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Allied Warships

HMS Orwell (G 98)

Destroyer of the O class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassO 
PennantG 98 
Built byThornycroft (Southampton, U.K.) 
Ordered3 Sep, 1939 
Laid down20 May, 1940 
Launched2 Apr, 1942 
Commissioned17 Oct, 1942 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistoryScrapped in June 1965.

Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. Nigel Hubert George Austen, DSO, RN
18 August 1942 – January 1943
Bar to DSO awarded 23 March 1943

Lt.Cdr. John Michael Hodges, DSO, RN
January 1943 – 15 July 1944

Lt.Cdr. John Ronald Gower, RN
15 July 1944 – still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List 


Noteable events involving Orwell include:

12 Jan, 1945
The British heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk (Capt. J.G.Y. Loveband, RN with Rear-Admiral R.R. McGrigor, CB, DSO, RN aboard) and the light cruiser HMS Bellona (Capt. C.F.W. Norris, DSO, RN) escorted by the destroyers HMS Onslow (Capt. H.W.S. Browning, OBE, RN), HMS Orwell (Lt.Cdr. J.R. Gower, DSC, RN) and HMS Onslaught (Cdr. the Hon. A. Pleydell-Bouverie, RN) attack a German convoy of Egersund, Norway. Two German merchants, the Bahia Camarones (8551 GRT) and the Charlotte (4404 GRT) and the minelayer M 273 were sunk.

20 Mar, 1945
HMS Orwell (Lt.Cdr. J.R. Gower, DSC, RN) picks up 65 survivors (of which one died aboard the destroyer) from the American merchant Horace Bushnell that was torpedoed and damaged by the German submarine U-995 about 25 nautical miles east of North Kilden Light in position 69º23'N, 35º17'E.


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