HMS Wolfhound (L56)

The W class was a repeat of the preceding V-class armed with triple torpedo tube mounts.Gardiner & Gray, p. 84 The ships had an overall length of {{convert|312|ft|m|1}}, a beam of {{convert|29|ft|8|in|m|0}} and a normaldraught of {{convert|10|ft|8|in|m|0}}.March, p. 205 They displaced {{convert|1325|LT|t|0|lk=on}} at normal load. The ships' complement was 104 officers and ratings.

The ships were powered by a single Brown-Curtis geared steam turbine that drove two propeller shafts using steam provided by three Yarrow boilers. The turbines developed a total of {{convert|27000|shp|lk=on}} and gave a maximum speed of {{convert|34|kn|lk=in}}. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of {{convert|4150|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}.Friedman, p. 297

The W-class ships were armed with four single QF 4-inch naval gun Mk V protected by gun shields. The guns were arranged in two superfiring pairs, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. They were equipped with a single QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun on a platform abaft of the aft funnel. They were also fitted with two rotating triple mounts for British 21-inch torpedo amidships.Gardiner & Gray, p. 84; March, plate 25/A

Wolfhound, the first ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,Colledge, p. 389 was ordered on 9 December 1916 as part of the Tenth War Programme from Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company.March, p. 209 The ship was laid down at the company's Govan shipyard in April 1917,Friedman, p. 313 launched on 14 March 1918 and commissioned on 27 April.

Wolfhound was commissioned too late to see much active service in the First World War. She was assigned to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla with the Grand Fleet in May, 1918, and later dispatched to the Baltic Sea. It was there Wolfhound saw service in the British campaign in the Baltic (1918–1919) as a part of a taskforce operating against the Bolshevik Red fleet in the Russian Civil War and the Baltic Wars of Independence. Among her operations included providing training, supply, and bombardment support for the Estonian and Latvian provisional governments throughout the fall and winter of 1918. Afterwards HMS Wolfhound was reassigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in March 1919.{{cite web |title=Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla |url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Thirteenth_Destroyer_Flotilla_(Royal_Navy)#May.2C_1918 |website=The Dreadnought Project |access-date=22 July 2020}} Whilst serving with the Sixth Destroyer Flotillas of the Atlantic Fleet{{cite web |title=H. M. S. Wolfhound |url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/H.M.S._Wolfhound_(1918) |website=The Dreadnought Project |access-date=22 July 2020}} in January 1930, Wolfhound was one of seven V- and W-class destroyers damaged in a storm.March, pp. 209, 211

After the Second World War began in September 1939 she was one of the old V and W class ships to be selected to be converted to an anti-aircraft ("Wair") escort destroyer,Whitley, pp. 93–94 As the Allied forces retreated, Wolfhound was one of the ships detached to support the evacuation of troops from France, and on 25 May she and her sister {{HMS|Wolsey}} bombarded advancing German units near Calais. The following day Wolfhound ferried a shore party to Dunkirk to coordinate the evacuation; on her return voyage to Dover she loaded 142 troops.Winser, pp. 13, 15, 101 On 29 May she was badly damaged at Dunkirk by German bombers, having her back broken.Rohwer, p. 25 After lengthy repairs she returned to service. After VE Day she was detached to support the re-occupation of Norway. On 14 May she and Wolsey were deployed with Norwegian corvettes to cover minesweeping operations prior to the re-occupation of Bergen.Rohwer, p. 416

Wolfhound was transferred to BISCO on 18 February 1948 and was towed to the River Forth later that year to be broken up by Granton Shipbreakers.{{cite web |title=Wolfhound |url=http://clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=6500&vessel=WOLFHOUND |website=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=22 July 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|title=Naval Weapons of World War II|year=1985|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=0-87021-459-4}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book |first1=Maurice |last1=Cocker |publisher=Ian Allan |title=Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981 |isbn=0-7110-1075-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2009|isbn=978-1-59114-081-8}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H. T.|author-link=Henry Trevor Lenton|title=British & Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1998|isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
• {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}
• {{cite book |last=Preston |first=Antony |title='V & W' Class Destroyers 1917–1945 |publisher=Macdonald |location=London |year=1971 |oclc=464542895}}
• {{cite book |last1=Raven |first1=Alan |last2=Roberts|first2=John |title='V' and 'W' Class Destroyers |publisher=Arms & Armour |location=London |year=1979 |series=Man o'War |volume=2 |isbn=0-85368-233-X|name-list-style=amp }}
• {{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=Whinney |first=Bob |title=The U-boat Peril: A Fight for Survival |publisher=Cassell |year=2000 |isbn=0-304-35132-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/uboatperilfightf0000whin }}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War 2|publisher=Naval Institute Press|date=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland}}
• {{cite book|last=Winser|first=John de D.|title=B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Gravesend, Kent|year=1999|isbn=0-905617-91-6}}

• [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/long_range.htm battleships-cruisers.co.uk]
• [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-09VW-Wolfhound.htm naval-history.net]

{{V and W class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfhound, HMS}}

Category:V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy

Category:1918 ships

Category:Ships built on the River Clyde