 Aldenham in March 1942 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSAldenham |
| Ordered | 4 July 1940 |
| Builder | Cammell Laird,Birkenhead |
| Yard number | J 3766 |
| Laid down | 22 August 1940 |
| Launched | 27 August 1941 |
| Completed | 5 February 1942 |
| Identification | Pennant number: L22 |
| Fate | Sunk in theAdriatic Sea, 14 December 1944, at44°30′N14°50′E / 44.500°N 14.833°E /44.500; 14.833 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Type IIIHunt-classdestroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 85.3 m (279 ft 10 in)o/a |
| Beam | 10.16 m (33 ft 4 in) |
| Draught | 3.51 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h) |
| Complement | 168 |
| Armament |
|
HMSAldenham (pennant number L22) was anescort destroyer of the Type IIIHunt class. TheRoyal Navy ordered its construction in July 1940. Upon completion in February 1942, she was deployed to convoy escort duty.Aldenham is one of the ships credited with the sinking of theU-587 on 27 March 1942. After circumnavigating Africa, she joined theMediterranean Fleet, escorting convoys betweenAlexandria, Malta andTobruk. She took part in theAllied invasion of Sicily, landings atSalerno andAnzio, theDodecanese campaign andOperation Dragoon before being assigned to theAdriatic campaign.
On 14 December 1944,Aldenham was sunk by anaval mine in theAdriatic Sea offPag Island after she led a Royal Navy force in abombardment mission against targets on the island of Pag and near the town ofKarlobag in support of theYugoslav Partisans. Although the rest of the force came to pick up survivors, cold weather and severe damage toAldenham permitted the rescue of only 63 of her crew. Herwreck, broken in two by the explosion, was first discovered by specialists ofYugoslav Navy in 1974, and documentary about search and discovery was made byTV Beograd.[1] The wreck has been declared awar grave, where 126 crew members and three partisans aboardAldenham at the time of the mining died. She was the last Royal Navy destroyer lost inWorld War II.
Aldenham was aRoyal Navy Type III Hunt-class destroyer. She had anoverall length of 85.34 metres (280 feet 0 inches), abeam of 9.45 metres (31 feet 0 inches) and a maximumdraught of three metres (9 feet 10 inches).Aldenham had a standarddisplacement of 1,050long tons (1,070tonnes), and afull load of 1,435 long tons (1,458 tonnes). Her twoParsons gearedsteam turbines drove twopropeller shaft. Steam was supplied by two Admiralty three-drumwater-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at 13,970kilowatts (18,730 shp) and gaveAldenham a speed of 28.3knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph) duringsea trials, but she achieved up to 27 knots (50 kilometres per hour; 31 miles per hour) on deployments.[2]
Aldenham was armed with fourquick-firing four-inch (102 mm)Mk XVI naval guns on twin mounts, fouranti-aircraft 40-millimetre (1.6 in)QF 2-pounder naval guns and threeOerlikon 20 mm cannons. She also had two 21-inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes, and 70–100depth charges deployed by four throwers and two chutes.[2]
The ship was ordered on 4 July 1940.[3] She waslaid down byCammell Laird shipyard inBirkenhead on 22 August 1940 as construction project J 3766.Aldenham waslaunched on 27 August 1941 and completed on 5 February 1942.[2]
Aldenham (LieutenantAlex Stuart-Menteth) and its crew of 170 completed brief training atScapa Flow before deploying for the first time on 21 March 1942, as a part of anEscort Group assigned to theconvoy WS 17 sailing to theCape of Good Hope.[4][2] On 27 March,Aldenham, together with theLeamington,Grove andVolunteer, sankU-587 in theNorth Atlantic, due west ofUshant,France.[5]
Circumnavigating Africa and transiting theSuez Canal accompanied byGrove,Aldenham joined the5th Destroyer Flotilla in theBattle of the Mediterranean.[6] She escorted 14 convoys there,[7] protecting shipping betweenAlexandria,Malta andTobruk.[8] On 29 August 1942, she was assigned coastal bombardment duties,[9] including the area ofEl Daba.[10] Sources disagree which ships took part in the bombardment of El Daba itself. According to Jürgen Rohwer,Aldenham andEridge were the only ships involved,[11] while Paul Kemp placesEridge at the scene supported by fellow destroyersCroome andHursley.[12]Aldenham towedEridge back to Alexandria after the latter ship was disabled by an ItalianMTSM motor torpedo boat during the bombardment.[9]
