Allied Warships

HMS Wessex (i) (D 43)

Destroyer of the Admiralty V & W class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Admiralty V & W
Pennant	D 43
Built by	Hawthorn Leslie & Co. (Hebburn-on-Tyne, U.K.)
Ordered	9 Dec 1916
Laid down	23 May 1917
Launched	12 Mar 1918
Commissioned	11 May 1918
Lost	24 May 1940
Loss position	51° 01'N, 1° 45'E

History	On 24 May 1940 HMS Wessex (Lt.Cdr. William Archibald Rosebery Cartwright, RN) was bombed and sunk off Calais by German aircraft. The wreck lies in 35 meters of water in position 51º00'54"N, 01º45'50"E.

Commands listed for HMS Wessex (i) (D 43)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. William Archibald Rosebery Cartwright, RN	31 Jul 1939	24 May 1940

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Notable events involving Wessex (i) include:

24 May 1940
The Polish destroyer Burza was ordered to join the British destroyers HMS Vimiera and HMS Wessex and shell German positions in Calais area. At 16.20 the Allied vessels opened fire on enemy armoured column at Sangatte Hill, west of Calais. 10 minutes later they were attacked by 27 German airplanes which hit and sank HMS Wessex. HMS Vimiera managed to escape. Then the entire enemy air group concentrated on the Polish destroyer. The AA guns (2 40 mm) jammed due to shrapnel hits, three bombs exploded in the water. They caused boiler damage and loss of speed. The commander (Lt.Cdr. Francki) ordered to emergency launch the torpedoes and drop all depth charges, trying to avoid additional explosions. Shortly after this, two bombs hit the Burza and badly damaged her. However the airplanes had dropped all of their bombs and broke off the attack. The crew managed to stop the leakage and return to Dover. One German airplane was shot down during the action. (1)