HMS Saladin (1919)

{{Main|S-class destroyer (1917)|l1=S-class destroyer}}

Saladin was one of 33 Admiralty {{sclass2|S|destroyer (1917)|0}} destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty on 7 April 1917 as part of the Eleventh War Construction Programme. The design was a development of the {{sclass2|R|destroyer (1916)|4}} introduced at the same time as, and as a cheaper and faster alternative to, the {{sclass2|V and W|destroyer|4}}.{{sfn|Preston|1985|page=85}}{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=169}} Differences with the R class were minor, such as having the searchlight moved aft and being designed to mount an additional pair of torpedo tubes.{{sfn|March|1966|page=221}}

The destroyer had an overall length of {{convert|276|ft|m|abbr=on}} and a length of {{convert|265|ft|m|abbr=on}} between perpendiculars. Beam was {{convert|26|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} and mean draught {{convert|9|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}. Displacement was {{convert|1075|LT|t|lk=in}} normal and {{convert|1221|LT|t}} deep load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at {{convert|27000|shp|kW|lk=on}} and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of {{convert|36|kn|lk=on}} at normal loading and {{convert|32.5|kn}} at deep load. Two funnels were fitted. A full load of {{convert|301|LT|}} of fuel oil was carried, which gave a design range of {{convert|2750|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}.{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=297}}

Armament consisted of three QF 4 inch naval gun Mk IV, XII, XXII guns on the ship's centreline.{{sfn|Preston|1985|page=84}} One was mounted raised on the forecastle, one on a platform between the funnels, and one aft.{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=163}} The ship also mounted a single QF 2-pounder naval gun "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun for air defence. Four British 21 inch torpedo torpedo tubes were carried in two twin rotating mounts aft.{{sfn|Preston|1985|page=84}} Four depth charge chutes were also fitted aft. Initially, typically ten depth charges were carried.{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=236}} The ship was designed to mount two additional {{convert|18|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} torpedo tubes either side of the superstructure but this required the forecastle plating to be cut away, causing excess water to come aboard at sea, so they were removed.{{sfn|March|1966|page=221}} The weight saved enabled the heavier Mark V 21-inch torpedo to be carried.{{sfn|Preston|1985|page=85}} Fire control included a training-only director, single Dumaresq and a Vickers range clock.{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=146}} The ship had a complement of 90 officers and ratings.{{sfn|Parkes|Prendergast|1969|page=107}}

Laid down on 10 September 1917 during the First World War by Alexander Stephen and Sons at their dockyard in Linthouse, Glasgow, Saladin was launched on 17 February 1919 after the Armistice that ended the war and completed on 11 April.{{sfn|Parkes|Prendergast|1969|page=107}}{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=311}} The vessel was the only one in Royal Navy service named for Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, conqueror of Jerusalem and opponent of Richard I in the Third Crusade.{{sfn|Philips|2019|page=4}}{{sfn|Manning|Walker|1959|page=390}} Saladin was commissioned into the Reserve Fleet in Portsmouth on 18 August 1920.{{cite journal|title=778a Saladin |journal=The Navy List|date=January 1921|page=880|url=https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/94480740 |via=National Library of Scotland|access-date=10 September 2022}} The following few years were generally uneventful, the vessel serving as the emergency destroyer at Plymouth for much of the period.{{cite news |title=Royal Navy: Escort for King Faisal |newspaper=The Times |date=20 June 1933 |issue= 46475 |page=8}} On 19 June 1933, the destroyer formed part of the escort for King Faisal on a state visit.{{cite news |title=King Faisal's Programme |newspaper=The Times |date=19 June 1933 |issue=46474 |page=14}} On 17 September, the vessel took part in a water carnival in Brighton, the ship's searchlight adding to fireworks and other displays that celebrated the collaboration between the town and the city of Bristol.{{cite news |title=Bristol-Brighton Alliance: Illuminations Display |newspaper=The Times |date=18 September 1933 |issue=46552 |page=14}} On 16 July 1935, the destroyer was one of over 100 ships of the Royal Navy in a fleet review to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of George V.{{cite news |title=Jubilee Naval Review: Arrival of Ships from the Mediterranean |newspaper=The Times |date=13 April 1935 |issue=47038 |page=9}} Saladin was relieved as emergency destroyer by the newer W-class destroyer {{HMS|Westminster|L40|2}} on 1 October and became an independent operator under the retired first rate ship of the line {{HMS|Victory}} at Plymouth.{{cite news |title=Royal Navy: Destroyer Movements |newspaper=The Times |date=8 October 1935 |issue=47189 |page=7}}{{cite news |title=Royal Navy: Independent Destroyers |newspaper=The Times |date=11 October 1935 |issue=47192 |page=9}}

At the start of the Second World War, Saladin was in reserve at Portsmouth.{{cite journal|title=IV. Vessels under the V.A.C. Reserve Fleet|journal=The Navy List|date=September 1939|page=244|url= https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/92718274 |via=National Library of Scotland|access-date=10 September 2023}} It was intended that the warship would be sent to join the Eastern Fleet, but this was delayed by a boiler retubing. Instead, the destroyer was upgraded as an escort to join the Sixteenth Destroyer Flotilla.{{sfn|Brady|1986|page=15}} The aft gun and torpedo tubes were removed and a high-angle QF 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun was fitted on a bandstand abaft the middle funnel. Two quadruple Vickers .50 machine guns were also mounted for close-in defence. ASDIC was installed along with eight depth charge throwers and new depth charge rails aft. A total of 112 depth charges were now carried.{{sfn|Friedman|2009|page=236}} On 28 and 29 May 1940, while assisting in the Dunkirk evacuation of 47,310 British troops as part of Operation Dynamo, Saladin was attacked ten times by the German Luftwaffe, receiving multiple hits but none that put the ship out of action.{{sfn|Gardner|2014|pages=44, 54}}{{sfn|Rohwer|Hümmelchen|1992|page=21}} Nonetheless, the ship's engine room was so severely damaged that the vessel had to sail back to Dover at {{convert|15|kn}} and could take no part in the evacuation.{{sfn|Gardner|2014|page=45}} The destroyer was swiftly repaired ready to return to service. On 9 June, the ship was dispatched as part of the escort for a flotilla of ships sent to evacuate soldiers from Le Havre. Despite bombing from the Luftwaffe, 11,059 British troops were rescued by the flotilla on 11 June.{{sfn|Buckton|2017|pages=202–203}} The following day, the destroyer arrived in St Valery, and evacuated an additional 15 sailors.{{sfn|Martin|2010|page=42}}

For the majority of the war, Saladin acted as a convoy escort. Between May 1940 and May 1944, the destroyer accompanied 76 convoys, including nine travelling from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool.{{cite web | first=Don | last=Kindell | title=Convoy Web | url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html | work=Arnold Hague Convoy Database | access-date=10 September 2023}} Between 11 and 15 September 1941, the destroyer formed part of the Second Escort Group that accompanied Convoy SC 42. Apart from the loss of one merchant ship, the escorts managed to prevent successful attacks from German submarines, including {{ship|German submarine|U-43|1939|2}} and {{ship|German submarine|U-84|1941|2}} during the following night, and sank {{ship|German submarine|U-207||2}}.{{sfn|Rohwer|Hümmelchen|1992|page=82}}{{cite web | first=Don| last=Kindell | title=Convoy SC.42 | url= http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html?sc.php?convoy=42!~scmain | work=SC Convoy Series: Arnold Hague Convoy Database | access-date=10 September 2022}} Saladin remained part of the escort group for the remainder of the year, accompanying the Atlantic convoys ON 18 on 21 September, ON 25 on 13 October and HX 154 on 19 October.{{sfn|Rohwer|Hümmelchen|1992|pages=85, 91}} The following year saw the destroyer join the Seventh Escort Group, escorting the arctic convoy Convoy PQ 13 between 11 and 16 March. The passage was uneventful.{{sfn|Rohwer|Hümmelchen|1992|page=129}} During this time, the destroyer was upgraded again. The 12-pounder was removed and a Type 271 radar fitted instead while two single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon replaced the Vickers machine guns.{{sfn|Whitley|2002|page=84}}{{sfn|Friedman|2009|pages=243, 247}} These changes also increased the ship's displacement, which nearly reached {{convert|1400|LT}}.{{sfn|Brady|1986|page=19}}

