HMS ''Farndale'' was a Type 2

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

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 ...

which served 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 ...

. She was scrapped in 1962. She is the only British warship so far to bear this name.

Service history

''Farndale'' was ordered on 4 September 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme. She was completed in April 1941. She was adopted by the civil community of Southgate, then in Middlesex, as part of

Warship Week Warship Weeks were British National savings campaigns during the Second World War, with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy not only had lost many capital ships but ...

in 1942. She earned eleven battle honours for extensive service during World War II. This included service in the Mediterranean where she was severely damaged in February 1942, and resulted in extensive repairs in the UK that year. She then saw service with Russian convoys, followed by work to support the allied landings in Italy. Towards the end of the war she was nominated for service in the Far East in support of

Operation Zipper During World War II, Operation Zipper was a British plan to capture either Port Swettenham or Port Dickson, Malaya, as staging areas for the recapture of Singapore in Operation Mailfist. However, due to the end of the war in the Pacific, it ...

for landings in Malaya, which was cancelled with the end of the war. She returned to Sheerness from the Far East in November 1945 and was transferred to the

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...

. From 1946 until 1951 she was part of the Nore Local Flotilla and was then placed in reserve again at Hartlepool. She remained there until 1962 when she was sold to BISCO for scrapping by

Hughes Bolckow Hughes Bolckow formerly ''Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co., Limited'' was a well-known shipbreaking company based in Blyth, Northumberland. Background Intending to create an industrial park for dismantling obsolete warships in 1911, the compa ...

. She arrived at their breakers yard in Blyth on 29 November 1962.

References

Publications

* * 1940 ships Ships built by Swan Hunter Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy {{UK-mil-ship-stub