HMSAntelope underway in coastal waters
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSAntelope
Operator	Royal Navy
Ordered	6 March 1928
Builder	Hawthorne Leslie
Laid down	11 July 1928
Launched	27 July 1929
Commissioned	20 March 1930
Identification	Pennant number: H36
Fate	Scrapped, 1946
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type	A-classdestroyer
Displacement	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) (standard) 1,773 long tons (1,801 t) (deep load)
Length	323 ft (98 m) (o/a)
Beam	32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Draught	12 ft 3 in (3.73 m)
Installed power	34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 3 ×Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × gearedsteam turbines
Speed	35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	134; 140 (1940)
Armament	4 × single4.7 in (120 mm) guns 2 × single2-pdr (40 mm)AA guns 2 × quadruple21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes 6 ×depth charges, 3 chutes

HMSAntelope was a BritishA-classdestroyer, which was completed for theRoyal Navy in 1930.Antelope served throughout theSecond World War, taking part in the sinking of three enemy submarines and inOperation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa.

Antelope was ordered on 6 March 1928,^[1] and was laid down atHawthorn Leslie onTyneside on 11 July 1928. The ship was launched on 27 July 1929 and commissioned on 20 March 1930.^[2]

She had a main gun armament of four 4.7 in (120 mm) guns on low angle (30 degree) mounts that were only suitable for anti-ship use, and an anti-aircraft armament of two2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-poms". Eight 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted on two quadruple mounts, withMark V torpedoes carried. The initial anti-submarine equipment was limited, with nosonar carried and only six depth charges.^{[3][4][nb 1]}

In 1941, one of the 4.7 in guns and the aft bank of torpedo tubes was removed, with a 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun replacing the torpedo tubes and an enhanced anti-submarine armament, which included 70 depth charges and the ability to drop patterns of 10 charges. Radar was also fitted, and the destroyer's close-in anti-aircraft outfit was supplemented by the addition ofOerlikon 20 mm cannons, of which two were fitted in 1941 followed by four more later on. The 3 inch gun was removed by 1943, whenhigh-frequency direction finding gear was fitted. A second 4.7 in gun was replaced in 1944 by twoQF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns.^[3]

Following completion in 1930,Antelope, along with the rest of the A class and thedestroyer leaderCodrington joined the3rd Destroyer Flotilla in theMediterranean Sea.^[3]Antelope took part in patrols off the Spanish coast during theSpanish Civil War, but was damaged in a collision with the destroyersActive andWorcester. After repairAntelope returned to the United Kingdom, where she was based atPortsmouth.^[6]

On the outbreak of the Second World War, the destroyer was assigned to the18th Destroyer Flotilla, Channel Force, based at Portsmouth.^[6][7] For the rest of 1939 and the early months of 1940,Antelope carried out patrol and convoy escort duties in theEnglish Channel andWestern Approaches. On 5 February 1940,Antelope was the sole escort of the outward bound convoyOA 84 south of Ireland when the German submarineU-41 attacked the convoy, sinking the freighterBeaverburn and damaging the tankerCeronia.Antelope retaliated, depth-charging and sinking theU-boat.^[5][7] It was the only U-boat at sea at the time in the area and was the first to be sunk underwater by a singledestroyer.

In April 1940,Antelope was attached to theHome Fleet for operations as part of theNorwegian Campaign, and when theFrench cruiser Emile Bertin, flagship of the French forces off Norway,^[8] was damaged by German bombers offNamsos,Antelope escorted the French cruiser toScapa Flow.^[7][9]Antelope then returned to operations off Norway, but on 13 June 1940,Antelope collided with the destroyerElectra offTrondheim,Norway, and had to return to theTyne for repair which continued until August that year, when she joined the16th Destroyer Flotilla based atHarwich.^[6][7]

In August 1940,Antelope sailed in convoy to take part inOperation Menace, the attack onDakar, but after the cruiserFiji was torpedoed on 1 September 1940, she escorted her back to theClyde,Scotland.Antelope then joined the12th Destroyer Flotilla based atGreenock,Scotland.^[7]

On 31 October 1940,Antelope was part of the escort convoy OB 237 when it encounteredU-31 off northwesternIreland. Depth charges fromAntelope andAchates droveU-31 to the surface, where her crew abandoned ship.Antelope attempted to boardU-31, but collided with the unmanned submarine, damaging the destroyer and sinkingU-31.Antelope rescued 44 of theU-31's crew, one of whom died on board, and returned them to the Clyde.^[7][10]Lt. Cdr. White was awarded his first bar to his D.S.O. following this sinking.^[11]

Antelope joined the3rd Destroyer Flotilla, with the job of escorting the capital ships of the Home Fleet. In May 1941,Antelope formed part of the destroyer escort for thebattlecruiserHood andbattleshipPrince of Wales in the chase for theGerman battleship Bismarck. Separated from the battleships during thebattle of the Denmark Strait,Antelope searched for survivors from the sinking ofHood, and later was escort to theaircraft carrierVictorious.^[3][7]

In August 1941,Antelope took part inOperation Gauntlet, an operation that succeeded in destroying the coaling facilities onSpitsbergen, thus denying the coal to Germans. In October,Antelope formed part of the escort for the ArcticConvoy PQ 1 to the Soviet Union.^[7]

Antelope sailed toGibraltar in April 1942, escorting the US aircraft carrierUSS Wasp duringOperation Calendar, an attempt to deliver badly neededSpitfire fighter aircraft toMalta. She acted as an escort during the follow-upOperation Bowery, when carriersEagle and USSWasp delivered 61 Spitfires and Operation LB whenEagle delivered a further 17 during May, and Operations Style and Salient in June 1942, whenEagle delivered 55 more Spitfires.^[7][12]

On 11 June, only a day after returning to Gibraltar following Operation Salient,Antelope formed part of the escort forOperation Harpoon, a heavily escorted attempt to resupply Malta. After the cruiserLiverpool was damaged by Italian torpedo bombers,Antelope was dispatched from the convoy to towLiverpool back to Gibraltar, with the destroyerWestcott as escort.^[7][13] In July,Antelope took part in two further Spitfire resupply runs withEagle, Operations Pinpoint and Insect. In August 1942Antelope formed part of the main escort force forOperation Pedestal, another Malta convoy.^[7]

After a period stationed off West Africa,Antelope escorted troop convoys taking part inOperation Torch, the Allied invasion of French West Africa.^[7][14] On 30 January 1943,Antelope, together with the CanadiancorvetteHMCS Port Arthur, sank theItalian submarine Tritone.^[7] On 13 March 1943, she was escorting theocean linerEmpress of Canada, when the liner was sunk by the Italian submarineLeonardo da Vinci.^[15] In July 1943,Antelope took part inOperation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.^[7]

In August 1944,Antelope returned to the United Kingdom. By this time she was in poor physical condition, and was paid off into reserve on the Tyne in October to free her crew to help ease a manpower shortage in the Royal Navy.^[7][14] In 1946, she was sold and broken up byHughes Bolckow shipbreakers.^[7][14]

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• Blair, Clay (2000).Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. London: Cassell & Co.ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
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• English, John (1993).Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society.ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
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• 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.
• Piggott, Peter (2010).Sailing Seven Seas: A History of the Canadian Pacific Line. Toronto: Dundurn.ISBN 978-1-55488-765-1.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books.ISBN 978-1-85367-117-3.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988).Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

• A- and B-class destroyers
• 1929 ships
• World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom
• Ships built by Hawthorn Leslie

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