG 042 01/09/40 03/09/40
03/10/40 03/10/40 WS 003A unknown 27/10/40
25/10/40 25/10/40 OL 009 27/10/40 27/10/40
02/11/40 02/11/40 OB 238 05/11/40 05/11/40
22/10/40 06/11/40 SL 052F 10/11/40 10/11/40
17/11/40 17/11/40 OB 244 21/11/40 22/11/40
11/11/40 22/11/40 HX 086 26/11/40 26/11/40
28/11/40 28/11/40 OB 251 01/12/40 01/12/40
21/11/40 01/12/40 HX 090 05/12/40 05/12/40
12/12/40 12/12/40 OB 258 15/12/40 15/12/40
28/11/40 15/12/40 SL 057 unknown 19/12/40
18/12/40 unknown HX
097 unknown 03/01/41
26/12/40 26/12/40 OB 265 28/12/40 30/12/40
08/01/41 08/01/41 OB 271 12/01/41 12/01/41
01/01/41 13/01/41 HX 100 17/01/41 18/01/41
22/01/41 22/01/41 OB 277 27/01/41 27/01/41
15/01/41 28/01/41 HX 103 31/01/41 01/02/41
06/04/41 17/04/41 HX 119A 21/04/41 22/04/41
26/04/41 26/04/41 OG 060 30/04/41 10/05/41
09/04/41 30/04/41 SL 071 02/05/41 04/05/41
07/05/42 12/05/42 SC 083 23/05/42 23/05/42
05/06/42 06/06/42 ON 101 14/06/42 18/06/42
19/06/42 21/06/42 SC 088 01/07/42 04/07/42
10/07/42 11/07/42 ON 111 19/07/42 24/07/42
27/07/42 30/07/42 HX 200 06/08/42 07/08/42
16/08/42 17/08/42 ON 122 28/08/42 03/09/42
30/08/42 02/09/42 HX 205 10/09/42 11/09/42
19/09/42 25/09/42 ON 132 04/10/42 08/10/42
03/10/42 10/10/42 SC 104 15/10/42 21/10/42
02/02/43 08/02/43 ON 165 20/02/43 01/03/43
18/02/43 24/02/43 HX 227 05/03/43 06/03/43
15/03/43 21/03/43 ONS 001 26/03/43 04/04/43
31/03/43 04/04/43 SC 125 15/04/43 15/04/43
29/04/43 01/05/43 ONS 006 14/05/43 17/05/43
18/05/43 22/05/43 SC 131 30/05/43 31/05/43
24/07/43 25/07/43 ON 194 02/08/43 07/08/43
08/08/43 13/08/43 HX 251 22/08/43 23/08/43
03/10/43 03/10/43 UA 003 09/10/43 09/10/43
25/11/43 25/11/43 RS 012 02/12/43 02/12/43
14/01/44 14/01/44 SR 009 22/01/44 22/01/44
21/02/44 21/02/44 SL 150 24/02/44 03/03/44
03/03/44 03/03/44 SR 011 14/03/44 14/03/44
01/04/44 01/04/44 MKS 044G 02/04/44 02/04/44
02/04/44 02/04/44 SL 153MK 05/04/44 13/04/44
08/04/44 15/04/44 MKF 029B 17/04/44 17/04/44
(Note
on Convoys)
