Harman Patil (Editor)

HMS Dunkirk (D09)

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Name
  
HMS Dunkirk

Laid down
  
19 July 1944

Decommissioned
  
1963

Construction started
  
19 July 1944

Length
  
116 m

Ordered
  
1943

Commissioned
  
27 November 1946

Fate
  
Broken up 1965

Launched
  
27 August 1945

HMS Dunkirk (D09) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Builder
  
Alexander Stephen and Sons

HMS Dunkirk (D09) was a later or 1943 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the British Royal Navy (RN). Though there were other ships of the Navy that had been named Dunkirk, as far back as the 1650s, it held added meaning after the dramatic, and at times, tragic and heroic evacuation from Dunkirk between late May and early June 1940, in which over 300,000 British, as well as French troops, were rescued by a ragtag fleet of ships.

Contents

Dunkirk was built by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Govan. She was launched on 27 August 1945 and commissioned on 27 November 1946.

Service

In the year of her commissioning, Dunkirk joined the 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet. In 1950, Dunkirk was placed in Reserve, as were many of her sister-ships in the 1950s. She subsequently performed a variety of duties and in 1958, while in the Mediterranean, Dunkirk, in broad daylight, collided with her sister-ship HMS Jutland during naval manoeuvres off Malta, causing minor damage.

In 1961, Dunkirk, along with the cruiser HMS Lion and the frigate HMS Leopard, undertook a tour of the South American continent. Instead of returning home to the UK from the deployment's culmination Dunkirk deployed to the Mediterranean to take up the duties of HMS Broadsword, a Weapon-class destroyer of the 7th Destroyer Squadron, based in the Mediterranean, which had experienced some engine problems and therefore had to be replaced. Dunkirk finally returned home in 1963.

Decommissioning and disposal

In 1965 'Dunkirk was listed as 'reserve' and later that year was scrapped at Faslane.

Publications

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
  • Hodges, Peter (1971). Battle Class Destroyers. London: Almark Publishing. ISBN 0-85524-012-1. 
  • References

    HMS Dunkirk (D09) Wikipedia