HMS ''Quorn'' 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

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 ...

, built in 1940 and sunk off the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

coast on 3 August 1944. The class were named after British

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and stag hunts, in this case, the

Quorn Hunt The Quorn Hunt, usually called the Quorn, established in 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt. Its country is mostly in Leicestershire, together with some smaller areas of ...

, which was originally based in Quorn

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. ''Quorn'' was built by

J. Samuel White J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White (1838–1915). It came to prominence during the Victorian era. During the 20th century it built destroyers and other naval craft for both the ...

and Co. at

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. A Type 1 Hunt-class destroyer, she was launched on 27 March 1940 and completed on 21 September 1940 with the pennant number L66. She was adopted by the civil community of Rushden, Northamptonshire, 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.

Service history

1941

''Quorn'' joined the 21st Destroyer Flotilla at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

. The flotilla undertook convoy protection, anti-shipping and patrol duties. ''Quorn'' stayed with the flotilla for the whole of her commission. In April ''Quorn'' was superficially damaged by two

delay-action bomb A delay-action bomb is an aerial bomb designed to explode some time after impact, with the bomb's fuzes set to delay the explosion for times ranging from very brief to several weeks. Short delays are used to allow the bomb to penetrate before expl ...

s, that exploded from her port quarter. In August whilst on passage from Harwich to Chatham, ''Quorn'' set off a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

off her port bow. She was repaired at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

, that was completed in September.

1942

In April ''Quorn'' hit another mine that blew a hole in the port side of the ship. Two of ship's company were killed and one injured. Her No 1 boiler room was flooded and major structural damage sustained. She was towed to Harwich and then to

Sheerness Sheerness () is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby ...

where repairs took 4 months to complete. On 13 October ''Quorn'' was one of the five destroyers that intercepted the German

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. ''Komet'' was sunk and two M-class minesweepers were heavily damaged and set on fire. An hour later a second patrolling force of the same operation engaged a group of escort vessels, sinking an

R boat The R boats (''Räumboote'' in German, literally "clearing boats", meaning minesweepers) were a group of small naval vessels built as minesweepers for the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) before and during the Second World War. They were used for ...

, (minesweeper) and damaging a

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

1943

North Sea convoy protection duties with the 21st Destroyer Flotilla.

1944

In June ''Quorn'' was an escort for convoys of personnel during

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, the naval part of

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, the

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

. On 3 August, she was hit and sunk by a

human torpedo Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. ...

piloted by Herbert Berrer of the during an attack on the British assault area by a force of

E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat"; plural ''Schnellboote'') of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a pat ...

s, explosive motorboats, human torpedoes and low flying aircraft. Those that survived the initial attack spent up to eight hours in the water before being rescued, and many of these died. One hundred and thirty of her crew were lost.

References

Publications

* Colledge, J. J. & Warlow, Ben: Ships of the Royal Navy - The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present. Newbury, UK: Casemate, 2010. * English, John: The Hunts - A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. Cumbria: World Ship Society, 1987. * * Whitley, M. J.: Destroyers of World War Two – An International Encyclopedia: Arms and Armour, 1988.

External links

HMS Quorn at Uboat.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quorn (L66) Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in August 1944 Naval ships of Operation Neptune Ships built on the Isle of Wight 1940 ships Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel