HMS Antelope (H36)
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
.jpg) |
|
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Antelope (H36) |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Hawthorne Leslie |
| Laid down: | 11 July 1928 |
| Launched: | 27 July 1929 |
| Commissioned: | 20 March 1930 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | A class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons standard |
| Length: | 323 ft (98 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (10 m) |
| Draught: | 12.2 ft (4 m) |
| Propulsion: | 3 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers steam turbines, 2 shafts, 34,000 shp |
| Speed: | 35 knots |
| Range: | 4,800 nm at 15 knots |
| Complement: | 138 |
| Armament: |
(As designed) 2 × 2 pdr Mk.II anti-aircraft 2 × 4 tubes for 21 in torpedoes Mk.IX |
HMS Antelope was a British A-class destroyer. She was completed 20 March 1930 and assigned to the 18th Destroyer Flotilla, Channel Force, Home Fleet.
On 5 February 1940, Antelope sank U-41 in the South-Western Approaches. The U-boat had attacked an outward-bound convoy on 5 February and sunk Beaverburn. It was the only U-boat at sea at the time in the area and was the first to be sunk underwater by a single destroyer. Antelope's commanding officer, Lt. Cdr. R.T. White R.N. (later Captain R.T. White D.S.O.**, 2nd son of Sir Archibald White, Bt. of Wallingwells) was awarded the D.S.O. on 11 July 1940 for this feat. White was commander of Antelope from 24 September 1938 until 26 February 1941.
In April 1940, the destroyer escorted the French cruiser Emile Bertin, flagship of Admiral Derrien, to Scapa Flow after it had been damaged in action off Namsos, Norway.
On 13 June 1940, Antelope collided with HMS Electra off Trondheim, Norway, and had to return to the Tyne for repair. She then returned to her base at Harwich.
In August 1940, Antelope sailed in convoy to take part in Operation Menace, the attack on Dakar, but after HMS Fiji was torpedoed on 1 September 1940, she escorted her back to the Clyde, Scotland.
On 31 October 1940, Antelope sank U-31 off northwestern Ireland. She rescued 43 survivors and returned them to the Clyde. Lt. Cdr. White was awarded his first bar to his D.S.O. following this sinking.
In May 1941, in the chase for the German battleship Bismarck after the battle of the Denmark Strait, Antelope searched for survivors from the sinking of HMS Hood, and later was escort to HMS Victorious.
In August 1941, Antelope took part in Operation Gauntlet, an operation that succeeded in destroying the coaling facilities on Spitsbergen, thus denying the coal to the enemy.
In 1942 and 1943, Antelope participated in various operations to resupply Malta, including Operation Pedestal in August 1942. In March 1943, she escorted the Empress of Canada, but the liner was sunk on 13 March by the Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci. In 1944, she conducted numerous patrols and anti-submarine operations. In August 1945, she returned to the United Kingdom.
In 1946, she was sold and broken up by Hughes, Bolkow.
|
|||||||||||
