HMS Mohawk (F31)

HMS ''Mohawk'' was one of 16 destroyers built for the Royal Navy shortly before the beginning of Second World War in 1939. Completed in 1938 the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was briefly involved enforcing the arms blockade on the combatants in the Spanish Civil War in early 1939. ''Mohawk'' returned home shortly after the start of the Second World War and was assigned convoy escort duties, during which she was damaged by German bombers. She played an active role in the Norwegian Campaign of April–May 1940, escorting convoys to and from Norway.

The ship was assigned to the 14th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) of the Mediterranean Fleet in June and began escorting convoys to Malta and Greece. ''Mohawk'' played a minor role in the Battle of Calabria in July and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. The following month the ship was sunk by torpedoes fired by an Italian destroyer off the Tunisian coast as the 14th DF attacked an Italian convoy, with the loss of 41 of her crew.

Description

The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to improve the firepower of the existing destroyer flotillas and were thus significantly larger and more heavily armed than the preceding . The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. They had an overall length of , a beam of Lenton, p. 165 and a draught of .English, p. 12 The destroyers were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . During her sea trials ''Mohawk'' made from at a displacement of . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the flotilla leaders carried an extra 20 officers and men consisting of the Captain (D) 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 twin-gun mounts, one pair each fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. The mounts had a maximum elevation 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 roof that fed data acquired by it and the rangefinder on the Mk II Rangefinder/Director directly aft of the DCT to an analogue mechanical computer, the Mk I Admiralty Fire Control Clock. Anti-aircraft fire for the main guns was controlled by the Rangefinder/Director which sent data to the mechanical Fuze Keeping Clock.

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, one depth charge 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 guns in a twin-gun mount. To better control the guns, the existing rangefinder/director was modified to accept a Type 285 gunnery radar 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 was shortened and the mainmast was reduced to a short pole mast.

Construction and career

Authorized as one of seven Tribal-class destroyers under the 1935 Naval Estimates, ''Mohawk'' was the eleventh ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was ordered on 10 March 1936 from John I. Thornycroft & Company and was laid down on 16 July at the company's Woolston, Southampton, shipyard. Launched on 5 October 1937, ''Mohawk'' was completed on 7 September 1938 and commissioned two days later at a cost of £339,585 which excluded weapons and communications outfits furnished by the Admiralty. Under the command of Commander Richard Frank Jolly, the ship was initially assigned to the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet and arrived at Malta on 13 October. The following month she patrolled the Malta-Egypt leg of the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s Long-Range Development Flight of three Vickers Wellesley bombers that were preparing to break the world flight distance record by flying from Egypt to Australia non-stop. At the end of the month, ''Mohawk'' ferried the British Ambassador to Turkey back to Istanbul from his annual visit to the Helles Memorial and then cruised through the Aegean Sea before returning to Malta.

The flotilla sailed to Gibraltar where the Mediterranean and Home Fleets were gathering for combined exercises. These ran from 28 February to 18 March 1939 and involved dozens of ships from both commands. ''Mohawk'' then patrolled the waters off the Mediterranean Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War to enforce the arms embargo imposed on both sides by the Non-Intervention Committee. On 23 March the ship rescued the crew of a damaged German floatplane that had been forced to land off Barcelona and returned them to Majorca. When Fascist Italy invaded Albania on 7 April, the Mediterranean Fleet was mobilised and remained on a war footing for most of May. During this time the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla was redesignated as the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. By July 7 tensions had decreased such that ''Mohawk'' and her sisters , , and were able to escort the aircraft carrier on a visit to Athens, Greece. The following month, the fleet spent a week exercising in the area between the Greek island of Crete and British Cyprus. As tensions rose in Europe later in August, the fleet was mobilised and continued to train in preparation for war with Italy. As part of its preparations, the Admiralty had closed the Mediterranean to British shipping and ''Mohawk'' and seven other destroyers escorted one group of ships that had collected at Suez, Egypt, through the Red Sea to reduce the congestion.

