HMS Heythrop (L85)
| Navy: | Royal Navy |
| Type: | Escort destroyer |
| Class: | Hunt (Type II) |
| Pennant: | L 85 |
| Built by: | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.) |
| Laid down: | 18 Dec, 1939 |
| Launched: | 30 Oct, 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 21 Jun, 1941 |
| Complement: | 168 |
| Lost: | 20 Mar, 1942 (Lt. Cdr R. S. Stafford, RN.) (c 32-15'N, 25-15'E) Eastern Mediterranean, off Sidi Barrani , Egypt by 1 torpedo from German U.652 (Fraatz). |
| History: | HMS Heythrop was sent to
Scapa Flow to work up and later temporarily attached to the Irish Sea
Escort Force in the Western Approaches Command, before sailing for the
Mediterranean station. On 30 August 1941, the destroyer arrived at
Gibraltar where she was docked for a short time owing to defects in a stern
tube. On 13 September, the ship went to sea with the Gibraltar local escort
force covering the cruiser HMS Manchester and the destroyer HMS Firedrake,
en route to the U.S.A. as far as 25° West. On 25 September, HMS Heythrop
joined the heavy forces assembled in Gibraltar Strait to cover a convoy to
Malta during the Operation Halberd. Two days later, the British merchant
Imperial Star was torpedoed by aircraft north of Cape Bon, HMS Heythrop
took off 300 soldiers and rejoined the convoy which arrived at Malta on 28
September. The same day, the destroyer left with the force escorting three
empty ships back to Gibraltar. Early in October, HMS Heythrop sailed via
South Africa for Alexandria, arriving on 15 November, where she joined the
2nd Destroyer Flotilla and shortly after arrival was despatched for two
operations in support of the Libyan offensive: Operation Aggressive,
reinforcements for Tobruk on 19 November and Operation Landmark, a
diversionary convoy from Malta to the southward that returned after dark to
give the impression of an intended landing in Tripoli. In the period
November 1941 to January 1942, the destroyer made several passages from
Alexandria to Tobruk, generally under almost incessant attacks by enemy
torpedo bombers. She made her last run to Tobruk on 30 January 1942,
escorting the steam merchant Antwerp (carrying 370 personnel) and returned
to Alexandria seven days later.
Battle Honours: At 1054hours on 20 March 1942, HMS Heythrop was hit by one of four fired torpedoes from U-652 about 40 miles northeast of Bardia in position 32.22N, 25.28E and was then taken in tow by the British destroyer HMS Eridge towards Tobruk, but foundered five hours later. HMS Heythrop carried out an anti-submarine search together with five other Hunt-class destroyers between Alexandria and Bardia during that night, because another Malta convoy was planned to leave Alexandria for Malta (Operation MG-1) on 20 March. |
