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Allied Warships

HMS Javelin (F 61)

Destroyer of the J class


HMS Javelin during the war

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassJ 
PennantF 61 
Built byJohn Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) 
Ordered25 Mar, 1937 
Laid down11 Oct, 1937 
Launched21 Dec, 1938 
Commissioned10 Jun, 1939 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistorySold to be broken up for scrap on 11 June 1949 and scrapped at Troon, Scotland.

The ships bell belonging to HMS Javelin is presently hung at the Royal Canadian Legion Building Branch 29 in Burin, Newfoundland, Canada.

Commanding Officers:
Cdr. Anthony Follett Pugsley, RN
8 May 1939 – ca. late 1940

HMS Javelin was in Dockyard Control during repairs

Lt.Cdr. Hugh Crofton Simms, RN
8 January 1942 – 30 September 1942
Promoted to Cdr. on ???
DSO awarded on 6 March 1942

Lt.Cdr. William Frank Niemann Gregory-Smith, DSO and Bar, DSC, RN
30 September 1942 – December 1942

Lt.Cdr. John Melvill Alliston, DSC, RN
December 1942 - ???
Bar to DSC awarded on 4 May 1943

HMS Javelin was in Dockyard Control during refit

Lt.Cdr. Peter Barthrop North Lewis, DSC, RN
23 November 1943 - ???

HMS Javelin was in Dockyard Control during repairs

Lt.Cdr. J.B. Marjoribanks, RN
14 November 1944 – still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List 

Former nameHMS Kashmir

Noteable events involving Javelin include:

21 Apr, 1940
At 07.49 hours on 21 April 1940 the British merchant Cedarbank was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-26 north-west of Bergen in position 62º49'N, 04º10'E. 30 - survivors were were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Javelin (Cdr. A.F. Pugsley, RN) and landed at Aalesund, Norway.

28 May, 1940
Javelin (Cdr. A.F. Pugsley, RN) made two trips to Dunkirk to evacuate British troops.

11 Oct, 1940
The battleship HMS Revenge sails from Plymouth with the destroyers HMS Javelin, HMS Jupiter, HMS Kelvin, HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jaguar and HMS Kashmir to shell the French port of Cherbourg.

29 Nov, 1940
The 5th British destroyer flotilla (Capt. Lord Louis Mountbatten), HMS Javelin (flag), HMS Jupiter, HMS Kashmir, HMS Jackal and HMS Jersey encounters the German destroyers Karl Galster, Hans Lody and Richard Beitzen while these were conducting an anti-shipping raid off Plymouth. In the gun/torpedo battle that followed HMS Javelin was hit by two torpedoes, loosing both her bow and stern. Only 155 feet of Javelin's original 353 foot length remained afloat and was towed back to harbour. Javelin was out of action for almost a year.

5 May, 1942
Took part in the landings at Madagascar.

12 Aug, 1942
With East Med Fleet bombarded the Island of Rhodes.

12 Sep, 1942
With East Med Fleet bombarded El-Darba.

15 Jan, 1943
The British destroyers HMS Pakenham and HMS Javelin intercept and sink the Italian Agosto Bertani (8328 GRT) south of Lampedusa.

19 Jan, 1943
Javelin and HMS Kelvin on patrol from Malta intercept and sink (13) enemy ships in a night action lasting three hours.

20 Jan, 1943
The British destroyers HMS Kelvin and HMS Javelin intercept a small Italian convoy off Tripoli, Libya and completely destroy it. Some 11 ships were sunk among them the small Italian minesweepers RD 31, RD 36, RD 37 and RD 39.

22 Jan, 1943
With units of the East Med Fleet in a night action Bombarded the port of ZUARA.

1 May, 1943
Convoy escort from Alexandria to Tripoli, attacked by enemy dive bombers off Benghazi two merchant ships sunk and one damaged.


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