HMSKelly
History
United Kingdom
Namesake	Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Kelly
Ordered	24 March 1937
Builder	R&W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd,Hebburn[1]
Yard number	615
Laid down	26 August 1937
Launched	25 October 1938
Commissioned	23 August 1939
Homeport	HMNB Portsmouth
Motto	Keep on instead of Hold on
Fate	Sunk by Luftwaffe bombardment 23 May 1941, position34°40′N24°10′E / 34.667°N 24.167°E /34.667; 24.167
General characteristics
Class & type	K-classdestroyer
Displacement	1,760 tons; 2,400 tons full load
Length	339½ ftp/p; 356½ fto/a
Beam	35¾ ft
Draught	9 ft (2.7 m) ; 12 ft (3.7 m) deep
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drumwater-tube boilers (300 psi, 620 °F),Parsons gearedsteam turbines on 2 shafts, 40,000 shp
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h) light; 32 knots (59 km/h) deep
Range	484 tons bunkerage, 5,500 nmi (10,200 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h), 1,050 nmi (1,940 km) at 32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement	218
Armament	6 ×QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk.XII guns 3 × twin mount CP Mk.XIX 4 ×QF 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" Mk.VIII quad mount Mk.VII 8 ×.50-inch (12.7 mm) anti-aircraft machine guns 10 ×21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes Mk.IX

HMSKelly (pennant number F01) was aK-classdestroyer of theBritishRoyal Navy, andflotilla leader of her class. She served through the early years of theSecond World War; in Home Waters, offNorway and in theMediterranean. Throughout her service,Kelly was commanded byLord Louis Mountbatten, as commander (Captain (D)) of the5th Destroyer Flotilla. She was lost in action in 1941 during theBattle of Crete.

Kelly was built byHawthorn Leslie and Company atHebburn on theRiver Tyne. She was laid down on 26 August 1937,launched on 25 October 1938 andcommissioned on 23 August 1939, just 11 days before commencement of hostilities. She was named afterAdmiral of the FleetSir John Kelly.^[2]

On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, theDuke andDuchess of Windsor were brought from France, where they were living, back to Britain on board HMSKelly.

On the afternoon of 14 December 1939, thetankerAtheltemplar struck amine laid by German destroyers off theTyne Estuary.Kelly and theTribal-class destroyerHMS Mohawk were dispatched as escorts for therescue tugsGreat Emperor,Joffre andLangton. During the operation,Kelly also struck a mine and sustained damage to herhull. WhileMohawk put a party aboardAtheltemplar, andJoffre andLangton took the tanker under tow,Kelly herself was taken in tow byGreat Emperor and returned to the Tyne. Reaching the Tyne just before midnight,Kelly was assisted upriver by the tugsRobert Redhead andWashington. She was towed to Hawthorn Leslie's yard for repairs, which took just a little over three months.^[3]

This was the second ofKelly's misfortunes, having just returned to active service after a month in dry dock following storm damage. Repairs were completed on 28 February 1940, andKelly returned to the fray. Astonishingly, she was involved in a collision withHMS Gurkha just two days later on 2 March, necessitating a further 8 weeks in dry dock, this time on theThames. She was released on 27 April, in time to assist with the evacuation of allied forces fromNamsos.

On the night 9 May/10 May 1940, during theBattle of Norway,Kelly was torpedoed amidships by the GermanE-boatS 31, under command ofOberleutnant zur SeeHermann Opdenhoff (for which action Oblt.z.S. Opdenhoff was awarded theKnight's Cross). Severely damaged, she was taken under tow by the tugGreat Emperor and for four days she was attacked by E-boats and bombers as she struggled back to port at three knots. The Navy Controller wrote that she survived "not only by the good seamanship of the officers and men but also on account of the excellent workmanship which ensured the watertightness of the other compartments. A single defective rivet might have finished her." She was repaired and returned to service.^[4]

On return to Hebburn shipyard, she was de-commissioned before undergoing extensive repairs; she was not fit for active service until December 1940. Her bad luck had seen her on active service for less than two weeks over the previous 14 months.

During this period her captain, Louis Mountbatten, as Captain (D), was forced to lead his flotilla from temporary placement in other ships of the flotilla; for a time he led fromHMS Javelin, until she too succumbed to damage.

Kelly re-joined 5th Flotilla after re-commissioning in December 1940; after working-up trials and some service in the Channel, she and 5th Flotilla sailed for the Mediterranean, arriving atMalta in April 1941.

In April 1941 she joined HM shipsAbdiel,Dido,Jackal,Jersey,Kashmir,Kelvin andKipling at Gibraltar to form Force S, an escort for reinforcements to the Mediterranean Fleet (Operation Salient). She arrived in Malta on the 28th and was deployed with her flotilla to joinForce K for attacks on Axis shipping to North Africa.

On 8 May, following the loss of HMSJersey to a mine and the subsequent clearance of her wreck, the flotilla left Malta and joinedAjax,Dido,Orion andPerth to escort supply convoys to Egypt and Greece (Operation Tiger). On 10 May she led the destroyers to bombardBenghazi before returning to Malta. On 21 May she was despatched to Crete withKashmir andKipling and began patrols north of the island the next day.

On 23 May, during theevacuation of Crete, she was bombed and sunk, with half her crew killed.^[5]Kelly did succeed in shooting down three of the attackingStukas, while another was badly damaged and crashed upon returning to base.^[6] The survivors were deeply affected by the loss of their ship; Mountbatten shared their loss and tried to console the ship's company by reminding them all that "we didn't leave theKelly – theKelly left us!"

The 1942 filmIn Which We Serve starringNoël Coward andJohn Mills and telling the story of "HMSTorrin", is based on the career ofKelly. The HMSKelly Association hosts reunions and commemorations. Notable supporters of the association have includedCharles III andSir John Mills.^[7][8][9]In Hebburn, the town in South Tyneside where HMSKelly was built, there remains a public house by the name of "The Kelly" while the local Tyne & Wear metro station features artwork depicting the ship herself.

• Atlantic (1939)
• Norway (1940)
• Mediterranean (1941)
• Crete (1941)

• 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.
• English, John (2001).Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937–43. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society.ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
• Friedman, Norman (2006).British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-86176-137-6.
• Haarr, Geirr H. (2010).The Battle for Norway: April–June 1940. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-59114-051-1.
• Haarr, Geirr H. (2009).The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-59114-310-9.
• Langtree, Charles (2002).The Kelly's: British J, K, and N Class Destroyers of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-422-9.
• Lenton, H. T. (1998).British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
• 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.
• 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.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988).Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHMS Kelly (F01).

• The Man I Never Knew on HMSKelly –BBC People's War 12 June 2005
• HMSKelly on naval-history.net

34°40′N24°10′E / 34.667°N 24.167°E /34.667; 24.167

• 1938 establishments in England
• J, K and N-class destroyers of the Royal Navy
• 1938 ships
• World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom
• World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
• Ships sunk by aircraft during the Battle of Crete
• Maritime incidents in December 1939
• Maritime incidents in May 1941
• Ships sunk by German aircraft
• Destroyers sunk by aircraft
• Shipwrecks of Greece
• Lord Mountbatten
• Ships built by Hawthorn Leslie

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