HMS Southdown (L25)

HMS Southdown was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy which served in World War II. She was scrapped in 1956.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Southdown.
HMS Southdown at a buoy, c1941 (IWM)
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Southdown
Ordered: 11 April 1939
Builder: J. Samuel White, Isle of Wight
Laid down: 22 August 1939
Launched: 5 July 1940
Completed: 8 November 1940
Decommissioned: 1946
Identification: pennant number:L25
Honours and
awards:
  • North Sea 1941–45
  • Normandy 1944
Fate: Scrapped, 1956
Badge: On a Field Red, in front of two bugle horns in Saltire Gold, a horseshoe inverted white
General characteristics
Class and type: Type I Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard
  • 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length: 85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught: 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:
  • 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed:
  • 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h)
  • 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range: 3,600 nmi (6,700 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)
Complement: 164
Armament:
  • 6 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX
  • 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII
  • 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III
  • 110 depth charges, 2 throwers, 3 racks

Service history

Southdown was ordered on 11 April 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme as job number J6602.[1] She was completed in November 1940. She was adopted by the town of Woking in Surrey as part of Warship Week in 1942.

She earned battle honours during the Second World War for the North Sea 1941–1945, where she spent the majority of her service. In June 1944 she formed part of the Naval escort force in support of the Normandy Landings.

Following the war she was converted for use as an air target ship at Rosyth in September 1945. She then transferred to the Reserve Fleet at Portsmouth in April 1946. She remained there until sold to Thos W Ward for scrap. She arrived at the breakers yard at Barrow on 1 November 1956.[2]

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References
  1. Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004). Gordon Smith (ed.). "HMS Southdown (L 25) – Type I, Hunt-class Escort Destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  2. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 29. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.

Publications
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