View source for HMS Defender (H07)

{{Short description|British D-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|HMS Defender}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{good article}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Destroyer HMS Defender (H07) underway in the 1930s.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Defender''
|Ship ordered=2 February 1931
|Ship builder=[[Vickers Armstrong]], [[Barrow in Furness]]
|Ship yard number=674
|Ship cost=£223,979
|Ship laid down=22 June 1931
|Ship launched=7 April 1932
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship completed=31 October 1932
|Ship fate=Sunk on 11 July 1941
|Ship motto=*''Fendendo vince''
*("By defence I conquer")
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=Calabria 1940, Spartivento 1940, Matapan 1941, Malta Convoys 1941, Greece 1941, Crete 1941, Libya 1941
|Ship badge=[[File:Crest of HMS Defender.jpg|80px]]
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Header caption=as built
|Ship class=[[C and D-class destroyer|D-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1375|LT|t|lk=on}} ([[Displacement (ship)#Standard displacement|standard]])
*{{convert|1890|LT|t}} (deep)
|Ship length={{convert|329|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
|Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|12|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship power=*3 × [[Admiralty 3-drum boiler]]s
*{{cvt|36000|shp|kW|lk=on}}
|Ship propulsion=2 × shafts; 2 × geared [[steam turbine]]s
|Ship speed={{convert|36|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{convert|5870|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn}}
|Ship complement=145
|Ship sensors=[[ASDIC]]
|Ship armament=*4 × single [[4.7 inch QF Mark IX|4.7 in (120 mm)]] guns
*1 × single [[QF 3 inch 20 cwt|12-pdr]] (3&nbsp;in (76.2&nbsp;mm)) [[AA gun]]
*2 × single [[QF 2-pounder naval gun|2-pdr]] ({{cvt|40|mm}}) AA guns
*2 × quadruple [[British 21 inch torpedo|21 in (533&nbsp;mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s
*20 × [[depth charge]]s, 1 rail and 2 throwers
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Defender''''' was a [[C and D-class destroyer|D-class]] [[destroyer]] built for the [[Royal Navy]] in the early 1930s. The ship was initially assigned to the [[Mediterranean Fleet]] before she was transferred to the [[China Station]] in early 1935. She was temporarily deployed in the [[Red Sea]] during late 1935 during the [[Abyssinia Crisis]], before returning to her assigned station where she remained until mid-1939. ''Defender'' was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before [[World War II]] began in September 1939. She briefly was assigned to West Africa for convoy escort duties in 1940 before returning to the Mediterranean. The ship took part in the Battles of [[Battle of Calabria|Calabria]], [[Battle of Cape Spartivento|Cape Spartivento]], and [[Battle of Cape Matapan|Cape Matapan]] over the next year without damage. ''Defender'' assisted in the evacuations from [[Battle of Greece|Greece]] and [[Battle of Crete|Crete]] in April–May 1941, before she began running supply missions to [[Tobruk]], [[Libya]] in June. The ship was badly damaged by a German [[bomber]] on one of those missions and had to be [[scuttled]] by her consort on 11 July 1941.

==Description==
''Defender'' displaced {{convert|1375|LT|t}} at [[Displacement (ship)|standard]] load and {{convert|1890|LT|t}} at [[deep load]]. The ship had an [[length overall|overall length]] of {{convert|329|ft|m|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|33|ft|m|1}} and a [[draft (hull)|draught]] of {{convert|12|ft|6|in|m|1}}. She was powered by [[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company|Parsons]] geared [[steam turbine]]s, driving two shafts, which developed a total of {{convert|36000|shp|lk=in}} and gave a maximum speed of {{convert|36|kn|lk=in}}. Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum [[water-tube boiler]]s. ''Defender'' carried a maximum of {{convert|473|LT|t}} of [[fuel oil]] that gave her a range of {{convert|5870|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}. The ship's complement was 145 officers and men.<ref name=w78>Whitley, p. 102</ref>

The ship mounted four 45-[[caliber (artillery)|calibre]] [[4.7 inch QF Mark XII|4.7-inch Mark IX guns]] in single mounts. For [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] (AA) defence, ''Diamond'' had a single [[QF 3 inch 20 cwt|12-pounder]] (3-inch (76.2&nbsp;mm)) gun between her [[funnel (ship)|funnel]]s and two {{convert|40|mm|1|adj=on}} [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2-pounder Mark II]] guns mounted on the side of her [[bridge (nautical)|bridge]]. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple [[torpedo tube]] mounts for [[British 21 inch torpedo|21-inch torpedoe]]s.<ref>Friedman, pp. 215, 299.</ref> One [[depth charge]] rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.<ref>English, p. 141.</ref>

==Career==
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:HMS Defender in build.jpg|left|thumb|''Defender'' under construction at [[Barrow-in-Furness|Barrow]]]] -->
Ordered on 2 February 1931 under the 1930 Naval Programme, ''Defender'' was laid down at the [[Vickers Armstrongs]] yard in [[Barrow-in-Furness|Barrow]] as Yard Number 674 on 22 June 1931, and launched on 7 April 1932. She was completed on 31 October 1932 having cost a total of £223,979, excluding the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] supplied equipment such as guns, ammunition and wireless outfits. The ship was initially assigned to the [[1st Destroyer Flotilla]] in the Mediterranean and made a brief deployment to the [[Persian Gulf]] and [[Red Sea]] in September–November 1933.<ref>English, pp. 51, 57</ref>

''Defender'' was [[refit]]ted at [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport Dockyard]] between 3 September and 23 October 1934 for service on the China Station with the [[8th Destroyer Flotilla]] and arrived at Hong Kong in January 1935. The ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from November 1935 to June 1936 during the Abyssinian Crisis and then visited ports in East Africa for a month before returning to the China Station. Her boilers had to be retubed at Singapore between 5 November 1938 and 26 January 1939 and her [[superheater]]s were repaired at Hong Kong from 31 January to 14 March.<ref name=e7>English, p. 57</ref>

With the outbreak of war, ''Defender'' was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and arrived in [[Alexandria]] on 19 September. She was assigned to [[contraband]] control duties until she was transferred to Gibraltar in January 1940. The ship patrolled the Portuguese coast until she was transferred to [[Freetown]] in mid-February to escort convoys off the [[West African]] coast. ''Defender'' was transferred back to Gibraltar in April, escorting the [[light cruiser]] {{HMS|Neptune|20|2}} en route, and arrived there on 23 April 1940. The next month, she joined the [[10th Destroyer Flotilla]] of the Mediterranean Fleet<ref name=e7/> and escorted [[Convoy US-2]] carrying Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East through the [[Red Sea]] from 12 to 17 May.<ref>Rohwer, p. 20</ref>

On 27 June, together with [[sister ship|sisters]] {{HMS|Dainty|H53|2}} and {{HMS|Decoy|H75|2}}, with the destroyers {{HMS|Ilex|D61|2}} and {{HMAS|Voyager|D31|6}}, she sank the {{ship|Italian submarine|Console Generale Liuzzi}} south east of Crete. ''Defender'' took part in the Battle of Calabria on 9 July as an escort for the heavy ships of Force C and unsuccessfully engaged Italian destroyers without suffering any damage. Together with her sisters ''Dainty'' and {{HMS|Diamond|H22|2}}, the Australian destroyer {{HMAS|Stuart|D00|2}}, and the [[light cruiser]]s {{HMS|Capetown|D88|2}} and {{HMS|Liverpool|C11|2}}, she escorted Convoy AN.2 from [[Egypt]] to various ports in the [[Aegean Sea]] in late July.<ref>Rohwer, pp. 30, 32, 34</ref>

On 6 November, ''Defender'', together with the destroyers {{HMS|Decoy|H75|2}}, {{HMS|Hasty|H24|2}}, {{HMS|Havock|H43|2}}, {{HMS|Hereward|H93|2}}, {{HMS|Hero|H99|2}}, {{HMS|Hyperion|H97|2}}, ''Ilex'', {{HMS|Janus|F53|2}}, {{HMS|Jervis|F00|2}}, {{HMS|Mohawk|F31|2}}, and {{HMS|Nubian|F36|2}} screened the [[capital ship]]s of the Mediterranean Fleet, which provided distant cover for the passage of Convoy MW3 from Egypt to Malta and Convoy ME3 from Malta as part of [[Operation MB8]].<ref>Rohwer, p. 47</ref> During [[Operation Collar (Convoy)|Operation Collar]] in late November, ''Defender'', the [[anti-aircraft cruiser]] {{HMS|Coventry|D43|2}} and four other destroyers sailed from Alexandria to rendezvous with a convoy coming from [[Gibraltar]]. After reaching Malta on 26 November, the destroyers joined the battleship {{HMS|Ramillies|07|2}}, and the light cruisers {{HMS|Berwick|65|2}} and {{HMS|Newcastle|C76|2}} of Force D and sailed to rendezvous with [[Force H]], also coming from Gibraltar. The next day, after the British forces had combined, they were spotted by the Italians and the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento was fought.<ref>O'Hara, pp. 65–73</ref>

On 7 January 1941, ''Defender'' escorted Convoy MW.5 with her sister ''Diamond'' and the anti-aircraft cruiser {{HMS|Calcutta|D82|2}} from Alexandria to Malta during [[Operation Excess]].<ref>Rohwer, p. 55</ref> The ship was refitted in Malta from 4 February to 19 March, and took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan on 27–29 March.<ref name=e7/> She took part in [[Operation Demon]], the evacuation of [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] troops from Greece. On 27 April 1941 ''Defender'' and the destroyers ''Hereward'', and ''Hero'', and cruiser {{HMS|Phoebe|43|6}}, covered Convoy GA.14 as it left [[Souda Bay]], [[Crete]], for Alexandria. A German air attack sank the Dutch [[Troopship|troop ship]] {{SS|Costa Rica||2}}, but ''Defender'', ''Hereward'', ''Hero'' and ''Phoebe'' rescued all her crew and all 2,600 soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4104-31APR02.htm |last=Kindell |first=Don |title=Naval Events, April 1941 (Part 2 of 2) |work=British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day |publisher=Naval-History.net |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> She then escorted Convoy GA.15 on 29–30 April from Souda Bay to Alexandria. An Italian destroyer and two [[torpedo boat]]s attacked the convoy at night as it was transiting Kaso Strait east of Crete, but were rebuffed by the escorts without inflicting any damage.<ref>O'Hara, pp. 115–16</ref> The following month ''Defender'' assisted in the evacuation of troops from Crete to Egypt after the Germans invaded on 22 May ([[Battle of Crete|Operation Merkur]]).<ref name=e7/>

On 10 June, ''Defender'', and the other three ships of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, arrived off the Lebanese coast to reinforce Royal Navy forces supporting [[Syria-Lebanon Campaign|Operation Exporter]], the invasion of [[Vichy France|Vichy French]]-controlled [[Syria]] and Lebanon, but the ship was not engaged during her time off Lebanon and Syria.<ref>O'Hara, p. 130</ref> Later that month, she began escorting convoys to and from [[Tobruk]] and on 29 June the Australian destroyer {{HMAS|Waterhen|D22|2}} was badly damaged by Italian [[Junkers Ju 87]] "Stuka" [[dive bomber]]s off Tobruk. ''Defender'' took ''Waterhen'' in tow, but the next day she [[capsized]] and sank.<ref>Rohwer, p. 82</ref>

<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:HMS Defender Sinking.jpg|right|thumb|''Defender'' sinking, 11 July 1941]] -->

===Loss===
On 11 July 1941, ''Defender'' was returning from Tobruk in company with the Australian destroyer {{HMAS|Vendetta|D69|2}}.<ref name="rhoades">{{cite web|url=http://www.navyhistory.org.au/the-tobruk-run/|title=The Tobruk Run|last=Rhoades|first=Commodore Rodney|date=31 December 1979 |publisher=Naval Historical Society of Australia|access-date=22 April 2011}}</ref> They were attacked by a single [[Junkers Ju 88]] bomber of I./[[Lehrgeschwader 1]] piloted by [[Gerhard Stamp]] on a reconnaissance flight along the coast before dawn.<ref>Taghon, p. 261</ref> The bomber scored a near-miss on ''Defender'' which detonated under the ship, just forward of the [[engine room]]. The shock broke the ship's back and flooded the engine room, although there were no casualties among her crew or passengers. ''Vendetta'' took ''Defender'' in tow, leaving a [[skeleton crew]] aboard the damaged ship,<ref name=e7/> but she started to break up and ''Vendetta'' was forced to scuttle her with a torpedo and gunfire<ref name=rhoades/> off [[Sidi Barrani]] about five hours later.<ref name=e7/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=English |first=John |year=1993 |title=Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s |place=Kendal |publisher=World Ship Society |isbn=0-905617-64-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Norman |year=2009 |title=British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-081-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Lenton |first=H.T. |year=1998 |title=British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
* {{cite book |last=O'Hara |first=Vincent P. |year=2009 |title=Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945 |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-648-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |year=2005 |title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |edition=Third Revised |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-59114-119-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Taghon |first=Peter |year=2004 |title=Die Geschichte des Lehrgeschwaders |language=de |place=Zweibrücken |publisher=VDM Heinz Nickel |volume=1: 1936–1942 |isbn=3-925480-85-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Whitley |first=M.J. |year=1988 |title=Destroyers of World War 2 |place=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-326-1}}

==External links==
*[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4369.html ''Defender'' on U-Boat.net]
*[http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-19D-Defender.htm ''Defender'' on Naval History.net ]
*[http://www.navyhistory.org.au/the-tobruk-run/ First hand account of ''Defender''’s loss by the commanding officer of HMAS ''Vendetta'']
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{{C and D class destroyer}}
{{July 1941 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defender (H07)}}
[[Category:C and D-class destroyers]]
[[Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness]]
[[Category:1932 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Destroyers sunk by aircraft]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in July 1941]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft]]