HMS ''Abdiel'' was an that served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She served with the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

(1941),

Eastern Fleet Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

(1942),

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

(1942–43), and the Mediterranean Fleet (1943). ''Abdiel'' was sunk by German mines in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

harbour in 1943. Although designed as a fast minelayer her speed and capacity made her suitable for employment as a fast transport.

Service

Channel

On 22 March 1941, ''Abdiel'' (Captain Hon. Edward Pleydell-Bouverie) had acceptance trials interrupted and was ordered to lay mines with the objective of preventing the German battleships and breaking out from Brest. In operation 'GV', 'GX' and 'GY', ''Abdiel'' with the destroyers , and escorted by , and on 23 and 28 March laid mines in the vicinity of Little Sole Bank and WSW of Brest. From 17 to 30 April 1941 ''Abdiel'' attempted to complete her trials programme but this was again abandoned when the ship was ordered to join the cruiser and the destroyers ''Kelly'', ''Kipling'', , ''Jackal'' and . This group was then transferred from

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

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, having loaded military stores destined for

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. The ships subsequently joined the

Mediterranean

On 24 to 28 April 1941 they formed part of "Operation Dunlop". ''Dido'', ''Abdiel'' and destroyers , and , having discharged naval stores at Malta, proceeded to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. On 21 May 1941 ''Abdiel'' laid a field of 150 mines off Akra Dhoukaton (Cape Dukato, southern tip of

Lefkada Lefkada (, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island in the Ionian Sea on the ...

island,

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). Later that day the

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destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

(1,840 tons), was sunk on the minefield with the gunboat ''Pellegrino Matteucci'' and the

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transports ''Kybfels'' (7,764 GRT) and ''Marburg'' (7,564 GRT) which were transporting a large contingent of the

2nd Panzer Division The 2nd Panzer Division (English: 2nd Tank Division) was an armoured division in the German Army, the Heer, during World War II. Created as one of the original three German tank divisions in 1935, it was stationed in Austria after the Anschluss ...

from

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in Greece across the

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to the port of

in Italy. On the night of 26/27 May, ''Abdiel'', escorted by the destroyer and the

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destroyer , landed 800

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Suda Bay Souda Bay () is a bay and natural harbour near the town of Souda on the northwest coast of the Greek island of Crete. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akrot ...

. On 31 May 1941, ''Abdiel'' sailed from

for

Sfakia Sfakiá () is a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island of Crete, in the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It is considered to be one of the few places in Greece that have never been fully occupied by foreign powers. ...

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with the light cruiser and three destroyers. During the following night these ships removed 4,000 troops from Crete. Between December 1942 and April 1943 ''Abdiel'', in cooperation with the mine laying submarine and ''Abdiel''s

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

, laid several minefields with about 2,000 mines in the

Strait of Sicily The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; or the ; or , ' or ') is the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. The strait is about wide and divides the Ty ...

. On 9 January 1943, after ''Abdiel'' laid a minefield across the Axis evacuation route from

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, the escort of an Italian convoy ran into it and the destroyer [] was sunk, while the destroyer [] was severely damaged. On 3 February 1943 another Italian convoy's escort fouled another of her minefields south of Marettimo island, off the western tip of Sicily, losing the destroyer [] and the torpedo boat []. On 8 March 1943, ''Abdiel'' again laid a minefield on the Axis evacuation route, north of Cap Bon, Tunisia. On 24 March a convoy entered the field, and the Italian destroyers [] and [] were lost. On 3 April 1943 ''Abdiel'' laid a minefield between the Italian fields X-2 and X-3, whose location was known to the Allies through Ultra (cryptography), Ultra intercepts and captured documents. On 7 March a convoy ran afoul the field, losing one of their escorts, the [].

Sinking

''Abdiel'', was sunk by mines in

harbour, Italy on 10 September 1943, during

Operation Slapstick Operation Slapstick was the code name for a British landing from the sea at the Italian port of Taranto during the Second World War. The operation, one of three landings during the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, was undertaken by ai ...

. The mines had been laid just a few hours earlier by two German torpedo boats (''S-54'' and ''S-61''), as they left the harbour. ''Abdiel'', carrying troops of the British 1st Airborne Division ( 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion and 204 (Oban) Anti-Tank Battery,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

), took the berth which had been declined earlier by the captain of the US cruiser . Shortly after midnight, two mines detonated beneath ''Abdiel'' and the minelayer sank in three minutes, with great loss of life among both sailors and soldiers. The 1st Airborne Division lost 58 dead and around 150 injured, the Derbyshire Yeomanry lost a member of

Popski's Private Army Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff who was a Belgian Jewish officer of Russian extraction. Popski's Private Army was on ...

, Lieutenant McGillavray, 48 crew were also lost. There is a rumour that the ship's

degaussing Degaussing, or deperming, is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not ...

equipment had been turned off to reduce noise and to allow troops to sleep better. Commander F. Ashe Lincoln QC RNVR gives a different cause in his book "Secret Naval Investigator" (Wm Kimber London 1961, and pp. 132–133 of the 2017 reprint). A naval mine clearance expert, he found in the Germans' Taranto magazine a number of large wooden wheels fitted with depth charges, with a timing clock and explosive charge in the centre. He says that one of these devices had been sunk next to the mooring buoy Abdiel used when the Germans evacuated the previous night.

References

Bibliography

* * *Warlow, Ben, Lt. Cdr., Royal Navy (2004) ''Battle Honours of the Royal Navy'', Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdiel (M39) Abdiel-class minelayers Ships built on the Isle of Wight 1940 ships World War II minelayers of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by mines Maritime incidents in September 1943 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea