HMS Bramham

HMS Bramham (L51) was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down in Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyards Govan, Scotland on 7 April 1941. She was launched on 29 January 1942 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 16 June 1942. She was named after the Bramham Moor Hunt and has been the only Royal Navy warship to bear the name. She was adopted by the town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the Warship Week savings campaign of 1942.

HMS Bramham on the River Clyde, 1942 (IWM)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Bramham
Ordered	4 September 1940
Builder	Alexander Stephen and Sons
Laid down	7 April 1941
Launched	29 January 1942
Commissioned	16 June 1942
Decommissioned	March 1943
Identification	Pennant number: L51
Fate	Transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy, March 1943.
Greece
Name	Themistoklis
Namesake	Themistocles
Acquired	March 1943
Commissioned	1943
Decommissioned	1959
Stricken	12 November 1959
Fate	Returned to Royal Navy, 12 November 1959 and scrapped 1960
General characteristics
Class and type	Type II Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,067 t) standard; 1,490 long tons (1,514 t) full load
Length	85.34 m (280.0 ft)
Beam	9.62 m (31.6 ft)
Draught	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion	2 shaft Parsons geared turbines; 19,000 shp
Speed	25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph)
Range	3,600 nmi (6,670 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement	164
Armament	6 × QF 4 in Mark XVI on twin mounts Mk. XIX AAA - 2 × 4 12.7mm Vickers, 2 × 20 mm 6 Thornycroft depth charge throwers

Royal Navy service

Bramham was one of two ships that returned to rescue the survivors of HMS Curacoa.^[1]

In the following August she served in Operation Pedestal, a mission to deliver supplies to the besieged island of Malta, as an escorting destroyer. On 12 August she rescued survivors from Deucalion. In the last stages of the operation Bramham along with two other destroyers, Ledbury and Penn took on the final tow of the tanker Ohio into Malta.^[2]

Royal Hellenic Navy service

For other ships with the same name, see Greek ship Themistoklis.

In March 1943 Bramham was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy and renamed Themistoklis after the ancient Greek commander Themistocles. She served until 1959 and was then returned to the Royal Navy on 12 November 1959. She was scrapped in Greece in 1960.^[3]

References

1. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80015884 - Recollection of Edgar Wilson, Seaman serving on board HMS Curacoa, Imperial War Museum interview.
2. "HMS Bramham, escort destroyer".
3. Raymond V B Blackman (ed.). Jane's Fighting Ships 1963-4. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 112.

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.
• The Hunts: a history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II, John English, World Ship Society, 1987, ISBN 0-905617-44-4