HMS Bramham (L51)
Encyclopedia
HMS Bramham (L51) was a Hunt class destroyer
Hunt class destroyer
The Hunt class was a class of Destroyer escort of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in World War II, particularly on the British East Coast and Mediterranean convoys. They were named after British fox hunts...
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...
laid down in Alexander Stephen and Sons
Alexander Stephen and Sons
Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Govan in Glasgow, on the River Clyde.-History:...
shipyards Govan
Govan
Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....
, 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 7 April 1941. She was launched on 29 January 1942 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 16 June 1942. In the following August she served in Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies...
, a mission to deliver supplies to the besieged island of 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...
, as an escorting destroyer. In the last stages of the operation Bramham along with two other destroyers, Ledbury
HMS Ledbury (L90)
HMS Ledbury was an escort destroyer of the Hunt Type II class. The Royal Navy ordered Ledbury's construction two days after the outbreak of the Second World War and J. I. Thornycroft Ltd laid down her keel at their Southampton yard on 24 January 1940. Air raid damage to the yard delayed her...
and Penn
HMS Penn (G77)
HMS Penn was an escort destroyer of the P Class. Penn was ordered by the United Kingdom under the Wartime Emergency Programme, in the early part of the Second World War and was laid down at the Newcastle-on-Tyne yard of Vickers Armstrong on 26 December 1939.- Service :HMS Penn was launched on 12...
took on the final tow of the tanker SS Ohio
SS Ohio
The SS Ohio was an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company ; she was the largest oil tanker in the world when she was built. The tanker was launched on April 20, 1940 at the Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA. SS Ohio was capable of doing over at sea...
into Malta. In March of the following year Bramham was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy and renamed Themistoklis
Themistocles
Themistocles ; c. 524–459 BC, was an Athenian politician and a general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides...
. She served until 1959 and was then returned to the Royal Navy on 12 November 1959. She was scrapped in 1960.