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HMS Electra (H27)

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HMS Electra before the war wearing the single white stripe of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla
Career Royal Navy Ensign
Ordered: 1931 Naval Programme
Laid down: 15 March1933
Launched: 15 February1934
Commissioned: 15 September1934
Fate: Sunk, Battle of the Java Sea, 27 February1942
Struck: Officially stricken 1 January1946
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,350-1,405 tons standard
1,886-1,940 tons deep
Length: 318 ft 3 in (97 m) between perpendiculars
329 ft (100.25 m) overall
Beam: 33 ft 3 in (10.13 m)
Draught: 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Propulsion: 3 Admiralty 3-drum boilers;
300 psi, 620 °F
2 shaft Parsons geared turbines
36,000 shp
Speed: 36 knots (67 km/h)
Range: 471 tons oil, 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h).
Complement: 145 (173 in 1942)
Armament: 4 x 4.7 inch/45 (120 mm) Mk XVIII (4x1)
8 x .50 inch Vickers machine guns (2x4)
5 x .303 inch machine guns (5x1)
8 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x4)
2 x depth charge racks
60 depth charges
1940:
4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes replaced by
1 × 3 in (76.2 mm)/50 and 2 x 20 mm Oerlikon (2x1)
Motto:
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Electra.

HMS Electra, pennant number H27, was a Royal Navy 'E' class destroyer (one of 16, including two flotilla leaders, in the E and F classes to be built). She was launched on 15 February1934 at the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside. The E class were similar to the preceding 'C' and 'D' classes of 1931, but with an improved hull form, modified bridge, 3 boiler rooms instead of 2, and high angle 4.7-in (120mm) guns that could elevate to 40 degrees (as opposed to 30 degrees on the earlier classes). The costs to build the ship have been given as approximately 300,000 (Janes), 247,000 (navalhistory.flixco.info web site), or 253,350 (excluding the items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns and communications equipment) (www.naval-history.net web site) British Pounds.

Service

First Deployment

Upon commissioning in 1934, she was attached to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet, along with the rest of her E-class sister ships. In September 1935, the 5th Flotilla was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet for the duration of the Abyssinian crisis before returning to the Home Fleet the following March. In 1936, Electra was assigned to Non-Intervention Patrols in Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War.

Early Second World War Service

At the beginning of World War II, Electra was attached to the 12th Destroyer Flotilla. On 3 September 1939, Electra took part in the rescue of survivors of the liner Athenia, which was torpedoed by the German submarine U-30. The Captain of Electra, Lieutenant-Commander Sammy A. Buss, was the Senior Officer present at the scene so he took charge. He sent the destroyer Fame on an anti-submarine sweep of the area, while Electra, her sister ship HMS Escort, the Swedish yacht Southern Cross, the Norwegian cargo ship Knut Nelson, and the American tanker City of Flint rescued the survivors. Part of the rescue effor tincluded sending a whaler to rescue a woman still in a bunk in the sick bay of the Athenia. Between the ships, about 980 passengers and crew were rescued; only 112 people were lost, and Athenia sank the next morning.

Her next assignment was to escort a convoy out of Pentland Firth, along with HMS Exmouth and HMS Inglefield. During a violent storm which lasted over 2 days, an ammunition locker on the forecastle broke loose, and was sliding around the deck. The locker was full of shells, and needed to be secured. After a short time, several volunteers managed to corral the loose object. Electra continued escorting convoys and hunting U-boats in the Western Approaches area until April, 1940.

Norway

In early April, 1940, Electra escorted two convoys to Norway and back. The first trip, which also included HMS Escapade and the cruiser HMS Southampton, was uneventful. On the second trip, the convoy was attacked by German bombers. An ex-Polish liner serving as a transport was sunk, but the rest of the convoy safely arrived. After the convoy was delivered, Electra was tasked to drop off two Army officers at a desolate location. During this time, Electra shot down a German bomber with her 4.7-in (120mm) guns.

A few days later, Electra, being equipped with Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping gear, was directed to lead the battleship HMS Warspite into Ofotfjord towards Narvik, clearing a path through the minefields for her. However, Admiral Sir William Whitworth decided to risk the mines, and left Electra outside, guarding the entrance to the fjord. (For further details, see Battles of Narvik). On 8 May, Electra returned to Scapa Flow for replenishment.

