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Allied Warships

HMS Lance (G 87)

Destroyer of the L class


HMS Lance off Malta

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassL 
PennantG 87 
Built byYarrow Shipbuilders Ltd. (Scotstoun, Scotland) 
Ordered31 Mar, 1938 
Laid down1 Mar, 1939 
Launched28 Nov, 1940 
Commissioned13 May, 1941 
Lost9 Apr, 1942 
Loss position
 
HistoryHMS Lance (Lt.Cdr. Ralph William Frank Northcott, DSO, RN) was sunk by aircraft bombs at Malta. Lance had been docked for repairs, and was hit on 5th April and 9th April 1942. She was written off as a constructive total loss. Salvaged and towed to Britain and sold for scrap in June 1944. Scrapped at Grays by T.W. Ward.

Commanding Officer:
Lt.Cdr. Ralph William Frank Northcott, RN
14 February 1941 - 9 April 1942
DSO awarded on 20 February 1942 


Noteable events involving Lance include:

9 Nov, 1941
The British Force K, made up of the British light cruisers HMS Aurora (Capt. W.G. Agnew, RN) and HMS Penelope (Capt. A.D. Nicholl, RN) and the British destroyers HMS Lance (Lt.Cdr. R.W.F. Northcott, RN) and HMS Lively (Lt.Cdr. W.F.E. Hussey, DSC, RN), intercept an Italian convoy about 130 nautical south-west off Calabria in approximate position 37º08'N, 18º09'E. The Italian convoy is bound from Naples to Tripoli.

In the resulting battle the Italian destroyer Fulmine is sunk as well as the German transports Duisburg (7389 GRT) and San Marco (3113 GRT), the Italian transports Maria (6339 GRT), Sagitta (5153 GRT) and Rina Corrado (5180 GRT), and the Italian Conte di Misurata (5014 GRT) and Minatitlan (7599 GRT). The Italian destroyers Grecale and Euro are damaged.

24 Nov, 1941
The British Force K, made up of the British light cruisers HMS Aurora (Capt. W.G. Agnew, RN) and HMS Penelope (Capt. A.D. Nicholl, RN) and the British destroyers HMS Lance (Lt.Cdr. R.W.F. Northcott, RN) and HMS Lively (Lt.Cdr. W.F.E. Hussey, DSC, RN), intercept an Axis convoy about 100 nautical miles west of Crete. The Axis convoy is bound from the Aegean to Bengasi.

The two German tansports in the convoy Maritza (2910 GRT) and Procida (1842 GRT) are both sunk by HMS Penelope and HMS Lively dispite the presence of the Italian torpedo boats Lupo and Cassiopea.

19 Dec, 1941
While on their way to intercept an Italian convoy bound for Tripoli the British Force K (light cruisers HMS Neptune (Capt. R.C. O'Conor, RN), HMS Aurora (Capt. W.G. Agnew, RN), HMS Penelope (Capt. A.D. Nicholl, RN) and the destroyers HMS Kandahar (Cdr. W.G.A. Robson, DSO, DSC, RN, HMS Lance (Lt.Cdr. R.W.F. Northcott, RN), HMS Lively (Lt.Cdr. W.F.E. Hussey, DSC, RN) and HMS Havock (Lt. G.R.G. Watkins, DSC, RN) ran into an newly laid Italian minefield. HMS Neptune and HMS Kandahar sank while HMS Aurora was badly and HMS Penelope was lightly damaged. HMS Aurora was patched up at Malta before returning home for repairs at Liverpool from April to June 1942. HMS Penelope was repaired at Malta but was bombed on 26 March 1942 while still under repair. She left Malta on 8 April 1942 for full repairs at the New York Navy Yard in the USA. These repairs were completed in September 1942.




Blue Water Navy, A
WAB Douglas, R. Sarty, M. Whitby et al.

Books dealing with this subject include:

A Blue Water Navy, WAB Douglas, R. Sarty, M. Whitby et al., 2007


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