Aldenham was a part of anAlliedblockade offCap Bon in May 1943 and escortedlanding craft during theAllied invasion of Sicily in July and theSalerno landings in September that year.[8][6] She assistedEskimo removing wounded whenEskimo was attacked and hit by theLuftwaffe on 15 July.[13]Aldenham also took part in failedDodecanese Campaign of 1944, when she sustained minor damage in an aircraft attack. After repairs in Alexandria,Aldenham saw action inOperation Shingle offAnzio,Italy, and escorted convoys betweenOran,Algeria andNaples. She was based inTaranto in May, and transferred toBari in June, before supportingOperation Dragoon, protecting landing craft off southern France. Afterwards, she sailed again to theAdriatic Sea, joining a Royal Navy flotilla fighting theAdriatic Campaign.[6]
The Royal Navy Adriatic flotilla consisted ofAldenham,Atherstone,Avon Vale,Lamerton,Lauderdale,Wheatland,Wilton,Brocklesby andQuantock. In late November 1944, the flotilla, led byAldenham underCommander James Gerald Farrant, intercepted and captured Germanhospital shipBonn (ex-YugoslavsteamshipŠumadija). She andAtherstonebombarded German units deployed to the island ofRab on 9 December. The bombardment was in support ofYugoslav Partisans advance north along the eastern coast of the Adriatic, capturing the coast and islands from retreating German forces.[14]
What becameAldenham's final deployment began on 14 December 1944, when she andAtherstone sortied from a Royal Navy base atIst Island and anchored off the western coast ofPag Island, north ofZadar, to bombard an artillery battery nearKarlobag and other military targets on Pag. Because of poor visibility, theartillery observers on Pag directed destroyers to strike the Pag Island objectives first. Each destroyer fired 500 four-inch (102 mm) shells against bunkers and barracks on the island between 09:00 and 11:20. The town ofPag itself was targeted by the destroyers for an hour at 14:00, whileAldenham alone engaged the battery at Karlobag at approximately 13:00 and again before 15:00 as visibility improved, firing 200 shells against that target. At 15:00, the destroyers started their return to Ist withAldenham in the lead andAtherstone following her at 20 knots (37 kilometres per hour; 23 miles per hour).[14]
AsAldenham was making a turn at a position north of the islet ofŠkrda, to sail between islands ofPlanik andOlib, she hit amine that exploded under herengine room. The ship broke in two and her bow sank quickly, followed by her stern a little later, at 15:29. Cold weather hampered rescue efforts byAtherstone and accompanyingMotor LaunchesML 238 andHDML 1162, and only 58 seamen and five officers, including Farrant, were pulled out of the sea. 126 crewmen died, as well as a wounded partisan transported from Pag for medical treatment and a partisanliaison officer,Colonel Ivan Preradović.[14]Aldenham was the last Royal Navy destroyer lost in World War II.[2]
Herwreck, broken in two by the explosion, was first discovered by specialists ofYugoslav Navy in 1974, and documentary about search and discovery was made byTV Beograd.[15]
A portion of the surviving crew revisited the site on 14 December 1984, but theshipwreck was not located until 15 years later. In 1999, Italianwreck divers located a 30-metre (98 ft) long bow section one nautical mile (1.9 kilometres) off Škrda. It lies on the port side, at a depth of 86 metres (282 feet), but it is normally obscured by silt stirred up bytrawling further north in theKvarner Gulf. The aft section of the ship was discovered in 2000 through testimony of a fisherman from Pag. It was found closer to Škrda, approximately 700 metres (2,300 feet) away from the bow section.Aldenham's boilers and propellers were still operating as the ship sank, and the section struck the silty seafloor at a depth of 82 metres (269 feet), with her keel on top. Her rudder is now at a depth of 67 metres (220 feet). The wreck was declared a Britishwar grave,[16] and forms a part of "the Ghost Fleet of Pag" together with wrecks ofKriegsmarine destroyerTA20 (ex-ItalianAudace), corvettesUJ 202 andUJ 208 (ex-ItalianMelpómene andSpingarda) sunk in theaction of 1 November 1944, andWorld War I wrecks ofAustro-Hungarian steamships SSAlbanien and SSEuterpe.[17]
Annual memorial services are held by the HMS Aldenham Association inAldenham Church of St John The Baptist each December. The church contains a stained glass window dedicated toAldenham, and a Book of Remembrance is displayed in front of thestained glass window, along with aWhite Ensign.[18] The stained glass window memorial was unveiled on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of sinking ofAldenham.[7]
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in December 1944 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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