| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Armed Merchant Cruiser |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | F 30 |
| Built by | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 14 Dec 1920 |
| Commissioned | 6 Nov 1939 |
| Lost | 2 Dec 1940 |
| Loss position | 54° 35'N, 18° 18'W |
| History | Since June 1939 used as troopship. Displacement: 16402 BRT Career: On 2 December 1940 HMS Forfar (Capt. Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy, RN) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-99 after she had just left the convoy HX-90 bound for OB-251 about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland in position 54º35'N, 18º18'W. The master, 35 officers and 136 naval ratings were lost. Three officers and 18 naval ratings were rescued by the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent (Cdr. H.G. De Wolf, RCN), the British destroyer HMS Viscount (Lt.Cdr. M.S. Townsend, OBE, DSC, RN) and the British merchant Dunsley and landed at Oban. Hit by U-boat |
| U-boat Attack | See our U-boat attack entry for the HMS Forfar |
Commands listed for HMS Forfar (F 30)
Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. (retired) Hubert Henry de Burgh, DSO, RN | 16 Sep 1939 | 13 Nov 1939 |
| 2 | Capt. (retired) Henry Neville Lake, DSO, DSC, RN | 13 Nov 1939 | 31 Jul 1940 |
| 3 | Capt. Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy, RN | 31 Jul 1940 | 2 Dec 1940 (+) |
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Notable events involving Forfar include:
31 Aug 1940
Around 0500A/31, the armed merchant cruisers HMS Carnarvon Castle (Capt.(Retd.) H.N.M. Hardy, DSO, RN) and HMS Forfar (Capt. N.A.C. Hardy, RN) departed Greenock. HMS Carnarvon Castle was to proceed to Freetown. HMS Forfar was to patrol in the North Atlantic.
On departure from Greenock they were escorted by the destroyers HMS Anthony (Lt.Cdr. N.V.J.T. Thew, RN) and HMS Amazon (Lt.Cdr. N.E.G. Roper, RN).
Around 0945A/31, they were joined by the armed merchant cruisers HMS Laurentic (Capt.(Retd.) E.P. Vivian, RN) and HMS Mooltan (Capt.(Retd.) G.E. Sutcliff, RN) coming from Liverpool. HMS Laurentic was to patrol in the North Atlantic. HMS Mooltan was to proceed to Freetown.
Around 0900A/1, HMS Anthony parted company for a few hours to pick up the survivors of the merchant vessel Efploia that had been torpedoed and heavily damaged by the German submarine U-101. HMS Anthony sank the wreck of the Efploia with gunfire before rejoining the armed merchant cruisers around 1545A/1.
Around 1610A/1, HMS Carnarvon Castle parted company followed aboutt 20 minutes later by HMS Mooltan.
The remaining ships all parted company around 1200A/2. (1)
Sources
- ADM 53/111781 + ADM 53/112244 + ADM 53/112582 + ADM 53/112730 + ADM 53/111782 + ADM 53/112245 + ADM 53/112583 + ADM 53/112731 + ADM 199/2211 + ADM 199/2212 + ADM 199/2549
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.