Allied Warships

HMS Bulldog (H 91)

Destroyer of the B class


HMS Bulldog before World War Two

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassB 
PennantH 91 
Built bySwan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.): Wallsend 
Ordered 
Laid down10 Aug 1929 
Launched6 Dec 1930 
Commissioned8 Apr 1931 
End service 
Loss position
 
History

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 15 Janaury 1946.

Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. John Sherbrook Morris Richardson, RN
14 March 1939 – 30 April 1940

Lt.Cdr. John Patrick Wisden, RN
30 April 1940 - 24 August 1940

Lt.Cdr. Frank Joseph George Hewitt, RN
24 August 1940 – 3 January 1941

Lt.Cdr. Edmund Neville Vincent Currey, DSC, RN
3 January 1941 - February 1941

Cdr. Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell, RN
February 1941 – 28 January 1942
Promoted to Capt. on 31 December 1941
DSO awarded on 1 August 1941

Cdr. Maxwell Richmond, OBE, RN
28 January 1942 – 18 December 1942
DSO awarded on 28 July 1942

Lt.Cdr. Edward John Lee, RN
18 December 1942 – (late 1943)

??? Lt. John Henry Pennell, RN ???
??? – 14 March 1944

Lt. C.G. Walker, RN
14 March 1944 - ???

??? Lt. John Henry Pennell, RN ???
??? – 16 March 1945

Lt.Cdr. David Brian Gladstone Dumas, RN
16 March 1945 – 27 May 1945

HMS Bulldog is not listed as active unit in the July 1945 Navy List 

Commands listed for HMS Bulldog (H 91)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. John Sherbrook Morris Richardson, RN14 Mar 193930 Apr 1940
2Lt.Cdr. John Patrick Wisden, RN30 Apr 194024 Aug 1940
3Lt.Cdr. Frank Joseph George Hewitt, RN24 Aug 19403 Jan 1941
4Lt.Cdr. Edmund Neville Vincent Currey, DSC, RN3 Jan 1941Feb 1941
5Cdr. Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell, RNFeb 194128 Jan 1942
6Cdr. Maxwell Richmond, OBE, RN28 Jan 194218 Dec 1942
7Lt.Cdr. Edward John Lee, RN18 Dec 1942late 1943

8Lt. John Henry Pennell, RN???14 Mar 1944
9Lt.Cdr. Charles Gordon Walker, RN14 Mar 1944???

10Lt. John Henry Pennell, RN???16 Mar 1945
11Lt.Cdr. David Brian Gladstone Dumas, RN16 Mar 194527 May 1945

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Noteable events involving Bulldog include:


1 Sep 1939
On the outbreak of the Second World War HMS Bulldog (Lt.Cdr. J.S.M. Richardson, RN) was serving in the Mediterranean as aircraft guard ship for the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious (Capt. G. D'Oyly-Hughes DSO, DSC, RN).

21 Feb 1940
HMS Bulldog received orders to return to Dover to join the 19th DF.

18 Mar 1940
HMS Bulldog received orders to remain in the Mediterranean with HMS Glorious.

9 May 1940
During the night of 9/10 May, the destroyer was searching in the Skagerrak for German minelayers with other destroyers from Scapa Flow. During an attack by German MTBs at another Task Force with the same task, HMS Kelly was badly damaged by a torpedo and towed to Newcastle by HMS Bulldog.

24 Aug 1940
While at Portsmouth HMS Bulldog was damaged during a German air raid. Bulldog's Commanding Officer Lt.Cdr. John Patrick Wisden, RN was wounded, he died 5 days later.

First Officer F.J.G. Hewitt, RN took over command until relieved by Lt.Cdr. E.N.V. Currey, DSC, RN on 3 January 1941.

13 Sep 1940
During the night of 13/14 September 1940 the destroyers HMS Highlander (Cdr. W.A. Dallmeyer, RN), HMS Harvester (Lt.Cdr. M. Thornton, RN), HMS Bulldog (Lt.Cdr. F.J.G. Hewitt, RN) and HMS Beagle (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Wright, RN) bombard Cherbourg in a sweep through the Seine Bay.

1941
During the summer of 1941 Dr. Edward Lee performed trials with Britain's first infrared spectrometer for infrared recognition aboard HMS Bulldog.

Dr. Lee built the detection system which proved crucial to the identification of enemy aircraft in the Second World War.

At the outbreak of war, Dr. Lee joined the Admiralty Research Laboratory in Teddington, working initially on radar; then, using the research from his work on the spectrometer, he worked on developing the type F infrared rays recognition system to help allied pilots distinguish enemy aircraft from their own planes at night. The system employed the transmission of intermittent infrared light beams from lamps attached to aircrafts' tailfins. The beams were invisible to the naked eye, but could be detected by fellow pilots via a special receiver.

9 May 1941
HMS Bulldog was responsible for the capture of U-110, her Sub Lt David Balme finding the Enigma code machine ciphers and code books. U-110 was taken on tow and Bulldog kept her afloat for 17 hours then let the towline slip. The intention was to tow U-110 into Iceland but Admiralty realised this would have been a massive error of judgement. In the event, allegedly, U-110 resolved the matter herself by sinking.

9 May 1941
The German submarine U-110 was captured on 9 May 1941 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland by the British destroyers HMS Bulldog (Lt.Cdr. A.J.B. Cresswell, RN) and HMS Broadway (Lt.Cdr. T. Taylor, RN) and the British corvette HMS Aubretia (Lt.Cdr. V.F. Smith, RNR). The U-boat was allowed to sink the day after to preserve the secret capture.

26 Jun 1944
The German submarine U-719 was sunk in the North Atlantic north-west of Ireland, in position 55º33'N, 11º02'E, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Bulldog. (see map)

9 May 1945
The surrender of the Channel Islands was signed on board her.

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