View source for HMS Bramham

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image               = HMS Bramham 1942 FL 2844.jpg
| Ship caption             = HMS ''Bramham'' on the River Clyde, 1942 (IWM)
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header              =
| Ship country             = United Kingdom
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
| Ship name                = HMS ''Bramham''
| Ship owner               = 
| Ship namesake            = 
| Ship ordered             = 4 September 1940
| Ship builder             = [[Alexander Stephen and Sons]]
| Ship laid down           = 7 April 1941
| Ship launched            = 29 January 1942
| Ship acquired            = 
| Ship commissioned        = 16 June 1942
| Ship decommissioned      = March 1943
| Ship in service          = 
| Ship out of service      = 
| Ship struck              = 
| Ship reinstated          = 
| Ship honours             = 
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: L51
| Ship fate                = Transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy, March 1943.
| Ship notes               = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header              =title
|Ship country=Greece
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Greece|royalnavy}}
| Ship name                = ''Themistoklis''
| Ship owner               = 
| Ship namesake            = [[Themistocles]]
| Ship acquired            = March 1943
| Ship commissioned        = 1943
| Ship decommissioned      = 1959
| Ship in service          = 
| Ship out of service      = 
| Ship struck              = 12 November 1959
| Ship reinstated          = 
| Ship honours             = 
| Ship fate                = Returned to Royal Navy, 12 November 1959 and scrapped 1960
| Ship notes               = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[Hunt-class destroyer#Type II|Type II Hunt-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1050|LT|t|0}} standard;
*{{convert|1490|LT|t|0}} full load
|Ship length={{convert|85.34|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|9.62|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|2.51|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=2 shaft Parsons geared turbines; 19,000&nbsp;shp
|Ship speed={{convert|25.5|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship range={{convert|3600|nmi|km|-1|abbr=on}} at {{convert|14|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship endurance=
|Ship boats=
|Ship capacity=
|Ship complement=164
|Ship time to activate=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=* 6 × [[QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun|QF 4&nbsp;in Mark XVI]] on twin mounts Mk. XIX
* AAA - 2 × 4 [[Vickers .50 machine gun|12.7mm Vickers]], 2 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]]
* 6 Thornycroft [[depth charge]] throwers
|Ship armour=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship motto=
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}}
|}
'''HMS ''Bramham'' (L51)''' was a {{sclass2|Hunt|destroyer}} of the [[Royal Navy]] laid down in [[Alexander Stephen and Sons]] shipyards [[Govan]], [[Scotland]] on 7 April 1941. She was launched on 29 January 1942 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 16 June 1942. She was named after the [[Bramham, West Yorkshire|Bramham Moor Hunt]] and has been the only Royal Navy warship to bear the name. She was adopted by the town of [[Beverley]] in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]] during the [[Warship Week]] savings campaign of 1942.

==Royal Navy service==
''Bramham'' was one of two ships that returned to rescue the survivors of {{HMS|Curacoa|D41|6}}.<ref>http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80015884 - Recollection of Edgar Wilson, Seaman serving on board HMS Curacoa, Imperial War Museum interview.
</ref>

In the following August she served in [[Operation Pedestal]], a mission to deliver supplies to the besieged island of [[Malta]], as an escorting destroyer. On 12 August she rescued survivors from {{MV|Deucalion||2}}. In the last stages of the operation ''Bramham'' along with two other destroyers, {{HMS|Ledbury|L90|2}} and {{HMS|Penn|G77|2}} took on the final tow of the tanker {{SS|Ohio||2}} into Malta.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DE-Bramham.htm|title=HMS Bramham, escort destroyer}}</ref>

==Royal Hellenic Navy service==
{{other ships|Greek ship Themistoklis}}
In March 1943 ''Bramham'' was transferred to the [[Royal Hellenic Navy]] and renamed '''''Themistoklis''''' after the ancient Greek commander [[Themistocles]]. She served until 1959 and was then returned to the Royal Navy on 12 November 1959. She was scrapped in Greece in 1960.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Raymond V B Blackman |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1963-4 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd |location=London |pages=112}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Publications==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* '' The Hunts: a history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II'', John English, World Ship Society, 1987, {{ISBN|0-905617-44-4}}

{{Hunt class destroyer|type2}}
{{November 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramham (L51)}}
[[Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Hellenic Navy]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of Greece]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1942]]
[[Category:Royal Navy ship names]]


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