HMS Anthony (H40)
Encyclopedia
HMS Anthony (H40) was an A-class
A class destroyer
The A class was a flotilla of eight destroyers built for the Royal Navy as part of the 1927 naval programme. A ninth ship, Codrington, was built to an enlarged design to act as the flotilla leader...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. She served during the Second World War.
Construction and commissioning
Anthony was ordered from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering CompanyScotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde.- History :...
, Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on 6 March 1928 under the 1927 Programme. She was laid down on 30 July 1928, launched on 24 April 1929 and commissioned on 14 February 1930.
Second World War
She was deployed with the 18th Destroyer Flotilla at PortlandIsle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
on the outbreak of war, and served in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and the South Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
. In November Anthony was transferred to the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla, operating on the East coast. In January 1940 she and her sisters and escorted the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
part of the way to Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. Anthony transferred to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in March, joining the 16th Destroyer Flotilla, and in May took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. She eventually rescued 3,000 personnel, but on 30 May she sustained some damage in an air attack and had to remain in port for repairs. She returned to duty with the flotilla in June, now based at Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
. Assigned to the Home Fleet she carried out convoy escort and anti-submarine duties, moving to join the 12th Destroyer Flotilla at Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
in September. On 27 September rescued several survivors from the torpedoed .
By November Anthony was with the 4th Escort Group, and remained active in the Western Approaches. In February she was damaged in an air raid on the shipping in the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
, but returned to service with the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla the following month. She spent the next few months escorting ships involved in minelaying operations, and on 23 May formed part of the escort for and as they tracked the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
. She was detached to refuel at Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
on 24 May, and so missed the Battle of the Denmark Strait
Battle of the Denmark Strait
The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941...
where the Hood was sunk, but afterwards rejoined the Prince of Wales. Further escort duties followed, with operations off the Norwegian coast in July and August, including participating in Operation Gauntlet
Operation Gauntlet
During World War II, Operation Gauntlet was a Combined Operations raid by Canadian troops, with British Army logistics support and Free Norwegian Forces servicemen on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, 600 miles south of the North Pole, from 18 August 1941....
, the raid on Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
on 19 August.
On 29 August Anthony formed part of convoy PQ 1 to Russia, and also covered the returning convoy QP 1 with RFA Black Ranger
RFA Black Ranger (A163)
RFA Black Ranger was a British diesel-powered fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, built by Harland & Wolff. It served with the Arctic Convoys, and was involved in a collision with the submarine in November 1960. Its role was to refuel the RAF flying boats, and carried 2,600 tons of...
. After refitting in the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
she moved to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
in January 1942, escorting convoys from the Clyde to Gibraltar and back, and covering warships making deliveries of Spitfires
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. In late March she was nominated to join Force H
Force H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany....
to support the assault
Battle of Madagascar
The Battle of Madagascar was the Allied campaign to capture Vichy-French-controlled Madagascar during World War II. It began on 5 May 1942. Fighting did not cease until 6 November.-Geo-political:...
on Diego Suarez
Antsiranana
Antsiranana , named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city at the northern tip of Madagascar.Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region.-Transports:...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
. The operation was concluded successfully in May, after which Anthony remained in the Mediterranean. In September she escorted HMS Royal Sovereign to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, returning to European waters in October as an escort for troop convoys for Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
.
Anthony was refitted in late 1942, and deployed with the 13th Destroyer Flotilla in early 1943, spending the first half of the year escorting convoys along the West African coast, and in the Western Mediterranean. She supported the Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
in July, and spent the rest of the year escorting convoys in the Mediterranean. On 24 February 1944 she, and aircraft from No. 202 Squadron RAF
No. 202 Squadron RAF
No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force presently operates the Sea King HAR.3 in the Search and rescue role at three stations in the northern half of the United Kingdom. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS before it became part of the RAF.-Formation and...
and the US Navy sank U-761 west of Gibraltar. Anthony returned to Britain in September, escorting convoys in the Western Approaches and the English Channel. On 24 December 1944 she and were escorting the troopship , when the Leopoldville was torpedoed and sunk by U-486
German submarine U-486
German submarine U-486 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II.On December 24, 1944, U-486 torpedoed the five miles off the coast of Cherbourg, France. This resulted in the death of over 750 Allied soldiers...
with heavy loss of life.
In early 1945 Anthony was converted into an air target ship, to train new aircrew in warship identification, and methods of attack. She fulfilled this role for the rest of the war, and until January 1946.
Postwar and disposal
Anthony was reduced to the reserveReserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
on 27 March 1946, and put up for disposal. She was reactivated in September however, and used for damage control trials until February 1948. She was sold for scrapping on 21 February, and was towed to BISCO's
British Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
breaking yard at Troon
Troon
Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services...
, Ayrshire in May 1948.