In January 1944, Saladin was transferred to Plymouth to serve in the English Channel.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|page=66}} On 25 March 1944, Saladin rescued seven survivors from a Short Sunderland flying boat that had been shot down over the Bay of Biscay on 23 March.{{sfn|Nesbit|1991|p=270}} On 28 April, the destroyer helped rescue survivors from {{USS|LST-507||2}} and {{USS|LST-531||2}}, sunk by German E-boats during Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal of the Normandy landings.{{sfn|Hall|2003|page=73}}{{sfn|Lewis|1990|page=105}} Nonetheless, between 639 and 749 US Army soldiers and US Navy sailors lost their lives in the exercise.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|page=227}} Saladin had been dispatched to escort the convoy but a problem with number one boiler meant that the vessel was only able to make {{convert|23|kn}} and did not arrive in time for the action.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|page=76}} The destroyer subsequently formed part of the escort for the Normandy landings.{{sfn|Rohwer|Hümmelchen|1992|page=281}} In December, the vessel was placed into reserve at Falmouth.{{sfn|Brady|1986|page=19}} With the demobilisation of the British Armed Forces after the Second World War, Saladin was decommissioned from service. On 29 June 1947, the ship was retired and handed over to be broken up by Rees at Llanelly.{{sfn|Colledge|Warlow|2006|page=307}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal | last=Brady | first=Mark | title=The Old 'S' Class Destroyers 1939–1945 | journal=Warship | volume=10 | pages=12–24 | year=1986 | url= https://archive.org/details/warshipvol100000unse | url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book | last=Buckton | first=Henry | title=Retreat: Dunkirk and the Evacuation of Western Europe | publisher=Amberley | location=Stroud | year=2017 | url=https://archive.org/details/retreatdunkirkev0000henr | url-access=registration | isbn=978-1-44566-483-5}}
• {{cite book | last1=Bush | first1=Steve | last2=Warlow | first2=Ben | title=Pendant Numbers of the Royal Navy: A Complete History of the Allocation of Pendant Numbers to Royal Navy Warships & Auxiliaries | location=Barnsley | publisher=Seaforth Publishing | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-526793-78-2}}
• {{cite book | last1=Colledge | first1=J. J. | last2=Warlow | first2=Ben | title=Ships of the Royal Navy: a complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present | publisher=Chatham | location=London | year=2006 | isbn=978-1-85367-566-9 | author-link=J. J. Colledge}}
• {{cite book | last=Friedman | first=Norman | title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First World War | year=2009 | publisher=Seaforth Publishing | location=Barnsley | isbn=978-1-84832-049-9 | author-link=Norman Friedman}}
• {{cite book | last=Gardner | first=W. J. R. | title=The Evacuation from Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo, 26 May–4 June 1940 | publisher=Taylor & Francis | location=London | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-31797-358-4 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I0XKAgAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | last=Hall | first=Anthony | title=Operation Overload: D-Day Day by Day | publisher=Grange Books | location=Hoo | year=2003 | url=https://archive.org/details/operationoverloa0000hall | url-access=registration | isbn=978-1-84013-592-3}}
• {{cite book | last=Lewis | first=Nigel | title=Exercise Tiger: The Dramatic True Story of a Hidden Tragedy of World War II | publisher=Prentice Hall | location=New York | year=1990 | url=https://archive.org/details/exercisetigerdra00lewi | url-access=registration | isbn=978-0-13127-796-0}}
• {{cite book | last1=Manning | first1=Thomas Davys | last2=Walker | first2=Charles Frederick |title=British Warship Names | location=London | publisher=Putnam | year=1959 | oclc=780274698}}
• {{cite book | last=March | first=Edgar J. | title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953 | location=London | publisher=Seeley Service | year=1966 | oclc=164893555}}
• {{cite book | last=Martin | first=Roy | title=Ebb and Flow: Evacuations and Landings by Merchant Ships in World War Two | year=2010 | publisher=Brook House | location=Birmingham | isbn= 978-0-95574-412-9}}
• {{cite book | last1=Parkes | first1=Oscar | last2=Prendergast | first2=Maurice | title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1919 | publisher=David & Charles | location=Newton Abbott | year=1969 | oclc=907574860}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Nesbit |first=Roy |title=The Tsetse and the U-boat – Part 1 |magazine=Aeroplane Monthly |date=May 1991 |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=266–270 |issn=0143-7240}}
• {{cite book | last=Philips | first=Jonathan | title=The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin | year=2019 | publisher=The Bodley Head | location=London | isbn=978-1-84792-214-4}}
• {{cite book | last=Preston | first=Antony | chapter=Great Britain and Empire Forces | pages=1–104 | editor1-last=Gardiner | editor1-first=Robert | editor2-last=Gray | editor2-first=Randal | title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 | publisher=Conway Maritime Press | location=London | year=1985 | isbn=978-0-85177-245-5}}
• {{cite book | last1=Rohwer | first1=Jürgen | last2=Hümmelchen | first2=Gerhard | title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945 | publisher=Naval Institute Press | location=Ananapolis MD | year=1992 | url=https://archive.org/details/chronologyofwara00unse | url-access=registration | isbn=978-1-55750-105-9}}
• {{cite book | last=Whitley | first=M. J. | title=Destroyers of World War Two: An Illustrated Encyclopedia | location=London | publisher=Cassell | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-30435-675-1}}

{{S class destroyers (1917)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saladin}}

Category:1919 ships

Category:Ships built on the River Clyde

Category:S-class destroyers (1917) of the Royal Navy

Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom