Allied Warships

HMS Active (H 14)

Destroyer of the A class


HMS Active before World War Two

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassA 
PennantH 14 
Built byHawthorn Leslie & Co. (Hebburn-on-Tyne, U.K.) 
Ordered6 Mar 1928 
Laid down10 Jul 1928 
Launched9 Jul 1929 
Commissioned9 Feb 1930 
End service 
History

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 20 May 1947. Scrapped at Troon, Scotland.

 

Commands listed for HMS Active (H 14)

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CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. Errol Concanon Lloyd Turner, RN1 May 1939Feb 1941
2Lt.Cdr. Michael Wilfred Tomkinson, RNFeb 19411 Jan 1943
3Lt.Cdr. Peter Gordon Merriman, RN1 Jan 19439 Oct 1944
4Cdr. John Pringle, RN9 Oct 1944Nov 1944
5Lt. John Aylmer McClure, DSC, RNNov 1944late 1945

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Noteable events involving Active include:


27 Nov 1940
The British merchant Diplomat is torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-104 128 nautical miles west-north-west of Bloody Foreland in position 55°42'N, 11°37'W. HMS Active (A/Cdr. E.C.L. Turner, RN) later picks up 39 survivors.

8 Oct 1942
German U-boat U-179 was sunk in the South Atlantic near Cape Town, South Africa, in position 33°28'S, 17°05'E, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Active (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Tomkinson, RN).

Before U-179 was sunk HMS Active picked up 98 survivors from the British merchant City of Athens. This was U-179's first and only victim. (see map)

11 Oct 1942
HMS Active (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Tomkinson, RN) picks up 23 survivors of the American merchant Coloradan that was torpedoed and sunk on 9 October 1942 by German U-boat U-159 200 nautical miles south-west of Cape town, South-Africa in position 35°47'S, 14°34'E.

23 May 1943
The Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci (offsite link) was sunk north-east of the Azores by the British destroyer HMS Active (Lt.Cdr. P.G. Merriman, RN ) and the British frigate HMS Ness (A/Cdr. T.G.P. Crick, DSC, RN).

2 Nov 1943
German U-boat U-340 was sunk at 0430hrs on 2 November 1943 near Tangier, in position 35°33'N, 06°37'W, by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Fleetwood (Cdr. W.B. Piggott, DSC, RD, RNR) and the British destroyers HMS Active (Lt.Cdr. P.G. Merriman, DSC, RN) and HMS Witherington (Lt.Cdr. R.B.S. Tennant, RN) and by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqdn. 179/R). (see map)

Media links


British destroyers & frigates

Norman Friedman


Destroyers of World War Two

Whitley, M. J.

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