HMS Janus (F53)

HMS Janus (F53) on Sea Trials
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Janus (F53)
Namesake:	Roman god Janus
Builder:	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down:	29 September 1937
Launched:	10 November 1938
Commissioned:	5 August 1939
Fate:	Hit by a Fritz X 23 January 1944
Status:	Sunk
General characteristics
Class and type:	J-class destroyer

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

HMS Janus (F53), named after the Roman god, was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne on 29 September 1937, launched on 10 November 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1939. Janus participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. Janus was struck by one Fritz X dropped by an enemy German He 111 torpedo bomber and sank off the Anzio beachhead in western Italy on 23 January 1944 (according to other version, she was sunk by Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb or a conventional torpedo - see Fritz X article).