HMS ''Wren'' (D88/I88) was an Admiralty modified W 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 ...

built for 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 was ordered in April 1918 from Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited under the 13th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Program of 1918–19. She was the third Royal Navy ship to carry the name, which was introduced in 1653.

Construction

HMS ''Wren''s keel was laid in June 1918 at the Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited,

Scotstoun Scotstoun () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde (and Braehead ...

. The signing of the armistice with Germany led to the cancellation of 35 destroyers out of ''Wren''s class of 56, but she survived this and the cancellation of a further seven vessels in September 1919. ''Wren'' was launched on 11 November 1919, after which she was towed to the dockyard at

Pembroke Dock Pembroke Dock () is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly following the constr ...

for completion.

Inter War Years

After a delay, she was commissioned into the

on 23 January 1923 with

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

D88. After commissioning 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 ...

of the Atlantic Fleet. She served mainly in home waters and in 1938 was assigned as rescue ship for the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

carriers.

Second World War

In September 1939 ''Wren'' was transferred to the 16th Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth for convoy defence and anti-submarine patrols in the English Channel and

Southwest Approaches The Southwest Approaches is the name given to the offshore waters to the southwest of Great Britain and Ireland. The area includes the Celtic Sea, the Bristol Channel and sea areas off southwest Ireland. The area is bordered on the north by the ...

. In November she was transferred to

Nore Command The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. Nore, The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of t ...

for convoy defence 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 ...

. ''Wren'' was reassigned to the

18th Destroyer Flotilla 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. It is an even composite number. Mathematics 18 is a semiperfect number and an abundant number. It is a largely composite number, as it has 6 divisors and no smaller number has ...

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 January 1940 and undertook convoy defence once more in the Southwest Approaches. Following the German invasion of Norway in April 1940 she transferred to Scapa Floe to carry out convoy escort duties to Norway. She provided gunfire support to the British landings at

Bjerkvik or is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located at the end of Herjangsfjorden, an arm of Ofotfjorden. Bjerkvik sits less than south of the border of Troms county and about across the fjord from the Na ...

but returned to convoy duties and did not take part in the evacuation of the British expeditionary force. At the end of May her pennant number was changed to I88 for visual signalling purposes. On 25 June she returned to the 16th Destroyer Flotilla based at Harwich for convoy escort and patrol duties in Nore Command.

Loss

On 27 July 1940 ''Wren'', alongside ''Montrose'', was providing anti-aircraft protection for minesweeping operations off

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

, Suffolk. She came under heavy and sustained dive bombing attack by 15

Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the ...

aircraft and was damaged by several near misses which holed her below the waterline. Collapsed bulkheads caused heavy flooding which led her to sink quickly, killing 37 of her crew. ''Wren''s survivors were rescued by the minesweepers.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* Service History of HMS ''Wren'
Naval History Web Site
* Uboat.ne

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wren (D88) V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy 1919 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in July 1940