HMS Basilisk (H11)
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | HMS Basilisk |
| Namesake | Basilisk |
| Ordered | 4 March 1929 |
| Builder | John Brown & Company, Clydebank[1] |
| Cost | £220,342 |
| Yard number | 531 |
| Laid down | 19 August 1929 |
| Launched | 6 August 1930 |
| Completed | 4 March 1931 |
| Motto | list error: <br /> list (help) Mil irritarare ("Do not irritate me") |
| Honours and awards | list error: <br /> list (help) NORWAY 1940 DUNKIRK 1940 |
| Fate | Sunk by dive-bombers, 1 June 1940 |
| Badge | On a Field Red, a Basilisk Gold |
| General characteristics [2] | |
| Class and type | B-class destroyer |
| Displacement | list error: <br /> list (help) 1,360 long tons (1,382 t) standard 1,790 long tons (1,819 t) full |
| Length | 323 ft (98 m) o/a |
| Beam | 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m) |
| Draught | 12 ft 3 in (3.73 m) |
| Propulsion | list error: <br /> list (help) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum water tube boilers Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines 34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 2 shafts |
| Speed | 35.25 knots (65.28 km/h; 40.56 mph) |
| Range | 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 138 |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) 4 × QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) Mk. IX L/45 guns, single mounts CP Mk.XIV 2 × QF 2 pdr Mk.II L/39 (40 mm) guns, single mounts Mk.II 8 (4×2) tubes for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes 1 rack & 2 throwers for 25 depth charges |
HMS Basilisk (H11) was a B-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw early World War II service in Norway, before being sunk at Dunkirk in 1940.
Construction
The ship was ordered on 4 March 1929 from John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Glasgow, under the 1928 Programme, along with her sister ship Beagle. She was laid down on 19 August 1929, and launched on 6 August 1930, as the tenth RN ship to carry this name. Basilisk was completed on 4 March 1931 at a cost of £220,342, excluding items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns, ammunition and communications equipment.[3]
Service history
1939
In September 1939 the ship was deployed as part of the Plymouth Local Flotilla, from where she sailed to join the 19th Destroyer Flotilla based at Dover for convoy escort and patrols in the English Channel and North Sea.[3]
On 12 November she and Blanche escorted the cruiser minelayer Adventure from the Humber to Portsmouth.[3] The next morning Adventure was badly damaged by a magnetic mine in the Thames Estuary, north of Margate. Blanche went to her assistance and was also mined (she later sank while under tow).[4] Basilisk rescued survivors from Blanche and embarked wounded from Adventure.[3]
On 15 December she escorted the Auxiliary Minelayer Princess Victoria, along with the destroyers Express and Esk, on a minelaying operation.[3]
1940
Escort and patrol duty in the Channel and North Sea continued from January to March 1940, but on 17 April she was detached for duty with the Home Fleet for convoy escort and support of military operations in Norway. On the 24th she was deployed with the destroyers Wren and Hesperus as escort to the battleship Resolution to Narvik. On 5 May she escorted the troopship Empress of Australia to Tjalander Fjord.[3]
On 12 May she was deployed with the battleship Resolution, the cruisers Effingham, Vindictive and Aurora, the destroyers Somali, Havelock, Fame and Wren, and the netlayer Protector, in support of landings at Bjerkvik in preparation for an attack on Narvik. On arrival on the 13th she took part in support of landings in Herjangs Fjord.[3]
On 20 May Basilisk was detached from her duties in Norway to support the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk ("Operation Dynamo"). On 31 May she crossed the English Channel twice, picking up 338 men on the first trip, and 357 on the second. Unfortunately the next day, 1 June, she came under air attack off De Panne from Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers, sustaining major damage and many casualties. The destroyer Whitehall and the Belgian trawler La Jolie Mascotte attempted to tow her to safety, but the ship came under further dive-bombing attacks and sustained more damage. She eventually sank in position 51°08′N 02°35′E / 51.133°N 2.583°E. La Jolie Mascotte rescued 131 survivors, and the wreck was destroyed by gunfire from Whitehall.[3]
Notes
- ^ "HMS Basilisk". Clydebuilt Ships Database. Retrieved February 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Destroyers of World War Two, M. J. Whitley, 1988, Cassell Publishing ISBN 1-85409-521-8
- ^ "HMS Blanche, destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
References
- English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
- Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-59114-081-8.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: length (help) - Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- 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.
- Winser, John de D. (1999). B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-91-6.
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