| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Destroyer |
| Class | A |
| Pennant | H 40 |
| Built by | Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland) |
| Ordered | 6 Mar 1928 |
| Laid down | 30 Jul 1928 |
| Launched | 24 Apr 1929 |
| Commissioned | 14 Feb 1930 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| History | On 28 May 1940 The Belgian King Leopold capitulated with the his army, this caused the commencement of operation Dynamo (the return of the British ex-peditionary force from France). HMS Anthony was amongst the many destroyers that participated. On the 30th of that month she was damaged by air attacks. Late May 1941, HMS Anthony and five other destroyers accompanied the battlecruiser HMS Hood and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales from Scapa Flow under Vice Admiral Holland, in search of the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in the direction South of Iceland. The Admirals force came up to intercept the German units south of the Denmark Straits. On 24 May there was a brief engagement between the two forces in which the Hood was sunk and the Prince Of Wales was damaged and forced to turn away. In July 1941 HMS Anthony was serving in the Arctic escorting the minelaying cruiser HMS Adventure which was being used as a transport vessel to Murmansk, together they formed a unit of a much larger force which was involved in a British carrier raid on Kirkenes and Petsanio. In August 1941, she becomes a member of Force K under Rear Admiral Vian, she escorted the troop transport Empress Of Canada to Spitsbergen in company with the cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Nigeria, in order to evacuate the Norwegian and Soviet colonies there and destroy all the installations. February 1942 saw HMS Anthony in the Mediterranean, appointed to Force H under Vice Admiral Syfret based at Gibraltar. On 19 March 1942, convoy WS-16 arrived in South Africa from the UK with reinforcements. The convoy consisted of 14 ships, HMS Anthony was one of the numerous escort vessels assigned to this convoy. During April-May 1942, the destroyer was serving in the Indian Ocean area and participated in Operation Ironclad (the British landing near Diego Suarez, Madagascar). On May 5th, the capture of the Island was held up by the Vichy French defenders. The landing of British marine commandos from HMS Anthony and the capture of important central installations lead, however to the rapid collapse of French resistance. From 24 until 31 August 1942 HMS Anthony was docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown, South Africa. During January / February 1944 HMS Anthony was based at Gibraltar, and assisted in the destruction of U-761, after detection of its prey by the use of M.A.D equipment (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) fitted in aircraft. In May 1944, HMS Anthony was re-armed as an anti-submarine escort, with 4.7"guns only at A and X positions. On 24 December 1944, whilst performing escort duties in the North Atlantic/English Channel with four other escorts U-486 succeeded in penetrating their screen and sink the troop transport Leopoldville, 819 men perished in this incident. In 1946 Anthony was used as a flying target training ship, and then in damage control tests. HMS Anthony was sold to be broken up for scrap on 18 August 1947. In May 1948 the destroyer was broken up for scrap at Troon, Scotland. Commanding Officers: Lt.Cdr. Victor Cecil Froggatt Clark, RN Lt.Cdr. John Michael Hodges, RN Lt.Cdr. John Henry Wallace, DSC, RN Lt. Anthony Charles Denniss Leach, RN T/A/Lt.Cdr. Arthus St. George Walton, RNVR A/T/Lt.Cdr. William Ridley Morton Murdoch, RNVR |
Commands listed for HMS Anthony (H 40)
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| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. Norman Vivian Joseph Thompson Thew, RN | 15 Mar 1939 | 14 Oct 1940 |
| 2 | Lt.Cdr. Victor Cecil Froggatt Clark, RN | 14 Oct 1940 | 25 Feb 1941 |
| 3 | Lt.Cdr. John Michael Hodges, RN | 25 Feb 1941 | 25 Jan 1943 |
| 4 | Lt.Cdr. John Henry Wallace, DSC, RN | 25 Jan 1943 | 11 Sep 1944 |
| 5 | Lt. Anthony Charles Denniss Leach, RN | 11 Sep 1944 | Feb 1945 |
| 6 | T/A/Lt.Cdr. Arthur St. George Walton, RNVR | Feb 1945 | Jul 1945 |
| 7 | Lt. William Ridley Morton Murdoch, RNVR | Jul 1945 | Oct 1945 ? |
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Noteable events involving Anthony include:
25 Aug 1940
The British merchant Jamaica Pioneer is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-100 east of Rockall in position 57º05'N, 11º02'W. Later the British destroyers HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. N.J.V. Thew, RN) and HMS Wanderer (Cdr. J.H. Ruck-Keene, RN) pick up 55 survivors.
26 Sep 1940
HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. N.J.V. Thew, RN) picks up 42 survivors from the British passenger ship City of Benares that was torpedoed and sunk on 18 September 1940 by the German submarine U-48 253 nautical miles west-south-west of Rockall in position 56º43'N, 21º15'W.
29 Jan 1941
HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. V.C.F. Clark, RN) picks up 22 survivors from the British merchant King Robert that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-94 south of Rockall in position 56º00'N, 15º23'W.
21 May 1941
The British battlecruiser Hood (Capt. R. Kerr, CBE, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral L.E. Holland, CB, RN) and the battleship Prince of Wales (Capt. J.C. Leach, MVO, RN) were ordered to proceed to Hvalfjord, Iceland as the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were spotted by air reconnaissance at Bergen, Norway. As there were indications that these two were contemplatibf a raid on the ocean trade routes.
The two British capital ships were escorted by the destroyers HMS Electra (Cdr. C.W. May, RN), HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Hodges, RN), HMS Echo (Lt.Cdr. C.H.deB. Newby, RN), HMS Icarus (Lt.Cdr. C.D. Maud, DSO, RN), HMS Achates (Lt.Cdr. Viscount Jocelyn, RN) and HMS Antelope (Lt.Cdr. R.B.N. Hicks, DSO, RN).
24 Feb 1944
The German submarine U-761 was scuttled in the mid-Atlantic near Tangier, in position 35º55'N, 05º45'W, in view of approaching British destroyers HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. J.H. Wallace, DSC, RN) and HMS Wishart (Lt. J.A. Holdsworth, RN). (see map)