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HMS Scimitar (H21)

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HMS Scimitar FL5410.jpg
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History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Scimitar
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number472
Laid down30 May 1917
Launched27 February 1918
Decommissioned1947
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and typeS-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,075 long tons (1,092 t) normal
  • 1,221 long tons (1,241 t) deep load
Length265 ft (80.8 m) p.p.
Beam26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)
Draught9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) mean
Propulsion
Speed36 knots (41.4 mph; 66.7 km/h)
Range2,750 nmi (5,090 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement90
Armament
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Scimitar.

HMS Scimitar was an S-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy and the first ship in the Royal Navy named after the Scimitar, an Arabian backsword or sabre with a curved blade. She served in both World Wars and following a National Savings campaign in 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of Pershore, Worcestershire.

Discover more about HMS Scimitar (H21) related topics

S-class destroyer (1917)

S-class destroyer (1917)

The S class was a class of 67 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1917 under the 11th and 12th Emergency War Programmes. They saw active service in the last months of the First World War and in the Russian and Irish Civil Wars during the early 1920s. Most were relegated to the reserve by the mid-1920s and subsequently scrapped under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. Eleven survivors saw much action during the Second World War.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Scimitar

Scimitar

A scimitar is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, scimitar does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different Eastern curved swords inspired by types introduced to the Middle East by Central Asian ghilmans. These swords include the Persian shamshir, the Arab saif, the Indian talwar, the North African nimcha, and the Turkish kilij. All such swords are originally derived from earlier curved swords developed in Turkic Central Asia (Turkestan).

Backsword

Backsword

A backsword is a type of sword characterised by having a single-edged blade and a hilt with a single-handed grip. It is so called because the triangular cross section gives a flat back edge opposite the cutting edge. Later examples often have a "false edge" on the back near the tip, which was in many cases sharpened to make an actual edge and facilitate thrusting attacks. From around the early 14th century, the backsword became the first type of European sword to be fitted with a knuckle guard.

Sabre

Sabre

A sabre is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as the hussars, the sabre became widespread in Western Europe during the Thirty Years' War. Lighter sabres also became popular with infantry of the early 17th century. In the 19th century, models with less curving blades became common and were also used by heavy cavalry.

National Savings Movement

National Savings Movement

The National Savings Movement was a British mass savings movement that operated between 1916 and 1978 and was used to finance the deficit of government spending over tax revenues. The movement was instrumental during World War II in raising funds to support the war effort. In peacetime the movement provided an easy and safe way for ordinary people to save small sums of money. The movement grew to around 7 million members before ceasing during the 1970s as more modern methods of saving took over. Savings products promoted by the movement typically offered a low level of return but the safety of a government guarantee.

Pershore

Pershore

Pershore is a market town and civil parish in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. At the 2011 census, the population was 7,125. The town is best known for Pershore Abbey. Pershore is situated 6 miles (10 km) west of Evesham and 6 miles (10 km) east of Upton-upon-Severn in the Vale of Evesham.

Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county.

Design and construction

Main article: S-class destroyer

Design

Scimitar was ordered from John Brown & Company of Clydebank in April 1917, the S class was intended as a fast 36-knot (67 km/h; 41 mph) destroyer for service that would be cheaper than the large V-class destroyers.

The class had two funnels, a long forecastle and a tall, open bridge, located behind the break in the main deck. The class was built in two batches, the first 33 ordered on 9 April 1917 and the second batch of 36 in June 1917, with Scimitar from the first batch. She was laid down at Clydebank on 30 May 1917 and launched on 27 Feb 1918.

Discover more about Design and construction related topics

S-class destroyer (1917)

S-class destroyer (1917)

The S class was a class of 67 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1917 under the 11th and 12th Emergency War Programmes. They saw active service in the last months of the First World War and in the Russian and Irish Civil Wars during the early 1920s. Most were relegated to the reserve by the mid-1920s and subsequently scrapped under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. Eleven survivors saw much action during the Second World War.

John Brown & Company

John Brown & Company

John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including RMS Lusitania, RMS Aquitania, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas of the adjacent City of Glasgow immediately to the east. Depending on the definition of the town's boundaries, the suburban areas of Duntocher, Faifley and Hardgate either surround Clydebank to the north, or are its northern outskirts, with the Kilpatrick Hills beyond.

V and W-class destroyer

V and W-class destroyer

The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th of fourteen War Emergency Programmes during the First World War and generally treated as one class. For their time they were among the most powerful and advanced ships of their type in the world, and set the trend for future British designs.

Funnel (ship)

Funnel (ship)

A funnel is the smokestack or chimney on a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust. They are also commonly referred to as stacks.

Forecastle

Forecastle

The forecastle is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase "before the mast" which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors, as opposed to a ship's officers.

