H . M . S
. W
A R W I C K ( D 2 5 )
Admiralty W-Class Destroyer ordered from
Hawthorn Leslie on 9th December 1916 with the 10th order of the 1916-17
Programme. The ship was laid down on 10th March 1917 and launched on 28th
December. 1917. She was the 3rd ship to bear this name introduced in 1653 and
previously used by a 4th rate in 1756. On completion on 16th March 1918 she
joined the Fleet and was took part in the operations at
Zeebrugge and Ostend in April that year. This ship was present
at the surrender of the German Fleet on 12th November 1918 and later deployed
in the Mediterranean with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla.
Placed in Reserve in the 1930’s she was brought forward in August 1939
to attend the Review of the Reserve Fleet by HM King George VI in Weymouth manned by Reservists.
Following a successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in March 1942 she was adopted by
the civil community of Warwick, Warwickshire.
B a t t l
e Honours
ZEEBRUGGE 1918 - OSTEND 1918 - ATLANTIC 1939-44
- BISCAY 1943
H e r a
l d i c D a t a
Badge:
On a Field Black, a a Bear Silver muzzled in
chains Gold
bearing a ragged staff Silver.
Mo t t o
Es Nostra vocarus :
'We claim the deeds of
our ancestors'
D e t a i l s o f W a r
S e r v i c e
1 9 3 9
September Remained in commission and took up
war station at Plymouth after storing and
completing to war complement.
Deployed in
Western Approaches Command based at Plymouth for convoy defence and
anti-submarine patrol.
October Deployed in SW Approaches,
to (Note
: Outward convoys were assembled in SW Approaches and dispersed when
December submarine attacks were unlikely
about three days later. Inward convoys were met
in same area and escorted into Liverpool.)
1 9 4 0
January
10th Deployed with HM Sloop ENCHANTRESS and HM Destroyer WANDERER
as escort
for outward Convoy OG14F on formation in SW Approaches for
passage to Gibraltar.
Detached with
HMS WANDERER leaving HMS ENCHANTRESS as escort and took
passage to join inward Convoy HG14F as escort during final
stage of passage to Liverpool
with HM Destroyer WANDERER,
11th Joined HM Sloops ABERDEEN, BIDEFORD and LEITH as escort for HG14F with HM
Destroyers WITCH and WANDERER.
15th Detached from HG14F with escort on arrival at Liverpool and returned to Plymouth.
February Western Approaches convoy
defence in continuation
Transferred to Liverpool when
Headquarters of the Command moved to Liverpool.
March Deployed for convoy defence
in Atlantic
to
April
May Pennant Number for
visual signalling purposes changed to I25 to conform with
changes
made to all RN ships.
June Atlantic convoy defence
in continuation,
to Transferred
to 7th Escort Group based at Liverpool
November
December Nominated for escort of OB58
during passage from Liverpool.
20th Detonated mine off Liverpool and sustained serious damage.
Taken in tow by HM Destroyer WILD SWAN to Liverpool for repair.
1 9 4 1
January Under repair
to
February
March On completion carried out
post repair trials
Resumed Atlantic convoy defence with Group.
(Note : One source records transfer to Escort Group B5. This
to be confirmed .)
April Atlantic
deployment with Group in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 2
January Atlantic
convoy escort in continuation
to Detached
for loan service with US Navy.
May Passage to Caribbean.
June Joined
Caribbean Escort Force.
to Deployed
with HM Corvettes COLUMBINE, BUTTERCUP, SNOWBERRY (RCN)
October and US Navy ships.
November Deployed
in US Navy Task Force 90 for anti-submarine patrol in West Indies area.
December Nominated
for conversion to Long Range Escort and took passage to rejoin RN.
(See V AND W DESTROYERS
1917-45 by A Preston).
Passage
to UK
1 9 4 3
January Taken
in hand for conversion in Dundee commercial shipyard.
February Under conversion.
to
April
May Post
refit trials and work-up for service
June Resumed
Atlantic convoy escort duty on UK - Gibraltar route.
(For
changes in tactics and weapons for defence and attack on convoys see SEEK AND
STRIKE
by W Hackmann and U-BOAT WAR IN THE ATLANTIC (HMSO).
July Nominated
for anti-submarine operations in Bay of Biscay.
August Deployed
in Bay
of Biscay (Operation MUSKETRY)
(For
details of changes in German submarine operations see ENGAGE THE ENEMY
MORE CLOSELY by C Barnett and U-BOAT WAR IN THE ATLANTIC (HMSO).
(Note : This operation was to carry out attacks in
conjunction with RAF Coastal Command
on submarines in transit to Atlantic and for return to bases in France.
See
U-BOAT WAR IN THE ATLANTIC (HMSO) and HITLER’S U- BOAT
WAR by C Blaire.)
September Nominated
for support of Operation to set up air bases in Azores with agreement of
Portuguese government. (Operation ALACRITY)
October Deployed
as escort for military convoys to Azores with HM Destroyers HAVELOCK,
VANOC,
HM Corvettes BUTTERCUP, LAVENDER., GODETIA and HM
Sloop
LOWESTOFT.
November Deployed
on convoy escort in SW Approaches.
to
December
1 9 4 4
January SW
Approaches convoy escort in continuation.
(For
details of development of new weapons see SEEK AND STRIKE).
20th Sunk by Acoustic torpedo (T5 - FAT) from
U413 during defence of coastal convoy off
Trevose Head. in position 50.29N
05.25W.
