Name HMS Garth Laid down 8 June 1939 Identification pennant number L20 Launched 14 February 1940 Draft 3.27 m | Ordered 21 March 1939 Completed 8 June 1940 Construction started 8 June 1939 Length 85 m Builder John Brown & Company | |
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Honours andawards North Sea 1941-45English Channel 1942-44Dieppe 1942Normandy 1944 | ||
HMS Garth was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde, and launched on 28 December 1939. She was adopted by the Civil Community of Wokingham, Berkshire, as part of the Warship Week campaign in 1942.
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Service history
On commissioning in 1940 Garth completed work ups for service in Home waters, including the Northwestern approaches and the English Channel. She provided escort cover for the monitor HMS Erebus during the evacuation of Dunkirk. In November 1940 along with HMS Campbell she sunk the E-Boat S38 off Southwold - the first E-Boat sunk during an attack on a coastal convoy.
During 1941 and 1942 she continued escort duties for convoy defence off the East coast. In 1942 she was nominated to provide cover for the Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) in August 1942. Following this the destroyer continued duties in the English Channel and North sea. In February 1943 Garth rammed and sank the E-Boat S73 off Yarmouth.
In April 1944 Garth was nominated to provide support for the Allied landings in Normandy. In October 1944 she provided naval gunfire support ahead of the Allied assault on Walcheren, which defended the Scheldt estuary and port of Antwerp. She then returned to convoy escort and patrol duties in the North Sea.
After August 1945 she was used as an accommodation ship at Chatham. She was subsequently placed in reserve. She was then sold to Thos W Ward for scrap. She arrived for scrapping at Barrow on 25 August 1958.