Second World War

When Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September, ''Mohawk'' was still in the Red Sea. As Italy took steps to prove her neutrality, the destroyers were released from their mission and returned to Alexandria where they began escorting convoys and conducting contraband inspections of non-British ships. This was not the best use of the Tribals and the 4th DF was ordered back to England in October. They arrived at Portland on the 13th and escorted a convoy northwards on 15–16 October. As the ships were approaching Rosyth, Scotland, the Luftwaffe made the first attack of the war on British territory, taking the British by surprise. Only one of ''Mohawk''s AA guns was able to fire before a bomber from I Group/Bomber Wing 30 (Kampfgeschwader 30) dropped two bombs that straddled the destroyer. Near-missing the ship, the bombs detonated on impacting the water and sprayed splinters all along its upper deck, killing 15 men and wounding 30. Jolly was mortally wounded, but refused all assistance and continued to conn ''Mohawk'' until he passed out. He was posthumously awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal, which was later upgraded to the George Cross. The ship received temporary repairs at Rosyth before she sailed to Hawthorn Leslie's shipyard in Hebburn for permanent repairs. The oil tanker struck a mine on 14 December, while ''Mohawk'' and the destroyer were working up, but the British believed that the tanker had been torpedoed. The two ships were ordered to search for the U-boat believed to be responsible and blundered into the minefield. ''Kelly'' struck a mine that malfunctioned and did not detonate until it was just abaft the ship's stern. The detonation badly damaged her steering and caused her to take on water. ''Mohawk'' was able to take her in tow until a tugboat arrived, after which ''Mohawk'' escorted the ships back to the Hawthorn Leslie yard from which both ships had recently emerged.

The destroyer returned to escort duties afterwards, both for convoys and the Home Fleet. While escorting the newly completed ocean liner through the Firth of Clyde on 3 March 1940, ''Mohawk'' was slightly damaged when the cargo ship collided with her; repairs were completed on 19 March. The 4th DF was then allocated to Plan R 4, a preemptive occupation of cities in western Norway after a German invasion had begun, and was tasked to escort the troop-laden ships of the 1st Cruiser Squadron to Bergen and Stavanger. The Germans decided to move first and occupied most Norwegian ports in a sea- and airborne assault (Operation Weserübung) on 9 April that took both the Norwegians and the Allies by surprise.

Norwegian Campaign

Receiving word that the RAF had attacked north-bound German warships in the North Sea on 7 April, the Home Fleet put to sea that evening. The 2nd Cruiser Squadron departed Rosyth with its two light cruisers, escorted by ''Mohawk'' and the rest of the 4th DF, with orders to sweep through the North Sea before rendezvousing with the main body of the Home Fleet. On the morning of 9 April the 4th DF, minus , was tasked with attacking Bergen, covered by the 18th Cruiser Squadron, but the Admiralty cancelled the attack that afternoon when it received reports that two German light cruisers were in port. As the British ships were falling back on the main body of the Home Fleet, they were attacked by 88 bombers of Bomber Wing 26 (Kampfgeschwader 26) and Bomber Wing 30, sinking ''Gurkha'' and lightly damaging the battleship .

After refuelling at Scapa Flow the following day, ''Mohawk'', five of her sisters and two light cruisers departed on the evening of 11 April, arriving off Stadlandet the following morning. The destroyers were split up to search the area for German ships before rendezvousing with the cruisers at dusk, but an inaccurate spot report of a German battlecruiser and cruiser that afternoon forestalled the searches as the destroyers were recalled. On the morning of 13 April the destroyers were sent to search the Romsdalsfjord and only found four merchant ships. As they were leaving Ålesund they were unsuccessfully attacked by a dozen bombers from III Group, Demonstration Wing 1 (Lehrgeschwader 1). The following morning they were ordered north to the Namsos area to examine its suitability for an Allied landing and to coordinate with local Norwegian forces. Harbour facilities were assessed as inadequate and that troops should be landed elsewhere and transferred to destroyers for off-loading at Namsos. The Admiralty ordered that the 148th Infantry Brigade, already at sea, to be diverted to the anchorage at Lillesjona; its troopships arrived there at dawn on 16 April and began transferring their troops to the destroyers after they had completed refuelling. Half-a-dozen Luftwaffe bombers disrupted the transfer that afternoon with little effect. The destroyers unloaded their troops that night and the rest of the troops arrived the following evening. The destroyers and their covering cruisers were ordered home on 19 April.

''Mohawk'' and four other destroyers escorted a small supply convoy to Åndalsnes and Molde that was so heavily attacked by the Luftwaffe on 27 April that they had to abort their mission before two of the ships could complete their unloading. The former town was set on fire, but the ships only suffered splinter damage. They were attacked again the following day as they withdrew. On 1–4 May ''Mohawk'' escorted the troopship as she transported No. 1 Independent Company to Mo i Rana. The ship embarked British diplomats in The Hague, the Netherlands, on the 11th. With tensions rising with Italy, the Admiralty ordered a total of 17 destroyers, including ''Mohawk'' and her sister transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 14 May, although the destroyer received a brief refit before departing.

Mediterranean service

En route to Alexandria, the ship suffered steering problems and had to divert to Gibraltar for repairs, finally arriving on 29 May to joint the 14th DF. On 27–30 June ''Mohawk'' was part of the escort force for convoys coming from the Dardanelles and Greece to Port Said, Egypt. Italy declared war on 10 June and the fleet sortied that night and sailed to within of the Italian coast, losing an elderly cruiser to an Italian submarine before returning to Alexandria on the 14th. ''Mohawk'' played a minor role in the Battle of Calabria on 8 July, escorting the battleship . ''Mohawk'' and ''Nubian'', together with the destroyers and , were ordered to Gibraltar on 22 August where they were to temporarily join Force H to escort reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet as part of Operation Hats. ''Nubian'' had engine problems that forced her to put into Malta for repairs while ''Hostile'' struck an Italian mine en route the following day off Cap Bon that broke her back. ''Mohawk'' took off the survivors while ''Hero'' scuttled ''Hostile'' with torpedoes. The three ships arrived in Gibraltar on the 29th; the following day, the destroyers proceeded to sea and rendezvoused with the fleet on 2 September.

''Mohawk'' and ''Nubian'' were escorting the heavy cruiser during a bombardment of Bardia, Italian Libya, on 17 September when she was torpedoed by an Italian torpedo bomber. ''Nubian'' towed her back to Alexandria while ''Mohawk'' escorted them until they arrived on the 19th. Three days later, the 14th DF, including ''Mohawk'', bombarded the airfield at Sidi Barrani and nearby targets; the ship returned on 25 September, attacking truck concentrations. While the bulk of the Mediterranean Fleet covered the aircraft carrier as her aircraft attack the Italian Fleet in Taranto on the night of 11/12 November, Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell took three light cruisers, escorted by ''Mohawk'' and ''Nubian'' turned north to attack Italian shipping in the southern Adriatic Sea. They encountered a small convoy of four ships, escorted by the auxiliary cruiser and the torpedo boat . ''Mohawk'' was the first to open fire, claiming a hit on ''Ramb III'' and then one on the torpedo boat, although both ships were able to break contact. The cruisers sank all of the merchantmen before reuniting with the main body. On the night of 11/12 December, the destroyer escorted the monitor as she bombarded Italian positions near Sollum, Egypt.

1941

''Mohawk'' was one of the escorts for the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet as they bombarded Bardia on 3 January 1941. The following week she participated in Operation Excess, a series of convoys to resupply Malta and convey reinforcement for the Mediterranean Fleet past Malta. The ship was part of the escort force for the main body of the fleet until one of the other escorts, the destroyer , struck a mine on 10 January that blew off her bow; ''Mohawk'' was detailed to tow her stern-first to Malta where they arrived the following day. After refuelling she departed to go to the assistance of the light cruisers and which had been attacked by German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers. The former's fires burnt out of control and she had to be scuttled. The 14th DF covered the bombardment of Tobruk by the Inshore Squadron on the night of 19/20 January. A few days later, the flotilla formed part of the escort for the damaged ''Illustrious'' as she steamed from Malta to Alexandria on 23–25 January.

For most of the Battle of Cape Matapan, ''Mohawk'' and the 14th DF escorted the fleet's battleships, but they were detached at dusk on 28 March to find and sink the badly damaged . The flotilla turned around about six hours later based on an erroneous report of a drifting battleship and spotted the burning heavy cruiser early on the morning of the 29th after she had been crippled by the British battleships at point-blank range the previous evening. The British ships picked up survivors and torpedoed the wreck. About an hour later they discovered the drifting heavy cruiser which had had all power knocked out by a torpedo hit earlier in the day. The British rescued the survivors crewmen before sinking the cruiser with three torpedoes and rejoining the main body of the fleet.

The 14th DF escorted a convoy from Egypt to Greece from 1 to 6 April, although the convoy was attacked by Luftwaffe bombers, none of the destroyers were damaged. The flotilla arrived at Malta on 10/11 April with orders to interdict the Italian supply convoys between Italy and Libya at night. The first two patrols were uneventful, but British aircraft had located a small convoy off the Tunisian coast on the afternoon of the 15th. The destroyers sortied at dusk to search for the convoy and spotted it in the early hours of 16 April. The convoy consisted of five cargo ships escorted by three destroyers. Captain Philip Mack, commander of the 14th DF, manoeuvred his ships to silhouette the convoy against the moon and closed to a range of only before his flagship, and her sister opened fire on the trailing destroyer, , at 02:20, quickly disabling her guns and turbines, and setting her on fire.

''Mohawk'' and ''Nubian'' were in the rear of the formation and engaged the rearmost freighter, , which was carrying a load of ammunition, causing an explosion and setting her on fire. As the sisters advanced down the side of the convoy, ''Mohawk'' withheld fire as all of the targets were being engaged. By 02:35 the leading escort, the destroyer , had turned back and was taken under fire by all of the British ships. As the Italian ship was sinking, her crew was able to fire two torpedoes under manual control. The first of these struck ''Mohawk'' just after she had turned to avoid being rammed by the freighter as the destroyer passed through the convoy shortly after 02:45. The torpedo hit ''Mohawk'' on the starboard side abreast 'Y' gun mount, knocking out both aft mounts and blowing off the upper stern. Although the ship had stopped and was awash up to 'X' mount, the chief engineer reported five minutes later that he believed that the propellers and their shafts were intact and that the ship could move. Before he could do so, another torpedo struck the port side on the bulkhead that separated the middle and aft boiler rooms at 02:53. Its detonation caused the aft boiler to explode and the upper deck to split down the middle. ''Mohawk'' capsized a minute later with her stern touching the shallow bottom with the loss of 41 crewmen. The British ships rescued her surviving crew and ''Janus'' had to put four shells into her buoyant forecastle to put the ship fully underwater off the Kerkennah Islands.Admiralty Historical Section 2002b, p. 91; Brice, pp. 189–190; English, pp. 36–37; O'Hara, p. 111

Notes

Sources

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External links

HMS MOHAWK (L 31) - Tribal-class Destroyer, including Convoy Escort Movements


IWM Interview with survivor William Lashmer

IWM Interview with survivor Peter Blackwell

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohawk (F31)
1937 ships
Maritime incidents in April 1941
Ships built in Southampton
Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal Navy
World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom
World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea