HMS Escort (H66)

The E-class ships were slightly improved versions of the preceding D class. They displaced {{convert|1405|LT|t}} at standard load and {{convert|1940|LT|t}} at deep load. The ships had an overall length of {{convert|329|ft|m|1}}, a beam of {{convert|33|ft|3|in|m|1}} and a draught of {{convert|12|ft|6|in|m|1}}. They were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of {{convert|36000|shp|lk=in}} and gave a maximum speed of {{convert|35.5|kn|lk=in}}. Escort carried a maximum of {{convert|470|LT|t}} of fuel oil that gave her a range of {{convert|6350|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}. The ships' complement was 145 officers and ratings.Lenton, p. 156

The ships mounted four 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. The E class was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for British 21 inch torpedo torpedoes.Whitley, p. 103 One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.English, p. 141

Escort was ordered from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at Greenock, Scotland on 1 November 1932, under the 1931 Construction Programme. She was laid down on 30 March 1933, and launched on 29 March 1934. She was commissioned on 30 October 1934, at a total cost of £249,587, excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament.English, pp. 63–64 Upon commissioning the ship was assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, aside from a brief deployment in the West Indies between January and March 1935. Afterwards, she was refitted in Sheerness from 27 March to 30 April. Escort was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet from September 1935 to March 1936, during the Abyssinian Crisis. She struck a lock while at Sheerness and required seven weeks of repairs that were not completed until 5 September. The ship patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War, enforcing the edicts of the Non-Intervention Committee until 24 March 1939, when she returned to the United Kingdom. Escort became tender to the light cruiser {{HMS|Caledon|D53|6}} of the Reserve Fleet upon her return, and was not recommissioned until 2 August, when she was assigned to the 12th Destroyer Flotilla.English, p. 71

On 3 September, Escort and her sister {{HMS|Electra|H27|6}} rescued some 300-odd survivors from the ocean liner {{SS|Athenia|1922|6}},English, p. 72 which had been torpedoed by the {{ship|German submarine|U-30|1936|6}}.Rohwer, p. 2 The ship was assigned to convoy escort and anti-submarine duties in the Western Approaches Command. She was transferred to Rosyth in December, for similar duties in the North Sea. Escort was refitted at Falmouth between 10 January and 12 February 1940, and resumed her duties afterwards. Together with the destroyers {{HMS|Inglefield|D02|6}} and {{HMS|Imogen|D44|6}}, she sank the {{GS|U-63|1939|6}} on 25 February,Rohwer, p. 16 after the German vessel had been spotted by the submarine {{HMS|Narwhal|N45|6}} some {{convert|90|mi|km}} east of the Orkney Islands.English, p. 120

When the Norwegian Campaign began in early April, Escort was transferred to the Home Fleet, and was screening the capital ships when they sortied into the North Sea looking for the German ship on 9 April. After her sister Eclipse was damaged by air attack on 11 April, Escort towed her to Sullom Voe.English, p. 113 The ship escorted the aircraft carriers {{HMS|Glorious||6}} and {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} from 25 April, as their aircraft attacked German targets in Norway. She accompanied Glorious when that ship returned to Scapa Flow to refuel and replenish her aircraft on 27 April.Haarr, pp. 146, 150 The ship was slightly damaged in a collision with the Polish ocean liner Chrobry on 11 May. Escort was based in Scapa Flow as part of the Home Fleet until 26 June, when she sailed for Gibraltar to join Force H. It is uncertain if her rear set of torpedo tubes were replaced by a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun AA gun at this time. She arrived on 2 July, and joined Force H in attacking ships of the French Navy at Mers-el-Kébir the next day. During Operation MA 5, a planned air attack on Italian airfields in Sardinia, Escort was torpedoed by the {{ship|Italian submarine|Guglielmo Marconi|1939|2}} on 11 July after the attack had been cancelled due to lack of surprise.Rohwer, p. 32 The torpedo blew a hole {{convert|20|ft|m|1}} wide between the two boiler rooms, but only killed two members of the crew. Later that morning she foundered.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s|year=1993|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Kendal, England|isbn=0-905617-64-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Haarr|first=Geirr H.|title=The Battle for Norway: April–June 1940|year=2010|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-051-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland|authorlink=Michael J. Whitley}}

{{E and F class destroyer}}

{{July 1940 shipwrecks}}

{{coord|36|6|35|N|3|22|12|W|display=title}}

{{Good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escort (H66)}}

Category:E and F-class destroyers of the Royal Navy

Category:Ships built on the River Clyde

Category:1934 ships

Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom

Category:Ships sunk by Italian submarines

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Maritime incidents in July 1940