Active in 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSActive
Builder	Hawthorn Leslie & Company,Hebburn[1]
Yard number	557
Laid down	10 July 1928
Launched	9 July 1929
Completed	9 Jan 1930
Commissioned	9 Feb 1930
Decommissioned	20 May 1947
Identification	Pennant number: H14
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1947
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

HMSActive, the tenthActive, launched in 1929, was anA-classdestroyer. She served in theSecond World War, taking part in the sinking of four submarines. She was broken up in 1947.

Active was ordered on 6 March 1928 as a part of the first class of destroyers for the Royal Navy to be built after theFirst World War.^[2] The ship was laid down on 10 July 1928 atHawthorn Leslie in Hebburn,Newcastle upon Tyne, was launched on 9 July 1929 and commissioned on 9 February 1930 with the pennant number H14, being the first of the A class to be completed.^[3][4]

Like the rest of the A class,Active 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 carried on two quadruple mounts, withMark V torpedoes.^[4][5] NoAsdic (sonar) set was initially fitted, although provision was made to fit one later, while anti-submarine armament consisted of three depth charge chutes with six depth charges carried. High speed minesweeping equipment was also fitted.^[6]

The ship was powered by two Parsons gearedsteam turbines fed by three Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The machinery generated 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW), driving the ship to a design speed of 35.25 knots (65.28 km/h; 40.56 mph),^[3] although 36.73 knots (68.02 km/h; 42.27 mph) were reached during trials in December 1929.^[4]

Following commissioning,Active joined theThird Destroyer Flotilla as part of theMediterranean Fleet, remaining in the Mediterranean other than for refits until 1939. On 4 April 1932,Active was involved in a collision with fellow A-class destroyerHMS Achates offSaint-Tropez, although damage was limited.Active patrolled off the coast ofPalestine in response to theArab revolt in June 1936. Following the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, the ship patrolled off Spain from September 1936 to January 1937.^[7]

On 16 February 1937,Active collided with the destroyerHMS Worcester following failure ofActive's steering gear at high speed. This time damage was more severe andActive was under repair atMalta until June that year, when the ship joined theSecond Destroyer Flotilla.Active served with the Second Flotilla until October 1938, when she went into reserve at Malta.^[7]Active recommissioned as a tender toCormorant, the receiving ship atGibraltar on 22 April 1939.^[7]

At the beginning of the Second World War she joined the13th Destroyer Flotilla based in Gibraltar and in June 1940 joinedForce H. As such she took part inOperation Catapult against the French fleet inMers El Kébir.^[7] On 31 JulyActive set out from Gibraltar as part of Force H forOperation Hurry in which aircraft from the aircraft carrierArk Royal attackedCagliari in Italy as a diversion while the carrierArgus ferried 12Hurricane fighters to Malta.^[8] In August 1940, she returned to British waters, joining the12th Destroyer Flotilla for operations in theWestern Approaches and with theHome Fleet. From November 1940 to March 1941Active was refitted atLiverpool.^[7]

After completing this refit,Active joined the3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet,^[7] and in May 1941 the ship participated in the hunt for the German battleshipBismarck.^[7][9] From 16 to 29 August 1941,Active took part inOperation Dervish, forming part of the escort for the firstArctic convoy of the war.^[10] From 28 September 1941, she formed part of the escort ofConvoy QP 1, the first return Arctic convoy. When theNaval trawlerOphelia suffered machinery problems on 5 October,Active took the trawler in tow, reachingAkureyri,Iceland on 10 October.^[11] In November–December 1941,Active was refitted.^[7]

After the refit,Active joined the 38th Destroyer Flotilla as part of Force H.^[7] On 27–28 February 1942,Active formed part of the escort for the aircraft carriersArgus andEagle in an attempt to fly offSpitfire fighters to besieged Malta. The operation was abandoned when it was found that the long-range tanks fitted to the aircraft were faulty. The operation was repeated on 6–8 March 1942, again withActive as part of the escort, and this time 15 Spitfires reached Malta.^[12] On 20 March, H-Force, includingActive, set out from Gibraltar on another fighterClub Run for Malta. When the time came on 23 March to launch the fighters, only nine of the sixteen Spitfires were launched owing to the non-arrival of guide aircraft from Malta. This resulted in the operation being repeated from 27 to 30 March using the same ships, with the remaining 7 Spitfires flown off.^[13][14] In April 1942 she was detached to take part in theMadagascar landings.^[7]Active escorted one of the two convoys carrying forces for the landings nearDiego-Suarez (Operation Ironclad) before joining the covering force for the landings on 5 May.^[15][16] On 8 May she and the destroyerPanther sank theVichy French submarineMonge, which had attempted to attempted to torpedo the aircraft carrierIndomitable.^[16] In September 1942,Active took part in the landings atTamatave in the east of Madagascar (Operation Jane) carryingCommandos who were landed on 18 September, then going to the assistance of the transportOcean Viking which ran aground in Tamative harbour later that day and together with the minesweeperCromer, helped to refloat the stranded ship.^[17]

Active was then transferred to South African waters.^[7] On 8 October 1942,Active, along with the destroyersArrow,Foxhound andNizam and the corvetteRockrose sortied against an attack on shipping by German submarines ofWolfpack Eisbär. On the evening of 8 October,Active was rescuing survivors from the freighterCity of Athens, which had been sunk by the German submarineU-179 earlier that day, when her radar operator spotted a contact.Active headed for the suspicious contact at full speed, and spotted a surfaced submarine (which wasU-179), and attacked with gunfire. When the submarine submerged,Active dropped ten depth charges.U-179 was briefly blown to the surface before sinking.^[18]

After a refit in the United Kingdom that was completed in April 1943,Active rejoined the 13th Destroyer Flotilla based at Gibraltar.^[7] While on passage to Gibraltar as part of the escort for Convoys WS.30/KMF.15, on 23 May 1943,Active and the frigateNess sank the Italian submarineLeonardo da Vinci, which was returning from a patrol off South Africa, nearCape Finisterre.^[7][19][20] On the night of 1/2 November 1943,U-340 was attempting to pass through theStraits of Gibraltar when the submarine was attacked by twoLeigh light-equippedWellington aircraft of179 Squadron RAF and damaged. Later on 2 November, the submarine was detected with Asdic by a British surface patrol and subject to a massed depth charge attack byActive, the destroyerWitherington and the sloopFleetwood, further damaging the submarine. The submarine was scuttled later that day east ofCeuta. The survivors were rescued by a Spanish trawler, but then captured byFleetwood.^[21][22][23] On 9 January 1944,Active rescued the pilot and only survivor of a 179 Squadron Wellington that had been shot down the previous night by the German submarineU-343 south-west ofCartagena, Spain.^[24]

In October 1944,Active returned to British waters, serving with the1st Destroyer Flotilla based atPortsmouth before being refitted in November–December that year.Active then returned to the Mediterranean, rejoining the Third Destroyer Flotilla, based atAlexandria, Egypt.Active was deployed in operations against German forces in theAegean Sea and on 28 February 1945 captured a landing craft.^[7] On 2 March,Active took part in the capture of the island of Piskopi, north west ofRhodes.^[7][25] In May 1947Active was decommissioned and sold for scrap.

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• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.OCLC 67375475.
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• Ruegg, Bob; Hague, Arnold (1993).Convoys to Russia: Allied Convoys and Naval Surface Operations in Arctic Waters 1941–1945 (Revised and augmented ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society.ISBN 0-905617-66-5.
• Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1991).Malta: The Spitfire Year 1942. London: Grub Street.ISBN 0-948817-16-X.
• Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell; Olynyk, Frank; Bock, Winfried; Thormas, Andy (2018).A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: Sicily and Italy to the Fall of Rome: 14 May, 1943 –5 June, 1944. Vol. IV. London: Grub Street.ISBN 978-1-911621-10-2.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988).Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopaedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
• Winser, John de S. (2002).British Invasion Fleets: The Mediterranean and beyond 1942–1945. Gravesend: World Ship Society.ISBN 0-9543310-0-1.

• HMS Active at naval-history

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