HMS Antelope (H36)

HMS ''Antelope'' was a British destroyer, which was completed for the Royal Navy in 1930. ''Antelope'' served throughout the Second World War, taking part in the sinking of three enemy submarines and in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa.

Construction and design

''Antelope'' was ordered on 6 March 1928,English 1993, p. 15. and was laid down at Hawthorn Leslie on Tyneside on 11 July 1928. The ship was launched on 27 July 1929 and commissioned on 20 March 1930.Whitley 2000, p. 97.

She had a main gun armament of four guns on low angle (30 degree) mounts that were only suitable for anti-ship use, and an anti-aircraft armament of two 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-poms". Eight torpedo tubes were fitted on two quadruple mounts, with Mark V torpedoes carried. The initial anti-submarine equipment was limited, with no sonar carried and only six depth charges.Whitley 2000, p. 98.Gardiner and Chesneau 1980, pp. 37–38.

In 1941, one of the 4.7 in guns and the aft bank of torpedo tubes was removed, with a anti-aircraft gun replacing the torpedo tubes and an enhanced anti-submarine armament, which included 70 depth charges and the ability to drop patterns of 10 charges. Radar was also fitted, and the destroyer's close-in anti-aircraft outfit was supplemented by the addition of Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, of which two were fitted in 1941 followed by four more later on. The 3 inch gun was removed by 1943, when high-frequency direction finding gear was fitted. A second 4.7 in gun was replaced in 1944 by two QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns.

History

Prewar operations

Following completion in 1930, ''Antelope'', along with the rest of the A class and the destroyer leader joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea. ''Antelope'' took part in patrols off the Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War, but was damaged in a collision with the destroyers and . After repair ''Antelope'' returned to the United Kingdom, where she was based at Portsmouth.English 1993, p. 21.

Second World War

On the outbreak of the Second World War, the destroyer was assigned to the 18th Destroyer Flotilla, Channel Force, based at Portsmouth. For the rest of 1939 and the early months of 1940, ''Antelope'' carried out patrol and convoy escort duties in the English Channel and Western Approaches. On 5 February 1940, ''Antelope'' was the sole escort of the outward bound convoy OA 84 south of Ireland when the German submarine attacked the convoy, sinking the freighter ''Beaverburn'' and damaging the tanker ''Ceronia''. ''Antelope'' retaliated, depth-charging and sinking the U-boat.Blair 2000, p 138. It was the only U-boat at sea at the time in the area and was the first to be sunk underwater by a single destroyer.

Norway

In April 1940, ''Antelope'' was attached to the Home Fleet for operations as part of the Norwegian Campaign, and when the , flagship of the French forces off Norway,Rohwer and Hümmelchen 1992, p. 15. was damaged by German bombers off Namsos, ''Antelope'' escorted the French cruiser to Scapa Flow.Rohwer and Hümmelchen 1992, p. 19. ''Antelope'' then returned to operations off Norway, but on 13 June 1940, ''Antelope'' collided with the destroyer off Trondheim, Norway, and had to return to the Tyne for repair which continued until August that year, when she joined the 16th Destroyer Flotilla based at Harwich.

Atlantic operations

In August 1940, ''Antelope'' sailed in convoy to take part in Operation Menace, the attack on Dakar, but after the cruiser was torpedoed on 1 September 1940, she escorted her back to the Clyde, Scotland. ''Antelope'' then joined the 12th Destroyer Flotilla based at Greenock, Scotland.

On 31 October 1940, ''Antelope'' was part of the escort convoy OB 237 when it encountered off northwestern Ireland. Depth charges from ''Antelope'' and drove ''U-31'' to the surface, where her crew abandoned ship. ''Antelope'' attempted to board ''U-31'', but collided with the unmanned submarine, damaging the destroyer and sinking ''U-31''. ''Antelope'' rescued 44 of the ''U-31''s crew, one of whom died on board, and returned them to the Clyde.Blair 2000, pp. 203–204. Lt. Cdr. White was awarded his first bar to his D.S.O. following this sinking.

''Antelope'' joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, with the job of escorting the capital ships of the Home Fleet. In May 1941, ''Antelope'' formed part of the destroyer escort for the battlecruiser and battleship in the chase for the . Separated from the battleships during the battle of the Denmark Strait, ''Antelope'' searched for survivors from the sinking of ''Hood'', and later was escort to the aircraft carrier .

In August 1941, ''Antelope'' took part in Operation Gauntlet, an operation that succeeded in destroying the coaling facilities on Spitsbergen, thus denying the coal to Germans. In October, ''Antelope'' formed part of the escort for the Arctic Convoy PQ 1 to the Soviet Union.

Malta

''Antelope'' sailed to Gibraltar in April 1942, escorting the US aircraft carrier during Operation Calendar, an attempt to deliver badly needed Spitfire fighter aircraft to Malta. She acted as an escort during the follow-up Operation Bowery, when carriers and USS ''Wasp'' delivered 61 Spitfires and Operation LB when ''Eagle'' delivered a further 17 during May, and Operations Style and Salient in June 1942, when ''Eagle'' delivered 55 more Spitfires.Barnett 2000, pp. 504–505.

On 11 June, only a day after returning to Gibraltar following Operation Salient, ''Antelope'' formed part of the escort for Operation Harpoon, a heavily escorted attempt to resupply Malta. After the cruiser was damaged by Italian torpedo bombers, ''Antelope'' was dispatched from the convoy to tow ''Liverpool'' back to Gibraltar, with the destroyer as escort.Barnett 2000, pp. 505–506. In July, ''Antelope'' took part in two further Spitfire resupply runs with ''Eagle'', Operations Pinpoint and Insect. In August 1942 ''Antelope'' formed part of the main escort force for Operation Pedestal, another Malta convoy.

After a period stationed off West Africa, ''Antelope'' escorted troop convoys taking part in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French West Africa.English 1993, p. 22. On 30 January 1943, ''Antelope'', together with the Canadian corvette , sank the . On 13 March 1943, she was escorting the ocean liner , when the liner was sunk by the Italian submarine .Piggott 2010, p. 155. In July 1943, ''Antelope'' took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.

Disposal

In August 1944, ''Antelope'' returned to the United Kingdom. By this time she was in poor physical condition, and was paid off into reserve on the Tyne in October to free her crew to help ease a manpower shortage in the Royal Navy. In 1946, she was sold and broken up by Hughes Bolckow shipbreakers.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Antelope (H36)
A- and B-class destroyers
Ships built on the River Tyne
1929 ships
World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom