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QUILLIAM-Class Fleet Destroyer ordered in
December 1940 with the 3rd Emergency Flotilla from J S White of
Cowes IoW. The ship was laid down on
6th February 1941 and launched on 11th April 1942 as the first RN
warship to carry the name. Completion was delayed until
30th September 1942 due to air raid damage in the shipyard. Build cost was £436,769 but excluded cost of equipment
supplied by the Admiralty such as armament, wireless and radar . After a
successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign during March 1942 she was adopted by the
civil community of St Pancras in Greater London. On completion this Fleet
Destroyer was transferred on loan to the Royal Australian Navy who manned the
ship.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
ENGLISH
CHANNEL 1942 - ATLANTIC 1942 - SABANG
1944 -
OKINAWA 1945
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge : On a Field Barry wavy of
six White and Blue. a trident and a blacksmith's
hammer
in Saltire Black and a horseshoe interlaced Red.
D e t a i l s o f
W a r S e r v i c e
1 9 4 2
September
14th Completed Contractor's sea trials
and commission for trials.
30th Build completion and commenced
Acceptance Trials
October
Passage to Scapa Flow after completion of trials and storing.
Carried out
work-up in English Channel and SW
Approaches.
Nominated for service with Force Q in Mediterranean.
November
Deployed in English Channel and SW Approaches
December
Detached for escort duty in Atlantic.
20th Escorted HM Aircraft Carrier
VICTORIOUS with HM Destroyers RACEHORSE and
REDOUBT during passage in Atlantic to Pacific for loan service with
US Navy.
1 9 4 3
January
1st Detached from HMS VICTORIOUS with
other Home Fleet escorts and took passage to resume
Home Fleet duties.
Nominated for escort
of military convoy WS26 during passage to join 4th Destroyer Flotilla in
Indian Ocean.
31st Joined military convoy WS26 with HM
Destroyers QUALITY, QUIBERON, RACEHORSE and
REDOUBT as Ocean
Escort during Atlantic passage.
February
6th
Detached from WS26 on arrival at Freetown.
9th Rejoined WS26 on departure with HMS
QUIBERON.
25th Detached from WS26 on arrival at
Durban.
March Deployed at Durban with HMS QUICKMATCH and QUALITY of Flotilla.
4th Reinforced HM Corvette NIGELLA and three
Trawlers in escort of Convoy DN21
with HMS RELENTLESS after
series of attacks by U160
April Deployed for convoy defence in
Indian Ocean based at Durban.
to
May
June Indian Ocean deployment in
continuation.
25th Joined military convoy WS30 on
departure from Cape Town with HMS ROTHERHAM as escort
in Indian Ocean.
30th Detached from WS30 with HMS ROTHERHAM
during passage.
July Transferred to South
Atlantic Command for convoy defence.
August South Atlantic deployment in
continuation.
September Resumed convoy defence in Indian Ocean
based at Durban.
October Indian Ocean convoy defence in
continuation for traffic between East African Ports and Aden.
to (Note : HM Destroyers QUENTIN, NIZAM,
NEPAL, QUIBERON AND QUALITY were also
December
deployed.
1 9 4 4
January
Indian Ocean deployment in continuation.
February Transferred with Flotilla to Eastern Fleet.
Passage to Trincomalee. to join Eastern Fleet
March
Deployed with Eastern Fleet
Joined in Flotilla by HM Destroyers QUADRANT, QUEENBOROUGH and QUILLIAM.
(Note : Ship did not take part in
Operation DIPLOMAT.)
April
Deployed in Indian Ocean for Flotilla duties in Eastern Fleet including
convoy defence.
(Note : Did not take part in Operation COCKPIT)
May
6th
Deployed with HM Destroyers ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE, NAPIER, NEPAL, QUALITY
QUIBERON and Dutch
VAN GALEN in Force 65 as screen for HM Battleships QUEEN
ELIZABETH, VALIANT,
French RICHELIEU, HM Cruisers NEWCASTLE, NIGERIA and
Dutch TROMP to
provide cover for air attacks on
Soerabaya, Java by Force 66.
(Note : US aircraft
carrier USS SARATOGA was part of Force 66. See references.
(Operation
TRANSOM)
15th Refuelled in Exmouth Bay. Western
Australia with Force 65 ships.
17th Deployed with Force 65 screen during
Force 66 air operations.
27th Returned to Trincomalee with RN ships
of Forces 65 and 66
June Deployed for Eastern Fleet
screening duties.
19th Joined HM Battlecruiser RENOWN, French
battleship RICHELIEU, HM Aircraft Carrier
ILLUSTRIOUS, HM
Cruisers NIGERIA, KENYA and CEYLON with HM Destroyers
QUILLIAM, QUALITY,
ROTHERHAM of 4th Destroyer Flotilla and RACEHORSE,
RELENTLESS, ROEBUCK,
RAIDER of 11th Destroyer Flotilla as Force 60.
21st Deployed as screen for major ships of
Force 60 during air attacks at Port Blair, Andaman Islands
(Operation PEDAL).
For details see WAR
WITH JAPAN (HMSO) Volume IV.
July
22nd Joined Force 62 with HM Destroyers RELENTLESS, ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE, RAIDER,
ROEBUCK, ROCKET, RAPID, QUILLIAM, and QUALITY as screen for HMS QUEEN
ELIZABETH, HMS VALIANT, HM Battlecruiser RENOWN, French RICHELIEU, HM
Cruisers
NIGERIA, KENYA, GAMBIA. CEYLON, CUMBERLAND, PHOEBE and Dutch TROMP
as Force 62 to provide cover for air
attacks on Sabang, Sumatra and bombardments of shore
targets
(Operation CRIMSON)
(Note : Air attacks were made by HM Aircraft Carriers INDOMITABLE and
VICTORIOUS.)
25th Detached from Force 62
with Dutch cruiser TROMP and HM Destroyers QUILLIAM and
QUALITY to form Inshore Force to attack harbour installations at Sabang
and shipping in
harbour.
Engaged by shore batteries and sustained some damage with casualties.
(Note : Torpedoes were fired into harbour.)
27th Return passage to
Trincomalee with Force 62
August Eastern Fleet deployment in continuation
to (Note : Ship did not
take part in Operation BANQUET or Operation MILLET
October Ship may have
been under repair,)
November
22nd Transferred to British Pacific Fleet
with Flotilla on formation at Trincomalee.
December
Passage to Australia with Flotilla
10th Arrived at Sydney to prepare for
service in SW Pacific under overall US Navy command.
24th Deployed in anti-submarine search
operations off SYDNEY with US Submarine
Chaser USS
PCS97, HM Australian Corvettes BALLARAT, GOULBURN, KALGOORIE and WHYALLA
after U862 had sunk US Freighter in approaches to Sydney
1 9 4 5
January
Deployed with BPF for exercises prior to operational duty with US 5th
Fleet in SW Pacific.
Nominated for special duty and detached for escort of liner carrying the
Governor General of
Australia designate, HRH The Dike of Gloucester, to take up his
appointment..
Deployed with HM Destroyer QUIBERON and joined HM Cruiser SUFFOLK and HM
Destroyer
ULSTER in escort for
liner during final stage of passage from Trincomalee off Australian coast,
On completion resumed Flotilla duties.
February Deployed with Flotilla with BPF
ships in further preparatory exercises.
28th Took passage with ships of BPF to
Forward British Base at Manus, Admiralty Islands to await
instructions for joining US Navy operations with ships of Task
Force 113.
See WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO), Appendix “S”.
March.
7th Arrived at Manus.
Carried out further
preparatory exercises with Task Force 113 whilst based at Manus..
18th Took passage from Manus to US Forward
Base at Ulithi with Task Force 113
20th Arrived at Ulithi with Task Force 113.
23rd Sailed from Ulithi as Task Force 57 to
join ships of US 5th Fleet in operations off Sakishima
Gunto island
Group (Operation ICEBERG ONE).
(Note : After delay
by US Joint Chiefs of Staff in giving approval for use of RN ships in
operations with USN in Pacific. (See WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO) ,TASK FORCE
57
by P
Smith, THE FORGOTTEN FLEET by J Winton. and CARRIER VICTORY by
J M
Ludley.)
British
Pacific Fleet was designated Task Force 57 on departure from Ulithi.)
31st Deployed as screen for TG57 ships
during renewed attacks.
(For full details of ships involved see TF 57 by P Smith, THE FORGOTTEN
FLEET by John
Winton, CARRIER VICTORY by J M Ludley, Naval Staff History and above
references).
April
1st Under air attacks with BPF ships
during air operations.
(Note : HMS INDEFATIGABLE and HM Destroyer ULSTER were damaged
See above
references.)
11th Detached from operations of Sakishima
Gunto for deployed as screen for Task Force 57 during air
attacks on North Formosa. (Operation ICEBERG OOLONG – See references)
15th Resumed operations with screen for
Task Force 57 off Sakishima-Gunto after refuelling.
19th Passage to Forward US Navy Base at
Leyte for R&R.
May
1st Sailed from Leyte as part of screen
for Task Force 57 ships.
4th Deployed as screen for BPF aircraft
carriers during resumed joint air attack
on the Sakashima
Gunto Group (Operation ICEBERG –TWO - See above references).
(Note : The battleships and cruisers of Task Force 57 had been detached
to carry out a
bombardment of Miyako Shima which had left the Carried Force vulnerable
to
concentrated air attacks including KAMIKAZE. See above references.
9th Under further KAMIKAZE attacks.
25th On release from ICEBERG TWO took
passage to Manus as part of svcreen for ships of Task
Force 57
June
Deployed in Australia for R&R
BPF Transferred to US 3rd Fleet and re-designated Task Force 37.
28th Sailed from Sydney as part of screen
for Task Force 37.
July
4th Arrived at Manus.
6th Sailed for operational area off Japan
to join US 3rd Fleet ships.
13th Met re-fuelling Group for replenishment
before starting operations.
16th On arrival in operational area deployed
with screen during joint air attacks and bombardments
of targets in Japan.
(Note : RN operations were restricted by US Navy insistence on carrying
out a major role.
See
references.
Part of screen for aircraft carriers during air raids on Tokyo-Yokohama
area.
August Deployment with screen for carriers in
continuation.
(Note : Joint air operations with Task Force 38 were carried out on
shipping in North Honshu and
Hokkaido
followed by attacks in Tokyo area.
13th Returned with TF37 ships to Manus
because of lack of fuel from British tankers.
(Note : HMS KING GEORGE V, HMS INDEFATIGABLE, HMS GAMBIA, HMS
NEWFOUNDLAND and HM Destroyers BARFLEUR, NAPIER, NIZAM, WAKEFUL,
TROUBRIDGE, TERMAGANT, TENACIOUS and TEAZER remained in Japanese
waters
and re-designated Task Group 38.5)
. 15th After cessation of hostilities returned
to Sydney with BPG ships.
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMAS
QUICKMATCH continued to serve on loan to the RAN after VJ Day and was deployed
in support of allied occupation
activities in Japan. The ship was permanently transferred to the RAN in June
1950 and was placed in Reserve.
Selected for conversion to a Type 15 Anti-submarine Frigate in 1951 on
completion in 1955 she was then re-commissioned..
Until 1963 she was deployed operationally until 1963 when withdrawn from service
and placed in
Reserve. Placed on the Disposal List later the ship was sold for breaking-up in
1972 and towed to Osaka, Japan for
demolition in July that year.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
QUICKMATCH
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
Date
convoy Joined convoy
Convoy
No. Left convoy Date convoy
sailed as escort arrived
27/11/42 01/12/42 KMF 004 06/12/42 06/12/42
10/01/43 11/01/43 TMF 002 unknown 24/01/43
14/09/43 21/09/43 CM 045 25/09/43 27/09/43
01/10/43 01/10/43 AB 015 08/10/43 08/10/43
12/10/43 12/10/43 BA 050 20/10/43 20/10/43
02/11/43 02/11/43 AB 019 06/11/43 10/11/43
11/11/43 11/11/43 BM 074 16/11/43 16/11/43
17/11/43 17/11/43 CX 011 20/11/43 20/11/43
22/11/43 22/11/43 XC 011 25/11/43 25/11/43
07/01/44 07/01/44 CM 048A 17/01/44 17/01/44
09/02/44 09/02/44 BM 085A 12/02/44 12/02/44
05/02/44 12/02/44 KR 008 14/02/44 14/02/44
21/01/44 21/02/44 AB 028B 27/01/44 27/01/44
24/04/44 24/04/44 US 024/1 28/04/44 28/04/44
04/07/44 04/07/44 AB 042A 10/07/44 10/07/44
21/08/44 21/08/44 BM 100 24/08/44 24/08/44
20/09/44 20/09/44 ABF 004C 22/09/44 22/09/44
05/01/45 05/01/45 US 025 09/01/45 09/01/45
09/01/45 09/01/45 HB 001 14/01/45 23/01/45
(Note on Convoys)
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