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HMS
Firedrake
H.79

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 Courtesy of www.hmsfiredrake.co.uk (John Masters)

 

Destroyer ("F" Class)

6th Destroyer Flotilla

Home Fleet

 04.06.1935 - 01.02.1937

8th Destroyer Flotilla

Home Fleet

 (08.1939) -
Displacement 1,375 tons (1,940 tons full load)
Dimensions 318.25 (pp)/319 (oa) x 33.25 x 19.5d/8.5 (12.5 full load) feet
Machinery three Admiralty 3-drum boilers (300lb/in2 & 620ºF), two shafts, Parsons geared turbines, 36,000 SHP = 35.5 (31.5 full load) knots
Bunkers & radius OF 470 tons, 6,350/1,275 nm @ 15/35.5k
Armament 4 (4x1) - 4.7 inch, 8 (2x4) - .5 inch AA, 5 (5x1) - .303 inch AA machine guns, 8 (2x4) 21 inch TT
Complement 145 men
   
Builder (hull) Vickers-Armstrong Ltd (Barrow)
Builder (engine) Parsons (Wallsend)
Ordered 17.03.1933
Laid down 05.07.1933
Launched 28.06.1934
Completed 30.05.1935
Commissioned 04.06.1935
Re-commissioned 03.03.1936 at Chatham
Sunk 17.12.1942, torpedoed by German submarine U211 in northern Atlantic
   
Battle honours Atlantic (1939-1942), Norway (1940), Spartivento (1940), Mediterranean (1940-1941), Malta Convoys (1941)

 

Officers    
Commanding Officer
05.1934 - 19.10.1934
Lt. (E) | Lt.Cdr. (E) G.H. Craven-Phillips, RN [while under construction]
 
04.06.1935 - (07.1935)
Lt.Cdr. L.P. Skipwith, RN
 
05.01.1937 - (04.1937)
Lt.Cdr. J.M. Rodgers, RN
 
04.04.1938 - 05.1942
Lt.Cdr. S.H. Norris, RN
 
04.05.1942 - 09.1942
Cdr. W.E. Banks, RN
 
09.1942 - 17.12.1942
Cdr. E.H. Tilden, RN
First Lieutenant
04.06.1935 - (07.1935)
Lt.Cdr. W.S. Thomas, RN
 
03.1936 - (02.1937)
Lt. R.B.N. Hicks, RN
 
04.04.1938 - (08.1939)
Lt. J.T.B. Birch, RN
 
16.02.1942 - (08.1942)
T/Lt.C.S. Clarke, RNVR
Others
 
?
04.06.1935 - (07.1935)
Lt. J.C. Morrow, RAN
?
11.1935 - (02.1937)
Lt. J.T. Kimpton, RN
?
03.03.1936 - (02.1937)
Lt. J.S. Miller, RN
?
(1937) - ?
Lt. H.J.A. Brooke, RN
?
05.09.1938 - (08.1939)
Lt. C.A. Langton, RN
?
? - 17.12.1942
Lt. D.J. Dampier, RN
?
12.05.1942 - (08.1942)
T/Lt. A.G. Vlasto, RNVR
Engineering Officer
04.06.1935 - (07.1935)
Lt.Cdr. (E) G.H. Craven-Phillips, RN
 
13.10.1936 - (02.1937)
Lt. (E) K.M. Symonds, RN
 
04.11.1937 - (08.1939)
Lt.Cdr. (E) E.J. Chubb, RN
 
(1939) - (07.1941)
Lt. (E) W.T.C. Ridley, RN
 
15.10.1941 - (08.1942)
Lt. (E) B.S. Harvey, RN
Medical Officer
07.06.1941 - 11.1942
T/Sg.Lt. J.T. Aldren, RN
?
04.06.1935 - (07.1935)
S.Lt. E.M. Usherwood, RN
?
15.10.1938 - (08.1939)
S.Lt. L.J. Pearson, RN
?
20.05.1941 - (08.1942)
S.Lt. H.G. Knowles, RN
?
09.03.1942 - (08.1942)
S.Lt. P.R. Speak, RNVR
?
20.06.1942 - (08.1942)
T/S.Lt. R.T. Stevenson, RNVR
Torpedo Officer
04.06.1935 - (02.1937)
Gnr. | Cd.Gnr. T.J.G. Davis, RN
 
16.07.1937 - (08.1939)
Gnr. F.E. Hartwell, RN
 
05.06.1941 - (08.1942)
Gnr. J.A. Fallwell, RN
?
01.1939 - (08.1939)
Midsh. R.R. Colls, RIN
?
03.07.1940 - (08.1942)
Midsh. E.P. Earnshaw, RCN

 

Literature
A.D. Divine Destroyer's war : a million miles by the Eighth Flotilla
US edition: Firedrake, the destroyer that wouldn't give up		 London : John Murray, 1942
New York : Dutton, 1943
Website
www.hmsfiredrake.co.uk