HMS ''Lively'' was an L-class

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 ...

. She served during the

Second World War 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 ...

, and was sunk in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in an air attack on 11 May 1942. Commissioned in 1941, she was briefly active in home waters, sailing in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, but was soon reassigned to the Mediterranean, where she was active as part of 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 ...

, and

Force K Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to ...

, based at

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 ...

. ''Lively'' took part in escorting several convoys to and from the island, as well as intercepting enemy supply convoys to North Africa. She took part in the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Second Battles of Sirte, and was damaged on a number of occasions in air and surface attacks. She was eventually sunk off

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

in May 1942 while trying to intercept an enemy convoy.

Building and commissioning

''Lively'' was ordered on 31 March 1938 from

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

, of

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

as part of the 1937 Programme. She was laid down on 20 December 1938, launched on 29 January 1941, and commissioned on 20 July 1941. Her initial armament was altered slightly during construction in 1940, and she became one of four ships of her class to be rated as anti-aircraft destroyers.

Wartime career

North Sea and Mediterranean

After working up in July 1941, ''Lively'' was assigned to

Western Approaches Command Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...

in August, and was based at

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

. One of her first duties was to deploy from

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

on 22 August with and the cruiser to escort the damaged French submarine back to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. In September she was assigned to the

4th Destroyer Flotilla The British 4th Destroyer Flotilla or Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1909 to July 1951. History In 1907 the Home Fleet had a large formation of destroyers called the Home Fleet Flotilla of destroy ...

based at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, where she was one of the destroyers assigned to screen the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, and other capital ships, making deliveries of aircraft to

. On 24 September she sailed from Gibraltar as part of the escort for ''Ark Royal'', and the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s , and , which were supporting

Operation Halberd Operation Halberd was a British naval operation that took place on 27 September 1941, during the Second World War. The British were attempting to deliver a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. The convoy was escorted by several battleships and an ai ...

. The ships came under air attack which left ''Rodney'' slightly damaged, but the destroyers were able to drive off the enemy aircraft. While returning to Gibraltar on 30 September, the ships were attacked by the Italian submarine . ''Lively'' supported the hunt for her, which eventually sank ''Adua''.

Malta and convoys

''Lively'' remained at Gibraltar until being assigned to

in October and despatched to escort

Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in late-June 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place ...

, which was delivering aircraft to Malta. She was then based out of Malta, and on 8 November she sailed with and the cruisers and to intercept an enemy supply convoy in the central Mediterranean. The convoy was brought to action on 9 November, and the

Battle of the Duisburg Convoy The Battle of the Duisburg Convoy (Battle of the BETA Convoy) was fought on the night of 1941 between an Italian convoy, its escorts and four British ships. The convoy was named BETA (''Duisburg'' refers to the largest ship) by the Italian naval ...

broke out between the British attackers and the Italian escorts. During the battle all seven of the merchants and one of the escorts, the destroyer , were sunk. Another convoy was detected near Malta by aircraft later in the month, and Force K put to sea again on 23 November to intercept it. The following day the convoy, consisting of the German supply ships ''Maritza'' and ''Procidas'', and two escorting Italian torpedo boats, was attacked and both merchants sunk. On 1 December the Italian troop transport ''Adriatio'' was sunk by ''Aurora'' and ''Penelope'', with some survivors being rescued by ''Lively''. Later that day the damaged Italian tanker ''Irido Mantovani'', which was being towed by the destroyer , was intercepted, and both ships sunk; the Italian destroyer fought back with such gallantry that the crew of ''Lively'' saluted it with

military honours A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards ...

as it sank. On 5 December ''Lively'' joined the cruisers and and the destroyers and in escorting the supply ship ''Breconshire'' from Malta to

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, and then joining ''Breconshire'' on her return leg from

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 ...

carrying supplies on 16 December. The following day they moved into the range of an Axis supply convoy being escorted by several Italian capital ships, and the

First Battle of Sirte The First Battle of Sirte was fought between forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the (Italian Royal Navy) during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of M ...

broke out. ''Lively'' took part in the confusing exchange, before being detached to escort ''Breconshire'' and several other warships into Malta. She returned to sea on 18 December with ''Aurora'', ''Penelope'' and ''Neptune'', and the destroyers , and ''Lance'' in an attempt to intercept an Italian supply convoy, but on 19 December the force ran into a

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

and ''Neptune'' and ''Kandahar'' were sunk and ''Aurora'' and ''Penelope'' were damaged. ''Lively'' spent January and February escorting relief convoys to and from Malta, before sailing with a force to locate a reported damaged Italian cruiser on 9 March. The force came under air attack on 11 March, with the cruiser being sunk by a torpedo. ''Lively'' helped to rescue survivors. On 22 March ''Lively'' became involved in the

Second Battle of Sirte The Second Battle of Sirte (on 22 March 1942) was a naval engagement in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Gulf of Sidra and south-east of Malta, during the Second World War. The escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta held off a much ...

, carrying out torpedo attacks and being damaged when a 15-inch shell exploded alongside. Detached to sail to

the following day, she suffered further damage from air attacks, but reached the port. ''Lively'' sailed from Tobruk to Alexandria in April, and then rejoined her flotilla after repairs had been completed.

Sinking

On 10 May she sailed from Alexandria with , and to transport supplies to Malta.Bragadin 2011, p. 215 The force was ordered to return if spotted by enemy aircraft, as there was only limited allied air cover available from a

Bristol Beaufort The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Bristol Blenheim, Blenheim li ...

. On 11 May the British force came under heavy air attack, with ''Lively'' being dive-bombed by a squadron of German

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

s armed with 1,100lbs and 550lbs bombs. The first attack pass took out her bridge, leading to a hull breach and the death of her commanding officer. The dive bombers then came round for a second strafe pass. The order was soon given to abandon ship. ''Lively'' sank north east of Tobruk, with the loss of 77 of her crew. ''Jervis'' and ''Jackal'' were both damaged in these attacks, with ''Jackal'' having to be scuttled by ''Jervis'' after attempts to tow her failed. ''Jervis'' took on board survivors from both ''Lively'' and ''Jackal'', and returned them to Alexandria. Despite a wartime career lasting less than a year since her commissioning, she won five

battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military ...

: Atlantic 1941, Mediterranean 1941, Malta Convoys 1941-2, Libya 1942, and Sirte 1942.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lively (G40) 1941 ships L and M-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in May 1942 Ships built on the River Mersey Destroyers sunk by aircraft World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Ships sunk by German aircraft