HMS Gipsy

HMS Gipsy (H63)

Navy:	Royal Navy
Type:	Destroyer
Class:	G
Pennant:	H 63
Built by:	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland)
Laid down:	5 Sep, 1934
Launched:	7 Nov, 1935
Commissioned:	22 Feb, 1936
Complement:	145
Lost:	21 Nov, 1939 (Lt. Cdr. N.J. Crossley, RN.)(51°55.96'N-01°18.59'E) was mined by German laid mines and sunk in the channel to Harwich Harbour, East coast England. Loss of 30 men, the remaining crew were taken off by the Polish destroyer Burza and the British tug Stronghold. Beached in shallow water she was not re-commissioned.

History:	17/18 November 1939. The minefield in which she was sunk was laid during the night of 17/18 November 1939 by the German destroyers Hermann Künne, Bernd von Arnim and Wilhelm Heidkamp. 21 Nov, 1939 The Polish destroyers Burza, Grom and the British HMS Gipsy were ordered to leave Harwich and establish a patrol. Shortly before that, German airplane dropped two magnetic mines nearby, but there was no time for searching. HMS Gipsy hit one of those mines which tore her into two pieces. The Polish destroyers rescued the survivors and continued the patrol.