View source for HMS Venetia

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Venetia''
|Ship identification=*[[Pennant number]]:
*F9A (1917)
*F93 (January 1918)
*F14 (April 1918)
*D53 (interwar)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=30 June 1916<ref name="uboatnet">[http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4247.html uboat.net HMS Venetia (D 53)]</ref>
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]], [[Govan]]<ref name="navalhistory">[http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-09VW-Venetia.htm Naval History: HMS VENETIA (D 53)  -  V & W-class Destroyer]</ref>
|Ship laid down=2 February 1917<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship launched=29 October 1917<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship completed=19 December 1917<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship commissioned=19 December 1917<ref name="uboatnet"/>
|Ship decommissioned= 1920s/1930s?<ref name="navalhistory"/>
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship recommissioned=September 1939<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship decommissioned=
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|Ship out of service=
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|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship fate=Sunk 19 October 1940<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=''Volo non fugia'' ("I fly but do not flee")<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=[[Battle honour]] for [[Battle of the Atlantic|Atlantic 1939-1940]]<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship badge=A gold winged [[lion]]{{'}}s mask on a blue field<ref name="navalhistory"/>
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class= [[V and W-class destroyer|Admiralty V-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement= 1,272-1,339&nbsp;tons
|Ship length= {{convert|300|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]], {{convert|312|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length between perpendiculars|p/p]]
|Ship beam= {{convert|26|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught= {{convert|9|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} standard, {{convert|11|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}} deep
|Ship propulsion=*3 Yarrow type Water-tube boilers
*Brown-Curtis steam turbines
*2 shafts, 27,000&nbsp;shp
|Ship speed=34&nbsp;[[knot (unit)|kt]]
|Ship range= 320-370&nbsp;tons oil, 3,500&nbsp;[[nautical mile|nmi]] at 15&nbsp;kt, 900&nbsp;nmi at 32&nbsp;kt
|Ship complement= 110
|Ship armament=
* 4 × [[QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun|QF 4 in Mk.V (102mm L/45)]], mount P Mk.I
* 2 × [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40 mm L/39)]]<br>or
* 1 × [[12-pounder gun|QF 12 pdr 20 cwt]] Mk.I (76 mm), mount HA Mk.II
* 4 (2 x 2) tubes for 21 inch torpedoes
|Ship notes= 
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Venetia'' (D53)''' was a [[V and W-class destroyer|V-class]] [[destroyer]] of the British [[Royal Navy]] that saw service in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]].

==Construction and commissioning==

''Venetia'' was ordered on 30 June 1916<ref name="uboatnet"/> as part of the 9th Order of the 1916-17 Naval Programme. She was [[Keel laying|laid down]] on 2 February 1917 by the [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]] at [[Govan]], Scotland, and [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 29 October 1917. She was completed on 19 December 1917<ref name="navalhistory"/> and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] into service the same day.<ref name="uboatnet"/> Her original [[pennant number]], F9A, was changed to F93 in January 1918 and to F14 in April 1918. It became D53 during the interwar period.<ref name="navalhistorywwi">[http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishShips-Dittmar2.htm Naval History: SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY, 1914-1919 - in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (Part 2 of 2)]</ref>

==Service history==

===World War I===
The V- and W-class destroyers, ''Venetia'' among them, were assigned to the [[Grand Fleet]] or [[Harwich Force]]<ref name="navalhistorywwi"/> and saw service in the last year of [[World War I]].<ref name="navalhistory"/>

===Interwar years===

In 1921, as part of the [[2nd Destroyer Flotilla]], ''Venetia'' joined the [[light cruiser]]s {{HMS|Caledon|D53|6}}, {{HMS|Castor|1915|2}}, {{HMS|Cordelia|1914|2}}, and {{HMS|Curacoa|D41|2}} and the destroyers {{HMS|Vanquisher|D54|6}}, {{HMS|Vectis|D51|2}}, {{HMS|Viceroy|D91|2}}, {{HMS|Violent|D57|2}}, {{HMS|Viscount|D92|2}}, {{HMS|Winchelsea|D46|2}}, and {{HMS|Wolfhound|D56|2}} in a Baltic cruise. Departing the United Kingdom on 31 August 1921, the ships crossed the [[North Sea]] and transited the [[Kiel Canal|Kaiser Wilhelm Canal]] to enter the Baltic, where they called at [[Danzig]] in the [[Free City of Danzig]]; [[Klaipėda|Memel]] in the [[Klaipėda Region]]; [[Liepāja]], [[Latvia]]; [[Riga]], Latvia; [[Tallinn]], [[Estonia]]; [[Helsinki]], Finland; [[Stockholm]], Sweden; [[Copenhagen]], Denmark; [[Gothenburg]], Sweden; and [[Oslo|Kristiania]], Norway, before crossing the North Sea and ending the voyage at [[Port Edgar]], Scotland, on 15 October 1921.<ref>[http://www.naval-history.net/WW1z06Baltic.htm Naval History: HMS VANQUISHER, BALTIC CRUISE 1921]</ref>

