HMS Whaddon (L45)

HMS Whaddon (L45) was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built by Alexander Stephen & Sons of Linthouse, Govan and launched on 16 July 1940. She was laid down on 27 July 1939 and commissioned 28 February 1941. She was adopted by the civil community of Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, as part of the Warship Week campaign in 1942.

Whaddon, 19 June 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Whaddon
Ordered	11 April 1939
Builder	Alexander Stephen & Sons, Linthouse, Govan
Yard number	Admiralty Job No.1472
Laid down	27 July 1939
Launched	16 July 1940
Commissioned	28 February 1941
Identification	Pennant number: L45
Honours and awards	North Sea 1941-43 Sicily 1943 Salerno 1943 Mediterranean 1943 South France 1944 Aegean 1944 Adriatic 1944
Fate	Scrapped in April 1959
General characteristics
Class and type	Type I Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,000 long tons (1,016 t) standard 1,340 long tons (1,362 t) full load
Length	85 m (278 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	8.8 m (28 ft 10 in)
Draught	3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp
Speed	27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h) 26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h) full
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) at 26 kn (48 km/h)
Complement	146
Armament	4 × QF 4 in Mark XVI 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 40 depth charges, 2 throwers, 1 rack

Service history

During 1941 and 1942 she was on North Sea Convoy escort duties.

She was then allocated to the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1943 where she undertook escort and patrol duties and provided cover for the allied landings in Sicily and Salerno.

On 29 September 1945 Whaddon sailed from Gibraltar to Devonport and was placed in reserve.^[1] She was scrapped at Faslane in April 1959. She has since had a British Sea Cadet Corps unit named after it, T.S Whaddon.

References

1. Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2, page 29

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.
• English, John (1987). 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. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-44-4.

External links

• Profile on naval-history.net