HMS Tetcott (L99)
{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Tetcott 1942 IWM A 8216.jpg |Ship caption=Tetcott on a convoy to Russia, March 1942 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Tetcott |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered=20 December 1939{{cite web | url =http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DE-Tetcott.htm | work = Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2 | author = Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason | title = HMS Tetcott - Type II, Hunt-class Escort Destroyer | access-date=2009-05-16}} |Ship builder=J. Samuel White{{cite web | url = http://www.hmstetcott.com/ | title = HMS Tetcott | work = Holsworthy Museum | access-date = 2009-05-16 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090615170612/http://www.hmstetcott.com/ | archive-date = 15 June 2009 | df = dmy-all }} |Ship laid down=29 July 1940 |Ship launched=12 August 1941 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=2 December 1941 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship identification=Pennant number: L99 |Ship fate=Arrived Thos. W. Ward, Milford Haven for breaking up 24 September 1956,{{Cite Colledge2006}} completed 9 April 1957 |Ship notes= |Ship honours=*Libya 1942
|Ship badge=On a Field White, within an annulet murrey, a demi unicorn erased Black. }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Type II Hunt-class destroyer |Ship displacement=*{{convert|1050|LT|t}} standard
|Ship length= {{convert|85.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} o/a |Ship beam= {{convert|9.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= {{convert|2.51|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
|Ship speed=*{{convert|27|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|3600|nmi|km|abbr=on|lk=in}} at {{convert|14|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship complement=164 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*6 × QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun on twin mounts Mk. XIX
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Tetcott was a Type II British {{sclass2|Hunt|destroyer}} built for the Royal Navy during World War II. She was the only Royal Navy ship to be named after the Tetcott fox hunt.
Wartime service
=1941=
Following completion on 11 December 1941 the ship headed for Scapa Flow where it arrived on 16 December and joined the Home Fleet. The vessel collided with the corvette {{HMS|Heartsease|K15|2}} on 23 December which meant that the next two months were spent in repair on the Clyde and later in Southampton.
=1942=
The vessel was finally ready for service again on 2 March 1942 and returned to Scapa Flow for working-up. On 15 April 1942 Tetcott joined convoy WS18 at the ocean escort Clyde Assembly point. The ship escorted this convoy to Cape Town, detaching briefly to call into Freetown on the way.
At Cape Town, Tetcott headed into the Indian Ocean and on to Alexandria via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, arriving in early June 1942 where she joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla.
On 10 June the ship sailed with {{HMS|Grove|L77|2}} carrying supplies to the garrison at Tobruk. Grove was torpedoed on 12 June during the return journey and Tetcott picked up the survivors. On 16 June the ship came under heavy Axis air attack whilst defending of ships returning to Alexandria following the termination of Operation Vigorous.
In July the ship operated as part of Operation Exporter off Palestine and Syria. On 4 August, with the destroyers {{HMS|Sikh|F82|2}} and {{HMS|Zulu|F18|2}} the ship attacked the German submarine {{GS|U-372||2}} and forced the U-boat to the surface. 16 German crew and a Lebanese civilian were rescued.
In September 1942, the ship was assigned with {{HMS|Hero|H99|2}} to convoy duties in the Red Sea, but returned to the Mediterranean in October. In November 1942, the ship formed part of the close escort for Convoy MW13, from Alexandria to Malta. This convoy succeeded in reaching Malta, and the ship formed part of the close escort on the return journey. In December, Tetcott was one of the escorts in the Alexandria to Malta convoy, MW14, after which she joined the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla at Algiers.
=1943=
In January 1943 the ship escorted {{HMS|Orion|85|2}} from Malta to Alexandria during cover for passage of a Malta and on 1 February rescued survivors from the minelayer {{HMS|Welshman|M84|2}} which had been torpedoed off Sollum. She continued patrol and escort duties in the eastern and central Mediterranean for the next two months.
In July she took part on Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and in September the Salerno landing, Operation Avalanche.
=1944=
In January 1944, the ship was assigned to the Northern Attack Force for Operation Shingle, the Anzio Landings, and provided shore bombardment in support of the landings.
From February until August 1944, the ship operated in the Adriatic Sea providing shore bombardment and operating as a convoy escort. In September she supported the invasion of the Aegean islands, and then worked as part of the liberation of Greece. Deployments off Greece and Albania continued until March 1945.
=1945=
Post-war
The ship was due to be assigned to the Indian Ocean following the refit but this was cancelled with the surrender of Japan and instead the refit was cut short and the ship placed in reserve on 17 January 1946 before heading back to the UK.
In November 1952, it was announced that the ship would be preserved at the Penarth Docks, but this plan failed. Instead the ship was towed to Gibraltar where she remained until September 1955 when she was towed back to the Barrow in Furness, in Extended Reserve, having had much of her equipment removed and the vessel no longer maintained and placed on the Disposal List. In January 1956 Tetcott was reclassified as a hulk and in August transferred to BISCO for scrapping.
References
- {{cite web | url =http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4662.html | work = Uboat.net | title = HMS Tetcott (L 99) | author = Guðmundur Helgason | access-date=2009-05-16}}
References
{{reflist}}
Publications
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- 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. England: World Ship Society. {{ISBN|0-905617-44-4}}.
External links
- [http://www.hmstetcott.co.uk/ website at hmstetcott.co.uk]
{{Hunt class destroyer|type2}}
{{December 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetcott (L99)}}
Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built on the Isle of Wight