''Venetia'' later served in the [[Home Fleet]] and [[Mediterranean Fleet]] before being [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] and placed in the [[Reserve Fleet (United Kingdom)|Reserve Fleet]].<ref name="navalhistory"/>

===World War II===

When the United Kingdom entered [[World War II]] in September 1939, ''Venetia'' was recommissioned. In October 1939, she began service escorting [[convoy]]s in the [[North Atlantic Ocean]]. On 6 January 1940, she and ''Winchelsea'' joined [[Convoy OG 13]] in the [[Southwestern Approaches]] to serve as its escort during the first leg of its voyage to [[Gibraltar]]. The two destroyers detached from the convoy on 8 January 1940 and joined [[Convoy HG 13]] to escort it on the final leg of its voyage from Gibraltar to [[Liverpool]], where it arrived on 10 January 1940. On 1 March 1940, she and the [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{HMS|Leith|L36|6}} joined [[Convoy OG 20]] in the Southwestern Approaches to escort it during the first day of its voyage to Gibraltar. The two warships detached the following day and joined [[Convoy HG 23]] to relieve the sloop {{HMS|Aberdeen|L97|6}} as its escort on the final leg of its voyage from Gibraltar to Liverpool, detaching on 6 March 1940. On 7 April 1940, ''Venetia'', the destroyer {{HMS|Wakeful|H88|6}} and the sloops {{HMS|Enchantress|L56|2}} and {{HMS|Sandwich|L12|2}} joined [[Convoy HG24]] as its escort for the final stage of its voyage from Gibraltar to Liverpool.<ref name="navalhistory"/>

In May 1940, ''Venetia'' was transferred to [[Nore Command]] for operations related to the evacuation of [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] personnel from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France because of the successful [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Battle of France|offensive]] there. On 12 May, in Operation J, she and the destroyer {{HMS|Vivacious|D36|6}} escorted the destroyer {{HMS|Codrington|D65|6}} as ''Codrington'' transported the [[Dutch royal family]] from the [[Hook of Holland]] into [[exile]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name="navalhistory"/>

On 23 May 1940, ''Venetia'' and the destroyers {{HMS|Vimiera|1917|2}}, {{HMS|Whitshed|D77|2}}, {{HMS|Venomous|D75|2}}, and {{HMS|Wild Swan|D62|2}} arrived off [[Boulogne]], France, to evacuate troops of the [[British Army]]{{'}}s [[Irish Guards]] and [[Welsh Guards]], who had been trapped there by advancing German troops and [[tank]]s of the [[2nd Panzer Division]] during the [[Battle of Boulogne (1940)|Battle of Boulogne]]. Sixty German [[Junkers Ju 87 Stuka]] [[dive bomber]]s<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.php?articleid=1506&atype=r |title=The Southwest Maritime History Society Book Review from SW Soundings No.80 (Sep 2010): ''A Hard Fought Ship - The Story of HMS'' Venomous |access-date=10 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619095420/http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.php?articleid=1506&atype=r |archive-date=19 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> had recently attacked the harbour and French destroyers bombarding offshore, so they awaited the arrival of [[Royal Air Force]] fighter cover before attempting to enter the harbour. After it arrived at 19:20 hours, ''Whitshed'' and ''Vimiera'' entered the harbour first, taking aboard as many British soldiers as possible &ndash; over 550 men each &ndash; under fire from German forces before steaming back out of the harbour at 20:25 hours, with ''Whitshed'' completely destroying two German tanks at point-blank range with her 4.7-inch (120-mm) guns as she departed.<ref name="Dunkirk">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZM71HK2ysoAC&dq=hms+venetia&pg=PA208 Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh, ''Dunkirk: Fight To the Last Man'', Harvard University Press, 2006, pp. 208-209, 593-594.]</ref>

