Name HMS Lauderdale Laid down 12 December 1939 Identification pennant number L95 Length 85 m Builder John Isaac Thornycroft | Ordered 4 September 1939 Commissioned August 1942 Launched 5 August 1941 Draft 3.51 m | |
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Out of service Loaned to the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1946 | ||
HMS Lauderdale was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Ships of this class were designed as cheap, easily built vessels for convoy escort and antisubmarine duties. She was named like her sisters after a fox hunt, in her case one in Berwickshire. War bonds were issued to finance the building of warships. During Warship Week held in 1942 the civil community of Berwickshire adopted the ship. She has been the only Royal Navy warship to carry this name.
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Service history
On commissioning she was allocated for duty in the Western Approaches and crossed the Atlantic to Canada for trials - the only Hunt Class vessel to make the crossing. At the end of March 1942 she returned to Londonderry and undertook North Sea convoy escort duty for the rest of the year.
In 1943 she was allocated for service in the Mediterranean, including support of the allied landings on Sicily in July of that year. In 1944 she continued operations in the Mediterranean and was allocated to support the landings in the South of France. She ended the year in the Adriatic Sea supporting operations there.
In 1945 Lauderdale was allocated for service in the Far East and underwent a refit at Simonstown, South Africa. In 1946 she was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy and renamed Aigaion. She was removed from the effective list and returned to British ownership on 12 December 1959 and scrapped in Greece in 1960.