Ship
sank very quickly after detonation
Only
93 of ships company were rescued.
(For
details see CONVOY ESCORT by Rayner).
S p e c i a l N o t e
Another unsung heroine of the
Battle of the Atlantic. Her best memorial is the fact that 70% of Atlantic
convoys arrived unscathed. It is often
forgotten that re-routing of convoys and the vastness of the ocean has enabled the losses to be reduced, together
with improvements in weapons and tactics assisted by air cover and availability
of radar. The other enemy was the
weather and the need for continual vigilance by ship's companies was ever
present.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS WARWICK
by Don Kindell
Date convoy
Joined
convoy
Convoy
No.
Left convoy Date
convoy
sailed as
escort
arrived
13/09/39 13/09/39 OB 004 16/09/39 16/09/39
19/09/39 19/09/39 OB 007 20/09/39 23/09/39
01/10/39 02/10/39 OB 013 04/10/39 04/10/39
13/10/39 14/10/39 OB 019 16/10/39 18/10/39
26/09/39 15/10/39 KJ 002 17/10/39 18/10/39
23/10/39 23/10/39 OB 024 26/10/39 26/10/39
02/11/39 03/11/39 OB 029 05/11/39 07/11/39
25/10/39 06/11/39 HX 006 unknown 06/11/39
12/11/39 13/11/39 OB 034 15/11/39 18/11/39
22/11/39 22/11/39 OB 039 25/11/39 25/11/39
08/12/39 08/12/39 OB 049 11/12/39 12/12/39
18/12/39 18/12/39 OB 055 20/12/39 20/12/39
21/12/39 21/12/39 OG 011 21/12/39 26/12/39
28/12/39 28/12/39 OB 062 31/12/39 31/12/39
20/12/39 02/01/40 HX 013 04/01/40 04/01/40
07/01/40 07/01/40 OB 068 10/01/40 10/01/40
10/01/40 10/01/40 OG 014F 10/01/40 15/01/40
05/01/40 11/01/40 HG 014F 15/01/40 15/01/40
20/01/40 20/01/40 OB 076 23/01/40 23/01/40
29/01/40 29/01/40 OB 082 01/02/40 02/02/40
22/01/40 03/02/40 HX 017 07/02/40 07/02/40
18/03/40 27/03/40 HX 028 28/03/40 02/04/40
06/04/40 06/04/40 OB 124 09/04/40 10/04/40
29/03/40 09/04/40 HX 031 11/04/40 13/04/40
18/04/40 18/04/40 OB 132 21/04/40 22/04/40
10/04/40 23/04/40 HX 034 26/04/40 26/04/40
23/04/40 01/05/40 FP 003 05/05/40 05/05/40
18/06/40 18/06/40 OB 170 21/06/40 23/06/40
08/06/40 22/06/40 SL 035 25/06/40 25/06/40
15/07/40 15/07/40 OB 184 18/07/40 18/07/40
07/07/40 19/07/40 HX 056 22/07/40 22/07/40
27/07/40 27/07/40 OB 190 30/07/40 31/07/40
19/07/40 31/07/40 HX 059 03/08/40 03/08/40
06/08/40 06/08/40 OB 194 09/08/40 10/08/40
28/07/40 10/08/40 SL 041F 14/08/40 14/08/40
16/08/40 16/08/40 OB 199 20/08/40 20/08/40
08/08/40 20/08/40 HX 064 23/08/40 23/08/40
20/08/40 31/08/40 HX 067 04/09/40 04/09/40
11/09/40 11/09/40 OB 212 14/09/40 16/09/40
04/09/40 14/09/40 HG 043 18/09/40 18/09/40
11/11/40 11/11/40 OB 242 14/11/40 15/11/40
31/10/40 15/11/40 HG 046 19/11/40 19/11/40
24/11/40 24/11/40 OB 249 28/11/40 28/11/40
17/11/40 28/11/40 HX 089 01/12/40 01/12/40
30/05/42 30/05/42 TO 003 01/06/42 01/06/42
05/06/42 05/06/42 OT 006 09/06/42 09/06/42
10/06/42 10/06/42 TO 006 13/06/42 13/06/42
16/06/42 16/06/42 OT 009 20/06/42 20/06/42
22/06/42 22/06/42 TO 009 24/06/42 24/06/42
02/07/42 02/07/42 TAW 001 03/07/42 10/07/42
05/07/42 05/07/42 TAW 002 14/07/42 14/07/42
17/07/42 17/07/42 WAT 006 26/07/42 26/07/42
31/07/42 31/07/42 TAW 010 09/08/42 09/08/42
13/08/42 13/08/42 WAT 014 23/08/42 23/08/42
07/10/42 07/10/42 TA 024 14/10/42 14/10/42
11/11/42 11/11/42 GN 019 17/11/42 17/11/42
28/11/42 28/11/42 NG 325 06/12/42 06/12/42
09/12/42 09/12/42 GN 026 18/12/42 18/12/42
21/12/42 21/12/42 HX 220 26/12/42 09/01/43
27/12/42 04/01/43 SC 115 15/01/43 15/01/43
05/09/43 05/09/43 XK 011 14/09/43 20/09/43
30/09/43 30/09/43 UA 002 09/10/43 09/10/43
17/10/43 26/10/43 KMS 030G 28/10/43 01/11/43
13/01/44 14/01/44 ONS 027 21/01/44 31/01/44