''Venomous'' and ''Wild Swan'' entered the harbour next, at 20:35 hours, followed by ''Venetia'' at 20:40 hours. The Germans opened fire on ''Venetia'' with heavier guns as she entered the harbour, apparently in an attempt to sink her in the harbour entrance to trap ''Venomous'' and ''Wild Swan'' and bring the evacuation operation to an end. A German shell, probably from a tank, hit ''Venetia'', starting a fire aft and prompting her crew to jettison her [[torpedo]]es and burning [[Carley float]]s. Another shell hit her "B" [[gun turret]], blowing overboard and killing some of the men there, and German gunfire also inflicted casualties among the men on her [[Bridge (nautical)|bridge]], causing her to go out of control and briefly run aground. Gunners aboard ''Venomous'', seeing that ''Venetia'' was in danger of being sunk, realized that the Germans had captured  [[Fort de la Crèche]] on a hill overlooking the entrance and were using its [[coastal artillery]] to fire on ''Venetia''. ''Venomous'' opened fire on the fort; her first salvo went over it, but her second salvo blew off one side of the fort and much of the hillside it was on, causing artillery pieces to roll down the hill and silencing the fort. ''Venomous'' also detected a German light field gun in the garden of a house and fired on it; her first salvo flattened all of the trees in the garden, set the house on fire, and caused German troops in the vicinity to flee. All heavy German guns fell silent after this and, given a reprieve, ''Venetia'', which had taken seven hits and been unable to embark any troops, quickly refloated herself and backed out of the harbor at full speed at 20:48 hours. ''Venomous'' and ''Wild Swan'' followed ''Venetia'' out of the harbour, also in reverse, carrying about 400 evacuees each, along the way knocking out a German tank and shooting up two German troop columns, then escorted the damaged ''Venetia'' to [[Dover]], England.<ref name="navalhistory"/><ref name="Dunkirk"/>

After spending the summer of 1940 undergoing repairs, ''Venetia'' returned to Nore Command in August 1940 and began convoy defence and patrol duties in the [[North Sea]] and [[Thames Estuary]] in September 1940. On 19 October 1940, she struck a [[Naval mine|mine]] off [[Knob Buoy]] in the Thames Estuary 12 [[nautical mile]]s (22&nbsp;km) northwest of [[Margate]], [[Kent]], England,  and sank at either {{coord|51|33|00|N|001|01|00|E}}<ref name="navalhistory"/> or {{coord|51|33|00|N|001|10|00|E}}<ref name="uboatnet"/> (sources differ).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|title=Naval Weapons of World War II|year=1985|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=0-87021-459-4}}
* {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book |first1=Maurice |last1=Cocker |publisher=Ian Allan |title=Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981 |isbn=0-7110-1075-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2009|isbn=978-1-59114-081-8}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H. T.|author-link=Henry Trevor Lenton|title=British & Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1998|isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
* {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}
* {{cite book |last=Preston |first=Antony |title='V & W' Class Destroyers 1917–1945 |publisher=Macdonald |location=London |year=1971 |oclc=464542895}}
* {{cite book |last1=Raven |first1=Alan |last2=Roberts|first2=John |title='V' and 'W' Class Destroyers |publisher=Arms & Armour |location=London |year=1979 |series=Man o'War |volume=2 |isbn=0-85368-233-X|name-list-style=amp }}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Whinney |first=Bob |title=The U-boat Peril: A Fight for Survival |publisher=Cassell |year=2000 |isbn=0-304-35132-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/uboatperilfightf0000whin }}
* {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War 2|publisher=Naval Institute Press|date=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland}}
* {{cite book|last=Winser|first=John de D.|title=B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Gravesend, Kent|year=1999|isbn=0-905617-91-6}}

==External links==
* [http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishShips-Dittmar2.htm Naval History: SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY, 1914-1919 - in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (Part 2 of 2)]
* [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-09VW-Venetia.htm HMS ''VENETIA'' (D 53)  -  V & W-class Destroyer]
* [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4247.html uboat.net HMS ''Venetia'' (D 53)]

{{V and W class destroyer}}
{{October 1940 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venetia (D53)}}
[[Category:V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:1917 ships]]
[[Category:World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by mines]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the River Thames]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in October 1940]]