Description
''Boadicea'' displaced atConstruction and service
The ship was ordered on 4 March 1929 from Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hawthorn Leslie, under the 1928 Naval Programme. She was laid down at Hebburn, Hebburn-on-Tyne on 11 July 1929, and launched on 23 September 1930, as the fifth RN ship to carry this name. ''Boadicea'' was completed on 9 April 1931 at a cost of £225,325, excluding items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns, ammunition and communications equipment.March, p. 260 After her commissioning, she was assigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1936. She was damaged whilst refuelling at sea with the battleship on 15 March 1935; her repairs lasted until 18 April. Later that year she was deployed to Famagusta, Cyprus, and Haifa, Palestine to assist British forces in putting down riots from December 1935 – January 1936. ''Boadicea'' had to return to Haifa in June to help put down the beginnings of the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, Arab Revolt. Afterwards the ship was deployed to Cartagena, Spain, Cartagena and Valencia to evacuate civilians at the start of the Spanish Civil War before beginning a refit at HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth that lasted until 26 September. She remained with the 4th Flotilla until January 1939 and made multiple deployments off the coast of Spain enforcing the embargo until April 1938 when she was again refitted. After leaving the 4th Flotilla, ''Boadicea'' served as the plane guard for the aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet for a few months until she became the emergency destroyer at the Nore. She was attached to the Reserve Fleet at Portland Harbour, Portland for the Fleet review (Commonwealth realms), Fleet Review in August 1939. On 29 August, ''Boadicea'' was assigned to the 19th Destroyer Flotilla based at Dover where she escorted the troopships of the British Expeditionary Force through October. The ship was then transferred to the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla at Harwich Dockyard, Harwich for two months before rejoining the 19th Flotilla where she escorted convoys through the English Channel. On 4 March 1940, she towed the oil tanker ''Charles F. Meyer'' to Southampton Water after that ship struck a naval mine, mine. ''Boadicea'' began a refit at Chatham Dockyard on 2 May and was not operational until she sailed for Le Havre, France on 9 June to assist in the evacuation of British troops before advancing German troops.English, p. 34 The next afternoon, she was severely damaged by Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers that knocked out her engines and boilers. After all depth charges and torpedoes were jettisoned to reduce her topweight and temporary repairs made to the holes in her hull, ''Boadicea'' was towed by the destroyer and the tugboat ''Krooman'' to Dover. Repairs at Portsmouth lasted until 14 February 1941 and included the installation of a List of World War II British naval radar#Type 286, Type 286 short-range surface search radar. Upon completions, the ship was assigned to Home Fleet and participated in the search for the German battleships and which had broken out into the North Atlantic. In March, ''Boadicea'' was transferred to the 4th Escort Group at Greenock for convoy escort duties and remained with them until February 1942 when the group was disbanded. She was then assigned to the Western Approaches Command until July. The ship was detached to escort Convoy PQ 15, Convoys PQ 15 and Convoy QP 12 to and from Murmansk in April–May. ''Boadicea'' was refitted between August and October, after which she escorted a convoy to Gibraltar as part of the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. She escorted British ships to Oran during the invasion and was struck by a shell from a French on 8 November that did little damage.English, p. 35 Three days later, the ship was escorting the empty ocean liner when the latter ship was torpedoed. The destroyer attempted to take the troopship under tow, but was unable to save the ship. ''Boadicea'' rescued 449 passengers and crew and delivered them to Gibraltar. Upon her return home, the ship was assigned to the 20th Escort Group where she escorted Convoy JW 51A, Convoys JW 51A, Convoy JW 53, JW 53 and Convoy RA 53, RA 53 to and from Russia. She was badly damaged by sea ice during the latter convoy in March and required repairs that lasted until May. Upon their completion, ''Boadicea'' was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone where she served as a local escort. On 19 July, she rescued 220 survivors from the torpedoed ocean liner . The ship returned to the Home Fleet in September and briefly assigned to the 8th Escort Group before she started her conversion into an escort destroyer in November. This included the addition of Type 271 radar, Type 271 target indication radar and the replacement of the Type 286 radar by a List of World War II British naval radar#Type 290, Type 290. After this was completed in January 1944, ''Boadicea'' rejoined the 8th Escort Group and escorted Convoy JW 57, Convoys JW 57, Convoy RA 58, RA 58 and Convoy RA 59, RA 59 to Russia from February through April. In preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, she was transferred to Portsmouth where she escorted convoys arriving in England as well as the convoys across the Channel. ''Boadicea'' was sunk on 13 June off Portland Bill by German aircraft while escorting a convoy of merchant ships to France. Sources differ as to the weapons used and the aircraft that carried them; some say Fritz X missiles fired by Dornier Do 217s belonging to KG 100 or torpedoes dropped by Junkers Ju 88s. The weapons caused a magazine (artillery), magazine explosion and ''Boadicea'' sank quickly, with only 12 of her crew of 182 surviving. The ship is included on the Chatham Naval Memorial; her wreck is southwest of the Isle of Portland at in of water. Her bow is blown off forward of the engine rooms and her stern section is upright and reasonably intact. The wreck site is designated as a ''protected place'' under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.Notes
References
* * de Zeng, H. L; Stankey, D. G; Creek, E. J. (2008). ''Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945; A Reference Source, Volume 2''. Ian Allan Publishing. * * * Goss, Chris (2007). ''Sea Eagles Volume Two: Luftwaffe Anti-Shipping Units 1942–45''. Burgess Hill: Classic Publications. * * * * * *External links