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Allied Warships

HMS Velox (D 34)

Destroyer of the Admiralty V & W class


HMS Velox as seen during the war.
At this stage she is not yet converted to a long range escort.

Photo Courtesy of Graham White.

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassAdmiralty V & W 
PennantD 34 
Built byDoxford Shipyard (Sunderland, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down1 Jan, 1917 
Launched17 Nov, 1917 
Commissioned1 Apr, 1918 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistoryReconstruction to Long Range Escort finished in May 1944.

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 18 February 1947.

Commanding Officers:
Cdr. James Chaignean Colvill, RN (retired)
15 June 1939 – 28 October 1940

Lt.Cdr. Edward Gregson Roper, DSC, RN
28 October 1940 – 26 March 1942

Lt. George Baillie Barstow, RN
26 March 1942 - ???

HMS Velox was in Dockyard Control during conversion / refit

??? (seems to be the 1st Lt) T/Lt. C.D.C. Dickens, RNVR
25 April 1944 – (Jan 1945)

T/A/Lt.Cdr. Kenneth James Webb, RNR
10 March 1945 – still in command in April 1945 according to the Navy List

HMS Velox is not listed in the July 1945 Navy list 


Noteable events involving Velox include:

19 Aug, 1941
The surviving crew members from the British merchant ship Alva, that was sunk by the German submarine U-559 were picked up by the British corvette HMS Campanula (Lt.Cdr. R.V.E. Case, DSC, RNR) and transferred to the British destroyer HMS Velox (Lt.Cdr. E.G. Roper, DSC, RN) and landed at Gibraltar on 25 August 1941.

22 Aug, 1941
At 2331 hours the German submarine U-564 fired a salvo of four torpedoes at the convoy OG-71 west of Aveiro, Portugal and observed four different detonations and three columns of fire, later lifeboats were seen. Suhren thought that he had sunk two ships and damaged two others. However, only two ships were hit and sunk, the British merchant ship Empire Oak and Irish merchant ship Clonlara in position 40º43'N, 11º39'W. The master Joseph Reynolds and 12 crew members from the Clonlara were picked up by the British corvette HMS Campion (Lt.Cdr. A. Johnson, RNVR) and landed at Gibraltar on 24 August. Six crew members were lost. The master Frederick Edward Christian, three crew members and four gunners from the Empire Oak were picked up by the British corvette HMS Campanula (Lt.Cdr. R.V.E. Case, DSC, RNR), later transferred to the British destroyer HMS Velox (Lt.Cdr. E.G. Roper, DSC, RN) and landed at Gibraltar on 25 August. 13 crew members were lost. On 19 August, the Empire Oak had picked up six survivors from Aguila and eleven survivors from Alva. The survivors from Aguila died when this ship was sunk, while the other survivors were also rescued by the corvette.

22 Aug, 1942
HMS Velox (Lt. G.B. Barstow, RN) picks up 66 survivors from the British merchant City of Wellington that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-506 south-west of Freetown in position 07º29'N, 14º40'W.


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