HMS Wheatland
{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Wheatland WWII IWM FL 10687.jpg |Ship caption= Wheatland during the Second World War }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Wheatland |Ship namesake= |Ship identification=Pennant number: L122 |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered=4 September 1939 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Yarrow Shipbuilders |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=30 May 1940 |Ship launched=7 June 1941 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=3 November 1941 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=19 June 1945 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Arctic 1942, North Africa 1942–43, Sicily 1943, Mediterranean 1943, Salerno 1943, Adriatic 1944 |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Scrapped at Bo'ness on 20 September 1957 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=Type II |Ship class={{sclass2|Hunt|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 Wheatland was a Type 2 {{sclass2|Hunt|destroyer|3}} of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War.
Construction
Wheatland was ordered from Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun on 4 September 1939, one of 17 Hunt-class destroyers ordered on that day as part of the 1939 Emergency War Programme. The ship was laid down on 30 May 1940 and was launched on 7 June 1941, commissioning (with the pennant number L122English 1987, p. 106.) on 3 November 1941.English 1987, p. 17. She was named after "The Wheatland Hunt", an annual fox hunt held in Shropshire.{{cite web|title=HMS Weatland|url=http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_wheatland.htm|publisher=CRANSTON FINE ARTS|access-date=23 October 2012}} During Warship Week in 1942 she was adopted by the town of Uttoxeter.
Wartime service
{{stack|File:HMS Wheatland 4-inch twin guns WWII IWM A 8568.jpg}}
On completion in 1941 Wheatland was sent to Scapa Flow as part of the Naval Force to undertake the Commando raid on the Lofoten Islands.{{cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DE-Wheatland.htm|title=HMS Wheatland (L 122) - Type 2, Hunt-class Escort Destroyer |publisher=naval-history.net |date=2004 |last=Mason |first=Geoffrey B. |editor=Gordon Smith |access-date=25 November 2015}} The following year she took part in escort duties in support of the Russian Convoys. In 1943 she served in the Mediterranean, including support for the Sicily landings in July of that year. This included shore bombardment of Taormina on Sicily.
In 1944 she continued operations in the Mediterranean on convoy duties, including in July 1944 being nominated for escort duties in the planned landings in the south of France.
While being deployed with {{HMS|Avon Vale|L06|6}}, on 1 November 1944, Wheatland engaged German surface craft south of the island of Lussino, sinking the torpedo boat {{ship|German torpedo boat|TA20||2}}, and the corvettes UJ202 and UJ208, and rescuing some of the survivors in Action of 1 November 1944.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z85Xh21qniEC|title=The German fleet at war, 1939–1945|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2004|isbn=9781591146513|first=Vincent P.|last=O'Hara|author-link=Vincent P. O'Hara|pages=179–181}}
Post war
After the war Wheatland returned to Devonport and transferred to the Reserve Fleet. She stayed there until 1953 when she was towed to Gibraltar where she remained in reserve. In 1955 she was brought back to Harwich before being placed on the disposal list. She remained there until September 1957 when she was sold to BISCO for scrapping by McLennan. She arrived at their breakers yard in Bo'ness on 20 September 1957.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
Publications
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=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|year=1987|publisher=World Ship Society|isbn=0-905617-44-4}}
{{Hunt class destroyer|type2}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatland}}
Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy
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