On June 131940, she escorted HMS Ark Royal when she launched an air attack on Trondheim, Norway. As Ark Royal turned into the wind to launch aircraft in foggy conditions, another destroyer, HMS Antelope appeared, cutting across the bows of Electra. With no time to stop, Electra hit Antelope aft, in the wardroom pantry. One man from Antelope climbed up Electra's anchor chain to get away from the damaged area. Her bow was severely damaged, and it took Electra four days to get back to Scotland at slow speed. She was refitted at the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company yard at Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Ailsa was noted primarily for the yachts it has built, and Electra was the largest repair job it had handled to date. Here she had her bow repaired, as well as having her after bank of torpedo tubes replaced by a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun and two 20 mm Oerlikons. Also, during the refit and repair time, the wardroom was painted in the team colours of the Glasgow Rangers football (soccer) team, which was the favourite team of the yard manager heading up the repair work. She now joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet.

Her first assignment after her repair work was completed was to escort the ships of the 1st Minelaying Squadron. along with the destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Versatile, and HMS Vimy during lay of deep minefield in NW approaches to Irish Sea (Operation SN41). After this, she was part of the escort of the battlecruiser Repulse in a hunt for a German surface raider that had attacked Convoy HX-84 sinking the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay and five ships from the convoy. Electra later joined the search for survivors from the convoy.

In December, she was again on patrol seeking a German surface raider that had been reported as breaking out into the North Atlantic. The force consisted of the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the light cruiser Edinburgh, and the destroyers Electra, Escapade, Echo, and Cossack. After spending a week at sea, including Christmas Day, after the report turned out to be false, she returned to port on New Years Eve. It was here that they got word that the ship's current Captain, Lieutenant-Commander Buss, was promoted to Commander and would transfer to the destroyer Punjabi, and the ship received a new Captain, Lieutenant-Commander Cecil Wakeford May, who would be her captain until she was sunk. A few days after this, Electra was sent into the Arctic for a mission to find surface raiders, returning through the Denmark Strait and refuelling from a cruiser in heavy seas on the way.

The first four months of 1941 saw Electra performing mostly convoy work around the British Isles and Bristol Channel, mostly in cold weather and heavy seas. in January, she escorted the battlecruiser Hood during Operations SN6 and SN65, providing cover for minelaying in the Northern Barrage by ships of 1st Minelaying Squadron. Starting on 25 January, Electra was part of screen for Operation 'RUBBLE', in escort of Norwegian mercantiles which had escaped from Baltic ports. In February, she escorted Convoy WS6A during passage from the Clyde for two days; then she escorted the Battleship HMS Prince Of Wales during contractor's trials. One of the trips was as escort to convoy HX 122, which left Halifax on April 20 and arrived in Liverpool on 8 May. On one of the trips, she rescued the crew of a Coastal Command Anson patrol aircraft that had crashed into the ocean. Starting on 23 January, Electra participated in Operation Rubble, the escape of several Norwegian merchant ships from Goteborg, Sweden. In March, Electra and Inglefield escorted the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth in a search for the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

The Hunt for the Bismarck

In early May, the British Admiralty was on the alert that the German battleship Bismarck might attempt to break out into the North Atlantic; therefore, Electra was ordered to Scapa Flow for possible deployment against the Germans. On 22 May, just after midnight, Electra sailed along with the destroyers Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, and Icarus, escorting the Hood and Prince of Wales to cover the northern approaches. The intention was that the force would refuel in Hvalfjord, Iceland, and then sail again to watch the Denmark Strait. On the evening of 23 May, weather started getting bad. At 2055 hrs., Admiral Lancelot Holland aboard the Hood signalled the destroyers "If you are unable to maintain this speed I will have to go on without you. You should follow at your best speed." At 0215 on the morning of 24 May, the destroyers were ordered to spread out at 15-nautical-mile (28 km) intervals to search to the north.

At about 0535, the German forces were sighted by the Hood, and shortly after, the Germans sighted the British ships. Firing commenced at 0552. At 0601, Hood took a 38 cm (15 inch) shell from Bismarck in the after magazine, which caused a massive explosion, sinking the ship within 2 minutes. Electra and other destroyers were about 60 nautical miles (111 km) away at the time. Upon hearing that the Hood had sunk, Electra raced to the area, arriving about 2 hours after the Hood went down. They were expecting to find many survivors, prepared hot coffee and rum, set up the medical facilities for the casualties, rigged scrambling nets and heaving lines, and placed life belts on the deck where they could be quickly thrown in. From the 94 officers and 1321 enlisted men who were aboard the Hood, only 3 survivors were found. Electra rescued these 3 survivors, and continued searching. Shortly thereafter, Icarus and Anthony joined in the search, and the three ships searched the area for more survivors. No more survivors were found, only driftwood, debris, clothing, personal effects, broken rafts, and a desk drawer filled with documents. After several hours searching, they left the area. With the sea as cold as it was, survival in the water was measured in minutes; there was little probability that anyone was left alive in the water. (For further details, see Battle of the Denmark Strait).

After dropping the survivors off in Iceland, she refuelled, and then sailed immediately again to escort the damaged Prince of Wales to Rosyth. After arriving, the men went on a quick shore leave, their first in many months. Then in a period of two weeks, she went to Scapa Flow, then made a run down the West Coast of England, then to Ireland, then refuelled at Derry, then escorted a troop convoy into the Atlantic.

After this, she went into refit at Green & Silley Weir in the Royal Docks at London for 6 weeks, escorting a convoy to Sheerness on the way. When she came out of the yard, she sported a new disruptive camouflage paint scheme of blues, greens and greys. Just two days out of the yard, she was on convoy duty again, escorting a convoy through what was called "Bomb Alley". They came under heavy attack by German aircraft, but suffered no losses. She then went on to Scapa Flow for assignment.

Russian Convoy

Shortly after arriving at Scapa Flow, she was detailed to serve as Senior Escort for the first of Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, called Operation Dervish, which consisted of 6 merchantmen, escorted by destroyers Electra, Active and Impulsive , three Algerine-class minesweepers, and 3 trawlers. The convoy kept well to the west of Norway, and made a wide sweep to avoid the German bases in northern Norway, before turning south to Archangelsk. There were no losses on the trip to Russia, or on the return trip (Russian Convoy OP1) with the destroyer HMS Active, cruisers HMS London and HMS Shropshire, and 11 merchantmen starting on 26 September. (For further details, see Dervish Convoy).

To the Far East

On Monday, 20 October1941, the crew of Electra got word that they, along with HMS Express would be escorting HMS Prince of Wales to the Far East under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Tom Phillips where the ships would form the nucleus of a new Eastern Fleet intended to deter Japanese aggression. Over the next three days, they loaded with supplies and ammunition, and returned their load of parkas they had obtained for their Russian trip. On 23 October, they sailed out of Scapa Flow for Greenock, and on 25 October, they sailed for the Far East. This force would be known as Force G until they reached the Far East; then they would be re-designated Force Z. They were accompanied by HMS Hesperus, loaned by Western Approaches Command, for the first part of the trip. The destroyers refuelled from the Prince of Wales south of Ireland. Two days later, another destroyer, HMS Legion, was detached from a Gibraltar convoy to cover the Prince of Wales while Electra and Express refuelled again from a tanker in Ponta del Garda in the Azores. After Electra and Express returned the following day, Hesperus and Legion departed for Gibraltar.

On 2 November, the three ships put into Freetown. They had shore leave, and left the next day. They refuelled again on the way, and arrived at Cape Town on 16 November, with the destroyers putting into Simonstown Naval Base. The crew had shore leave again, but several events, including press interviews were cancelled. They left Cape Town on 18 November and arrived at Colombo, Ceylon, on 28 November, stopping at Mauritius and Addu Atoll to refuel on the way. While at Addu Atoll, the crew of the Prince of Wales cooked the Addu detachment of Royal Marines a Christmas dinner, and sent ashore fresh fruit, meat, vegetables, beer and Navy rum.

On 29 November, the destroyers HMS Encounter and HMS Jupiter, detached from the Mediterranean Fleet, joined at Colombo, and the five ships sailed later that day. The ships were joined at sea by the battlecruiser HMS Repulse which has sailed from Trincomalee. The force then set course for Singapore, where they arrived on 2 December. They spent a few days there with shore leave and refit, while waiting for orders. On 1 December, it was announced that Sir Tom Philips had been promoted to full Admiral, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet. A few days later, Repulse started on a trip to Australia with the Vampire and Tenedos, but the force was recalled.

Force Z at Singapore

Early in the morning of 8 December (Singapore time), Singapore came under attack by Japanese aircraft. Prince of Wales and Repulse shot back with anti-aircraft fire; no planes were shot down, and the ships sustained no damage. After receiving the reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor and invasions of Siam by the Japanese, Force Z put to sea at 1730 hrs. on 8 December. Force Z at this time consisted of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, escorted by the destroyers Electra, Express, Vampire, and Tenedos. At about 1830 on 9 December, the Tenedos was detached to return to Singapore, because of her limited fuel capacity. That night, Electra sighted and reported a flare to the north. This caused the British force to turn away to the southeast. The flare was dropped by a Japanese aircraft over their own ships by mistake, and caused the Japanese force to turn away to the northeast. At this point, the two forces were only about five miles apart.

At 2055, Admiral Philips cancelled the operation, and ordered the force to return to Singapore. On the way back, they were spotted and reported by the Japanese submarine I-58. The next morning, 10 December, they received a report of Japanese landings at Kuantan, and Express was sent to investigate the area, finding nothing. That afternoon, Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by 85 Japanese aircraft off Kuantan aircraft from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. (For more information, see Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse). Repulse was sunk by five torpedoes in 20 minutes, and Electra and Vampire moved in to rescue survivors of Repulse, while Express rescued survivors of the Prince of Wales.

Electra sent out radio messages that Repulse and Prince of Wales had sunk. Even after they were rescued, some survivors of the Repulse manned Action Stations on Electra, to free the Electra sailors to rescue more survivors. In particular, Repulse gunners manned the 'X' and 'Y' 4.7-inch mounts, and the ship's dentist of the Repulse even assisted the Electra's medical teams with the wounded. In total, nearly 1000 survivors of the Repulse were rescued, of which Electra saved 571. Electra and the other destroyers then returned to Singapore to drop off the survivors, refuel, and replenish their ammunition.

Convoy Duty

The next three weeks or so saw Electra escorting convoys, and resting in Singapore in between. She had 'crossed the line' (equator) so many times that the crew stopped keeping count. One of her frequent consorts in these escort operations was the light cruiser HMAS Hobart. In the last week of January, Electra was part of the escort for a troop convoy, BM-11, consisting of the American transports West Point and Wakefield, and the British ships Duchess Of Bedford, Empress of Japan, and Empire Star, which was carrying troops from Bombay, India, to Singapore. This convoy was brought into Singapore on 29 January via Berhala Strait, Durian Strait, and Philips Channel, and then proceeded to Keppel Harbor. Here, at about 1100 on 31 January, Electra came alongside West Point and transferred 20 naval dockyard personnel, 8 women, one Free French officer, and an RAF officer to West Point for passage to Ceylon. (One of these women gave birth to a baby on board West Point on 4 February).

Some of the convoys that Electra was known to have escorted included:

Starting on 3 February, they also had the task of towing the destroyer HMS Isis which had been undergoing refit from Singapore to Java. They were attacked by a Japanese high-level bomber on the way, but sustained no damage. (T. J. Cain in his book HMS Electra states that it was an I class destroyer, and that Electra was the tow ship; Steve Gartland in an article in "The Sun" states that the destroyer being towed was HMAS Vendetta, that the tow ship was a tug named Ping Wo, and that Electra was an escort out of Tanjong Priok starting on 17 February.) Just before Singapore fell, Electra and other destroyers escorted the remaining merchant ships to Tanjong Priok, Java.

Battle of the Java Sea & Loss

On 26 February1942, Electra arrived at Surabaya from Tanjong Priok, along with HMS Exeter, HMAS Perth, the Dutch light cruiser Java, and the destroyers Jupiter and Encounter. Dauntless, Danae, and Hobart remained at Tanjong Priok. On 27 February, the striking force left Surabaya, the three British destroyers in the lead, with Electra in the center, Jupiter to port, and Encounter to starboard; followed by the Dutch cruiser De Ruyter, Exeter, Houston, Perth, and Java; followed by 2 Dutch and 4 American destroyers. (For further details, see Battle of the Java Sea)

That afternoon, they made contact with the enemy. Electra managed to evade the shells and torpedoes in the first round. At 1715, Exeter received a hit which destroyed a 4-inch (102 mm) gun mount and then exploded in a boiler room, causing her to lose speed. At 1725, seeing that the Exeter was in trouble, Electra headed toward the enemy ships, followed by the other two British destroyers, to cover the Exeter's escape. After several near misses from gunfire from the Japanese light cruiser Jintsu, Electra fired back, scoring several hits on the Jintsu and the destroyer Asagumo. During this slugging match, Electra sustained several hits, which knocked out A and X gun mounts, wrecked the electrical system forward, cut off all communications, destroyed a searchlight platform, damaged the after boiler room, and ruptured the main steam line. Electra came to a stop, fired off her torpedoes, and started to list to port. After a fire started under B gun mount and Y mount ran out of ammunition, abandon ship was ordered. One surviving whaleboat got away after being loaded with wounded, but it was destroyed by a shell shortly after. She sank shortly later on the afternoon of 27 February1942, bow first, with the White Ensign still flying.

Survivors

That night, about 0235hrs. in the morning of 28 February, 54 survivors of the 173 men on board were picked up by the United States submarine USS S-38 (SS-143), and were taken to Surabaya. When the submarine surfaced in the middle of the survivors, they weren't sure if it was friendly or enemy. One of the survivors recognized the submarine as being friendly, because it had an 'Admiralty' type anchor; and at that time, only United States submarines still had this type of anchor. One of the survivors died on the submarine on the way. After treatment in a Dutch hospital, 42 survivors were taken to Australia by the inter-island steamer Verspeck, where they arrived on March 10. One more survivor died at the hospital, and 10 others in critical condition were left at the hospital.

After spending some time there recovering, many of the survivors were put on the liner Nankin, bound for Ceylon, and ultimately, home to Britain. On the way, the Nankin was attacked and sunk by the German raider Thor. The survivors, after spending 7 weeks on the raider's supply ship Regensburg, were handed over to the Japanese, where they spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp.

On 29 March1947, a stained glass window at St. George's Chapel at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, was dedicated to the crew of the Electra.

The Wreck

In August 2003, the M/V Empress located the wreck of the Electra. It is lying on its port side in approximately 160 feet (49 m) of water, completely covered with fishing nets. What is interesting is that she is located nowhere near where the Allied battle maps put her sinking, but is close to where the Japanese battle maps put her.

References

  • Cain, Lieutenant-Commander Timothy J. HMS Electra (Frederick Miller Ltd, London, 1959), ISBN 0-86007-330-0. Lieutenant-Commander Cain (then a Warrant Officer Gunner, "Guns") was the senior surviving officer of Electra.
  • Barnett, Correlli Engage the Enemy More Closely (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1991) ISBN 0-393-02918-2
  • Bradford, Ernle The Mighty Hood (World Publishing Company, Cleveland, 1959)
  • English, John. Amazon to Ivanhoe - British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s.
  • Gardiner, Robert ed., Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922 - 1946 (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1980) ISBN 0-85177-146-7
  • Hoyt, Edwin P. The Lonely Ships: The Life and Death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet (Pinnacle Books, Los Angeles, 1977), ISBN 0-523-40162-0
  • Lenton, H. T. British Fleet and Escort Destroyers, Volume I (Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1970)
  • Middlebrook, Martin and Patrick Mahoney, Battleship: The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1979)
  • Rohwer, J. and Hümmelchen, G. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945. (2nd Edition, Annapolis, 1992).
  • Van der Vat, Dan The Atlantic Campaign: World War II's Great Struggle at Sea (Harper and Row, New York, 1988) ISBN 0-06-015967-7
  • Winslow, W. G. The Ghost that Died at Sunda Strait, (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1989), ISBN 0-87021-218-4
  • Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II (Janes Publishing, London, 1946) ISBN 0-517-67963-9

See also

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