HMS Eskimo (F75)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Eskimo.

Eskimo in 1941
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Eskimo
Builder:	Vickers Armstrongs, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne
Laid down:	5 August 1936
Launched:	3 September 1937
Commissioned:	30 December 1938
Identification:	Pennant number: L75, F75 & G75 successively
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 27 June 1949
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tribal-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,850 tons (standard), 2,520 tons (full)
Length:	377 ft (115 m) o/a
Beam:	36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught:	9 ft (2.7 m)
Installed power:	44,000 shp (33,000 kW)
Propulsion:	Three Admiralty 3-drum boilers, steam turbines on two shafts
Speed:	36-knot (67 km/h)
Range:	524 tons fuel oil 5,700 nmi (10,600 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:	219
Armament:	As designed; 8 x 4.7 in L/45 QF Mark XII, twin mount CP Mk.XIX 4 x QF 2 pdr, quad mount Mk.VII 8 x 0.5 in Vickers machine gun, quad mount Mk.II 4 x tubes for 21 in torpedoes Mk.IX 1 x rack, 2 x throwers for depth charges War modifications; 6 x 4.7 in L/45 QF Mk.XII, 3 x twin mounting CP Mk.XIX 1 x twin 4 in L/45 QF Mk.XVI, mounting HA Mk.XIX 4 x QF 2 pdr, quad mount Mk.VII 4 x single and twin 20 mm Oerlikon 4 x tubes for 21 in torpedoes Mk.IX 1 x rack, 2 x throwers for DCs

HMS Eskimo was a Tribal-class destroyer, laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 5 August 1936. She was launched on 3 September 1937 and commissioned on 30 December 1938.

Eskimo after losing her bow during the Second Battle of Narvik

Eskimo participated in the Second Battle of Narvik in April 1940, supported the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942 and served with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth. Eskimo was extensively damaged when two German dive bombers attack her in the Mediterranean while taking part in Operation Husky. She cornered and sank the enemy German submarine U-971 while in company with the Canadian destroyer Haida and a Liberator aircraft of the Czech air force in the English Channel north of Brest on 24 June 1944. During the final days of the war, she operated in the Far East.

Fate

Eskimo was reduced to an accommodation and headquarters ship for minesweepers, wreck-disposal vessels, and salvage craft clearing the Thames and Medway estuaries in 1946. She was used as a target ship in the Gareloch, sold for scrap on 27 June 1949 and finally broken up at Troon.

References

• Brice, Martin H. (1971). The Tribals. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0245-2. 
• English, John (2001). Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937–43. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-95-0.