HMS Vimiera (1917)

V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vimiera.

Vimiera circa 1918

History
United Kingdom
Name| HMS Vimiera
Namesake| Battle of Vimeiro (1808)
Builder| Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear
Laid down| October 1916
Launched| 22 June 1917
Completed| 19 September 1917
Motto| Sicut clin[disputed - discuss]: ‘Victory as formerly’
Fate| Sank on 9 January 1942 after striking a mine in the Thames estuary, off Warden, Kent.
General characteristics
Class and type| Admiralty V-class destroyer
Displacement| 1,272-1,339 tons
Length| 300 ft (91.4 m) o/a, 312 ft (95.1 m) p/p
Beam| 26 ft 9 in (8.2 m)
Draught| 9 ft (2.7 m) standard, 11 ft 3 in (3.4 m) deep
Propulsion|

* 3 Yarrow type Water-tube boilers
* Brown-Curtis steam turbines
* 2 shafts, 27,000 shp

Speed| 34 kn
Range| 320-370 tons oil, 3,500 nmi at 15 kn, 900 nmi at 32 kn
Complement| 110
Armament|

* 4 × QF 4 in Mk.V (102mm L/45), mount P Mk.I
* 2 × QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40 mm L/39) or;
* 1 z QF 12 pdr 20 cwt Mk.I (76 mm), mount HA Mk.II
* 4 (2x2) tubes for 21 in torpedoes

Notes| Pennant number: L29

HMS Vimiera was a V-class destroyer ordered as part of the 1917–18 programme.

## Early activity

[edit]

One of her early missions was a trip to Reval, conveying Leonid Krasin and Viktor Nogin back to the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic, following the first stage of negotiations in the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement.[1]

## Second World War

[edit]

Underway following WAIR escort conversion.

Vimiera was chosen for conversion to an escort destroyer (WAIR) with an enhanced anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability as part of the naval rearmament programme preceding the outbreak of war in September 1939. Conversion was complete, whereon in January 1940 she joined the Nore Command for coastal convoy escort duty in the North Sea and English Channel. Her company was formed largely of men from the Clyde Division of the Royal Naval Reserve, HMS Graham.

In April 1940 she was transferred under the Commander-in-Chief, Dover to support military operations in France. This included the Battle of Dunkirk to providing additional anti-aircraft defence in Dunkirk (Operation FA) and assisting in the evacuation of allied personnel from Flushing. With HMS Wolsey she provided naval gunfire support for military operations at Escault. On 19 May she rescued survivors from HMS Whitley and in the following days she assisted both in taking reinforcements to Boulogne and in evacuating wounded soldiers and medical staff. (One soldier she evacuated was the actor Arnold Ridley.) Alongside HMS Wessex, ORP Burza, HMS Whitshed, and HMS Wolfhound she saw action around Boulogne and Calais, during which Wessex was sunk and Vimiera sustained substantial damage. She was taken into repair on 25 May 1940, and so was not involved in the evacuation from Dunkirk. She was subsequently redeployed to the North Sea in defence of East Coast convoys.

In December 1941, she was adopted by the civil community of Sandbach, Cheshire, following the successful Warship Week National Saving campaign. Vimiera, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Angus Alexander Mackenzie, RNR, was sunk by a mine in the Thames estuary off East Spile Buoy, near the Isle of Sheppey on 9 January 1942 with the loss of around 96 hands. 92 or 93 went down with the ship, and a further four of the 38 survivors died of wounds.[2][3][4] The survivors were brought to sghore and tended to at Sheerness.[5]

Eight of her nine officers survived, and Lt. Cdr. Mackenzie, having been found blameless in the sinking, was put in command of HMS Liddesdale.[6] Vimiera's loss was commemorated on a memorial within HMS Graham.[citation needed]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ 'The Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, March 1921 Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine by M. V. Glenny, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 5, No. 2. (1970), pp. 63-82.
2. ^ "Roll of Honour - Co. Durham - Tow Law".
3. ^ "Royal Navy casualties, killed and died, January 1942".
4. ^ "Casualties and Survivors".
5. ^ "HMS Vimiera". vandwdestroyerassociation. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
6. ^ "HMS Vimiera".

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
* Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
* Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
* Cocker, Maurice (1981). Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1075-7.
* Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8.
* Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
* Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
* March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
* Preston, Antony (1971). 'V & W' Class Destroyers 1917–1945. London: Macdonald. OCLC 464542895.
* Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1979). 'V' and 'W' Class Destroyers. Man o'War. Vol. 2\. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 0-85368-233-X.
* Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
* Whinney, Bob (2000). The U-boat Peril: A Fight for Survival. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35132-6.
* Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
* Winser, John de D. (1999). B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-91-6.

## External links

[edit]

* HMS Vimiera
* V&W Destroyer Association (HMS Vimiera)
* "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - The Living and the Dead - V&W Destroyer Association (HMS Vimiera)

* v
* t
* e

V- and W- class destroyers

Admiralty|

| V class leaders|

|  Royal Navy|

* Malcolm / Valkyrie
* Bruce / Valentine
* Montrose / Valorous
* Wallace / Vampire
* Douglas / Valhalla

|

Royal Australian Navy|

* Vampire

V class|

|  Royal Navy|

* Vanoc
* Vimiera
* Vehement
* Vanquisher
* Verdun
* Vega
* Violent
* Vendetta
* Vectis
* Venturous
* Verulam
* Vortigern
* Venetia
* Vittoria
* Versatile
* Vivacious
* Velox
* Vesper
* Vancouver / Vimy
* Vivien
* Vidette
* Vanessa
* Vanity

|

Royal Australian Navy|

* Vendetta

W class|

|  Royal Navy|

| Completed|

* Westminster
* Wakeful
* Watchman
* Walker
* Whirlwind
* Winchelsea
* Walrus
* Warwick
* Winchester
* Walpole
* Westcott
* Wrestler
* Wessex
* Wolfhound
* Waterhen
* Whitby / Whitley
* Voyager
* Wryneck
* Windsor

|

Cancelled|

* Wayfarer
* Woodpecker

Royal Australian Navy|

* Voyager
* Waterhen

Modified W class|

| Completed|

* Venom / HMS Venomous
* Witherington
* Whitshed
* Verity
* Wivern
* Vansittart
* Volunteer
* Veteran
* Wanderer
* Wild Swan
* Wolverine
* Whitehall
* Worcester / Yeoman
* Wren

|

Cancelled|

* Vantage / Vimy
* Vashon
* Vengeful
* Vigo
* Vigorous / Wistful
* Virulent
* Volage
* Volcano
* Votary
* Wager
* Wake
* Waldegrave
* Walton
* Warren
* Watson
* Wave
* Weazel
* Welcome
* Welfare
* Wellesley
* Werewolf
* Westphal
* Westward Ho
* Willoughby
* Wheeler
* Whelp
* Whip
* Whippet
* Whitaker
* White Bear
* Whitehead
* Winter
* Wrangler
* Wye
* Yeoman
* Zealous
* Zebra
* Zodiac

Thornycroft|

| V class|

* Viceroy
* Viscount

|

W class|

* Wolsey
* Woolston

Modified W class|

* Wishart
* Witch

* Preceded by: S class
* Followed by: Scott class

* List of destroyer classes of the Royal Navy

* v
* t
* e

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in January 1942

Shipwrecks|

* 1 Jan: Malama
* 2 Jan: Mercedes, Ruth Alexander
* 3 Jan: USS Iona
* 8 Jan: Tornator
* 9 Jan: HMS Vimiera
* 11 Jan: USAT Liberty
* 12 Jan: Cyclops, HNLMS Prins van Oranje, U-374
* 14 Jan: Chepo
* 15 Jan: Empire Bay, U-93, U-577
* 17 Jan: HMS Gurkha, I-60, HMS Matabele
* 18 Jan: Bantam, Hai-Kan No. 6
* 19 Jan: Lady Hawkins
* 20 Jan: Eidsvold, I-124, Banshu Maru No. 52, USS S-36, Westralia
* 23 Jan: Navemar, USS Neches
* 24 Jan: Empire Wildebeeste, Nana Maru, USS S-26
* 25 Jan: Z8 Bruno Heinemann
* 26 Jan: Refast, HMAS Sirocco
* 27 Jan: Harpa, I-73, HMS Thanet
* 30 Jan: USCGC Alexander Hamilton, USC&GS Research
* 31 Jan: HMS Belmont, HMS Culver, Spreewald
* Unknown date: HMS Triumph

Other incidents|

* 3 Jan: I-58, Krasny Kavkaz
* 7 Jan: V 5104 Orkan
* 10 Jan: U-374
* 16 Jan: Empire Chief
* 21 Jan: Enrico Cosenz
* 22 Jan: Boyky, Molotov, Shch-214

1941 1942 1943
December 1941 February 1942
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