HMS ''Bedouin'' was a

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 ...

of the British

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 ...

that saw service in

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 ...

Description

The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to improve the firepower of the existing destroyer

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

s and were thus significantly larger and more heavily armed than the preceding . The ships displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. They had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of Lenton, p. 165 and a draught of .English, p. 12 The destroyers were powered by two Parsons geared

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

using steam provided by three

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...

s. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . During her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s ''Bedouin'' made from at a displacement of . The ships carried enough

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

to give them a range of at . The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the

flotilla leader A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The floti ...

s carried an extra 20 officers and men consisting of the

Captain (D) In the Royal Navy, a Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers is a commander responsible for the administration of ships and other vessels of either a destroyer flotilla or squadron. See also * Captain (D) afloat Captain (Capt.) is a senior office ...

and his staff.Whitley, p. 99 The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight quick-firing (QF) 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in four

superfiring Superfiring armament is a naval design technique in which two or more turrets are located one behind the other, with the rear turret located above ("super") the one in front so that it can fire over the first. This configuration meant that both ...

twin-gun mounts, one pair each fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. The mounts had a maximum

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 40°. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they carried a single quadruple mount for the QF two-pounder Mk II "pom-pom" gun and two quadruple mounts for the 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Mark III machine gun. Low-angle fire for the main guns was controlled by the director-control tower (DCT) on the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

roof that fed data acquired by it and the

rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...

on the Mk II Rangefinder/Director directly aft of the DCT to an analogue

mechanical computer A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to incremen ...

, the Mk I

Admiralty Fire Control Clock Admiralty Fire Control Table in the transmitting station of .The Admiralty Fire Control Table (A.F.C.T.) was an electromechanical analogue computer fire-control system that calculated the correct elevation and deflection of the main armament of a ...

. Anti-aircraft fire for the main guns was controlled by the Rangefinder/Director which sent data to the mechanical

Fuze Keeping Clock The Fuze Keeping Clock (FKC) was a simplified version of the Royal Navy's High Angle Control System analogue fire control computer. It first appeared as the FKC MkII in destroyers of the 1938 ,''Tribal Class Destroyers'', Hodges, p. 27 while lat ...

. The ships were fitted with a single above-water quadruple mount for torpedoes. The Tribals were not intended as anti-submarine ships, but they were provided with

ASDIC Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, one

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

rack and two throwers for self-defence, although the throwers were not mounted in all ships. Twenty depth charges was the peacetime allotment, but this increased to 30 during wartime.

Wartime modifications

Heavy losses to German air attack during the Norwegian Campaign demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the Tribals' anti-aircraft suite and the RN decided in May 1940 to replace 'X' mount with two QF Mark XVI

dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...

s in a twin-gun mount. To better control the guns, the existing rangefinder/director was modified to accept a Type 285

gunnery radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are sometime ...

as they became available. The number of depth charges was increased to 46 early in the war, and still more were added later. To increase the firing arcs of the AA guns, the rear

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

was shortened and the

mainmast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...

was reduced to a short pole mast.

Construction and career

Authorized as one of nine Tribal-class destroyers under the 1936 Naval Estimates, ''Bedouin'' was the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was ordered on 19 June 1936 from William Denny and was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 13 January 1937 at the company's

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

. Launched on 21 December, ''Bedouin'' was completed on 15 March 1938 and commissioned the previous day at a cost of £340,400 which excluded weapons and communications outfits furnished by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

. She served in the

Second Battle of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik (town), Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the World W ...

, where she was slightly damaged, and in the 1941 commando raid on the Lofoten islands. During Operation Harpoon, a large allied convoy to ressuply

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 ...

, she was sunk by the combined action of Italian cruisers and and an SM.79 torpedo bomber on 15 June 1942. ''Bedouin'' was hit by at least 12 six-inch rounds and near-misses from the cruisers and an aerial torpedo before sinking. A gunner manning a .5-inch (12.7 mm) quad machine gun mounting shot down the torpedo bomber which delivered the ''

coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; ) is an act of mercy killing in which a person or animal is struck with a melee weapon or shot with a projectile to end their suffering from mortal wounds with or without their consent. Its meaning has extended to refer to ...

''. Twenty-eight men from her complement were killed in action and 213 were taken as prisoners of war by the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

Notes

References

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External links

IWM Interview with survivor William Collins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedouin Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal Navy 1937 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in June 1942 Destroyers sunk by aircraft Ships sunk by Italian aircraft Ships built on the River Clyde Royal Navy ship names