Bridge (nautical)

Bridge (nautical)

The bridge, also known as the pilothouse or wheelhouse, is a room or platform of a ship from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is under way, the bridge is manned by an officer of the watch aided usually by an able seaman acting as a lookout. During critical maneuvers the captain will be on the bridge, often supported by an officer of the watch, an able seaman on the wheel and sometimes a pilot, if required.

Deck (ship)

Deck (ship)

A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary or upper deck is the horizontal structure that forms the "roof" of the hull, strengthening it and serving as the primary working surface. Vessels often have more than one level both within the hull and in the superstructure above the primary deck, similar to the floors of a multi-storey building, that are also referred to as decks, as are certain compartments and decks built over specific areas of the superstructure. Decks for some purposes have specific names.

Keel laying

Keel laying

Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.

World War I

HMS Scimitar bearing pennant G41
HMS Scimitar bearing pennant G41

Given the pennant number G41, Scimitar was completed on 13 April 1918.[1] She served briefly with the Grand Fleet.

Although she was active before the armistice, she took no part in the War and was reduced to the Reserve Fleet at Devonport in August 1920, then paid off to the Maintenance Reserve in Rosyth in October 1927. She recommissioned at Rosyth on 2 June 1931[2] before being reduced to reserve again at The Nore in September 1936.[3]

In 1938 she was deployed with the Portsmouth Local Flotilla and used for training.

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Pennant number

Pennant number

In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number. Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a flotilla or type of vessel. For example, the Royal Navy used a red burgee for torpedo boats and a pennant with an H for torpedo boat destroyers. Adding a number to the type-identifying flag uniquely identified each ship.

Grand Fleet

Grand Fleet

The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.

Armistice

Armistice

An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning "arms" and -stitium, meaning "a stopping".

HMNB Devonport

HMNB Devonport

His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy. The largest naval base in Western Europe, HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth, England.

Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was formerly the Royal Naval Dockyard Rosyth. Its primary role now is the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear submarines. It is also the integration site for the Royal Navy's newest aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth class as well as the Type 31 Frigate.

World War II

1939

Scimitar was assigned to convoy defence in the English Channel, then escorted a convoy from Southampton to Brest with the destroyer HMS Vansittart. From late October to early December she was withdrawn from operational duties and modified for minesweeping.[4]

1940

In May she assisted in the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk where she collided with the destroyer Icarus sustaining damage to her propellers after grounding. In June, while under repair in Portland, she suffered minor damage during an air raid. In July she embarked troops of No. 3 Commando at Dartmouth for an abortive raid on Guernsey. She transferred to the Western Approaches for Atlantic Convoy HX 72 and in September helped drive off an attack by the German submarine U-32.[4]

1941

In March Scimitar was part of the escort for Convoy HX112 with the destroyers Walker, Vanoc, Volunteer, and six Flower-class corvettes, including Bluebell. In June U-100 was spotted on the surface by radar and sunk by the escorts. In June Scimitar was with the 8th Escort Group as part of Convoy HX 133 and helped sink U-651. In August she escorted Convoy HX 143 with the destroyers Malcolm, Watchman and six Flower-class corvettes. During October and November Scimitar deployed for escort of Convoys ON 30 and HX 160 for outward passage to the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point (MOMP).[4]

1942

In January Scimitar was transferred to the 1st Escort Group for her continuation of Atlantic escort duties, based at Londonderry with the destroyer Sabre and the corvette Alisma. The group escorted 13 convoys, many without loss and conducted anti-submarine exercises around Lough Foyle.[4]

1943

Pershore presents a plaque to HMS Scimitar on her 25th birthday at Liverpool on 5 May 1943
Pershore presents a plaque to HMS Scimitar on her 25th birthday at Liverpool on 5 May 1943

Transferred to 21st Escort Group in January with the destroyers Saladin, Skate and Sabre for escort of UK-Iceland convoys, till July when she sustained damage in heavy weather conditions and was withdrawn from for repair until September. She then deployed with the destroyers Lancaster, Sardonyx and Meteor as escort for the minelayers Agamemnon, Menestheus and Port Quebec during Northern Barrage Minelaying (Operation SN222B). In October Scimitar was withdrawn for Atlantic escort duties due to her age and that new ships were available for ocean escort duties. She transferred to Plymouth for Channel escort.[4]

1944

On 20 February she deployed with the destroyer Warwick in search for a submarine reported in the Southwest Approaches. During the search, Warwick was hit by a T5 homing torpedo from U-413 while she was off Trevose Head, Cornwall and quickly sank after her depth charges, which were primed in anticipation of an attack, exploded. Scimitar rescued 93 survivors.[5][6]

In April, Scimitar was deployed in support of exercises in preparation for the Allied landings in Normandy. On 26 April, while escorting a convoy of US landing ships to Slapton Sands, (Exercise Tiger), she was involved in a collision with a Landing Ship, Tank and sustained structural damage. Scimitar retired from the exercise and sailed to Plymouth for repairs. In October she was withdrawn from operational service and assigned a training role based at Plymouth.[4]

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English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel, also known as simply the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world.

Escort Group

Escort Group

An Escort Group consisted of several small warships organized and trained to operate together protecting trade convoys. Escort groups were a World War II tactical innovation in anti-submarine warfare by the Royal Navy to combat the threat of the Kriegsmarine's "wolfpack" tactics. Early escort groups often contained destroyers, sloops, naval trawlers and, later, corvettes of differing specifications lacking the ability to maneuver together as a flotilla of similar warships, but rigorously trained in anti-submarine tactics to use teamwork emphasizing the unique sensors, weapons, speed, and turning radius of each ship. The development of these 'escort groups' proved an effective means of defending shipping convoys through the Battle of the Atlantic.

Brest, France

Brest, France

Brest is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon. The city is located on the western edge of continental France. With 142,722 inhabitants in a 2007 census, Brest forms Western Brittany's largest metropolitan area, ranking third behind only Nantes and Rennes in the whole of historic Brittany, and the 19th most populous city in France; moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is the much smaller Quimper.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

HMS Vansittart (D64)

HMS Vansittart (D64)

HMS Vansittart was an Admiralty modified W-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was ordered in January 1918 from William Beardmore & Company with the 13th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Program of 1918–19. She was the second Royal Navy ship to carry the name which was first used in 1821 for a hired packet.

Allies of World War II

Allies of World War II

The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Its principal members by the end of 1941 were the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China.

Dunkirk evacuation

Dunkirk evacuation

The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. In his "We shall fight on the beaches" speech on 4 June, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance".

HMS Icarus (D03)

HMS Icarus (D03)

HMS Icarus was one of nine I-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and South Hams district, and had a population of 5,512 in 2001, reducing to 5,064 at the 2011 census. There are two electoral wards in the Dartmouth area. Their combined population at the above census was 6,822.

Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.

Convoy HX 72

Convoy HX 72

HX 72 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. The convoy comprised 43 ships of which 11 were sunk and another damaged by German U-boats who suffered no losses.

German submarine U-32 (1937)

German submarine U-32 (1937)

German submarine U-32 was a Type VIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Convoys escorted

DB 005, SA 015, SA 017, HX 053, CW 007, OB 208, SC 002, OL 003, HX 072, OA 219, HX 074, OB 223, HX 076, OB 232, SC 008, HX 088, OB 252, SC 013, OB 259, HX 094, OB 266, SL 059, HX 098/1, SC 019, SL 062,OG 053, OB 295, HX 112, OB 301, HG 056, OB 311,OB 312, SC 028, SC 029, HX 124, OB 322, HX 126, HX 128, OB 338, HX 133, SC 036, ON 001, HX 140, ON 006, HX 143, ON 037, HX 160, HX 166, SL 097G, ON 060, HX 172, SC 070 DS 024, SD 024, TA 012, SL 103, UR 019, RU 019, DS 026, SD 026, UR 025, RU 025, UR 028, RU 028, UR 030, UR 031, RU 030, RU 031, UR 046, KMF 003, SC 109, SC 112, ON 049, DS 036, SD 036, PW 292, DS 041, SD 041, DS 043, SD 043, DS 045, SD 045, DS 046, SD 046, DS 047, SD 047, HX 274, WP SP 20, WP 493, WP 504, WP 505, WP 508, WP 509, WP 512[4]

Source: "HMS Scimitar (H21)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 3rd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Scimitar_(H21).

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Further Reading

Timeline of the Battle of the Atlantic

USS Hunt (DD-194)

HMS Malcolm (D19)

Newfoundland Escort Force

HMS Gentian (K90)

Banff-class sloop

Mid-Ocean Escort Force

HMS Leith (U36)

Escort Group

HMS Sabre (H18)

HMS Witherington (D76)

HMS Vanessa (D29)

HMS Vanquisher

HMS Viscount (D92)

HMS Volunteer (D71)

HMS Sardonyx (1919)
References

Citations

  1. ^ Friedman. British Destroyers. p. 311.
  2. ^ The Navy List. (July 1931). p. 268.
  3. ^ The Navy List. (July 1937). p. 273
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Mason, Geoffrey B. "HMS Scimitar (H 21) - Old S-class Destroyer". Naval history.net. Retrieved 9 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Allen (2006)
  6. ^ Roskill 1960, p. 293.

Bibliography

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy: A Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the 15th Century to the Present. London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-93514-907-1.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First World War. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
  • Johnston, Ian (2014). A Shipyard at War: Unseen Photographs of John Brown & Co. Ltd, Clydebank, 1914–18. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-189-1.
  • March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
  • Manning, Thomas Davys; Walker, Charles Frederick (1959). British Warship Names. London: Putnam.
  • Parkes, Oscar; Prendegast, Maurice (1919). Jane's Fighting Ships. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
  • "Destroyer Flotillas of the Grand Fleet". The Navy List. October 1918. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  • "The Royal Navy". The Navy List. January 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
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