HMAS Waterhen (D22/I22) was a W class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy (as HMS Waterhen (G28/D22)) and the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN). Built during World War I, the destroyer was completed in mid 1918, and commissioned into the Royal Navy. In 1933, Waterhen and four other British ships were transferred to the RAN. The ship's early RAN career was uneventful, with periods spent decommissioned in reserve, but she was reactivated in September 1939, and deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the Australian destroyer force: the Scrap Iron Flotilla

Scrap Iron Flotilla

The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific during World War II. The name scrap iron flotilla was bestowed upon the group by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels....

. During her time in the Mediterranean, Waterhen was involved in escort and patrol duties, performed shore bombardments, and participated in Allied evacuations from Greece and Crete. On 29 June 1941, while operating with the Tobruk Ferry Service

Tobruk Ferry Service

The Tobruk Ferry Service was the name given to the force of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships involved in the supply of Allied forces involved in the Siege of Tobruk...

, Waterhen was heavily damaged by Axis aircraft. Attempts to tow the ship to port were unsuccessful, and she sank on 30 June; the first RAN ship lost to combat in World War II.

Design and construction

Waterhen was a W class

V and W class destroyer

The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...

 destroyer constructed for the Royal Navy during World War I. The ship had a displacement of 1,100 tons at standard load, was 312 foot in length overall and 300 feet (91.4 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 29 foot, and a maximum draught of 13 foot. Propulsion machinery consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis turbines, which provided 27000 shp to the two propeller shafts. Maximum designed speed was 34 knots (18.5 m/s). Waterhen had a range of 3560 nautical miles (6,593.1 km) at 12 knots (6.5 m/s). The ship's company consisted of 6 officers and 113 sailors.

At launch, Waterhens main armament consisted of four single QF 4-inch Mark V guns

QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun

The QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.-Naval service:...

. This was supplemented by a quad-barelled QF 2 pounder naval gun

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

, and five .303 inch machine guns

.303 British

.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...

 of various types. The destroyer was also fitted with two 3-tube 21-inch torpedo sets, two depth charge chutes, and four depth charge throwers. Later modifications to her armament included the installtion of a second 2 pounder gun, and the replacement of the torpedo tube sets with two 4-tube sets.

Waterhen was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....

 at their shipyard in Hebburn-on-Tyne on 3 July 1917. She was launched on 26 March 1918. The destroyer was completed on 17 July 1918, and was commissioned into the Royal Navy.

Transfer to RAN

In 1933, the British Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 decided to replace five S class

S class destroyer (1916)

The S class were a class of 67 destroyers built from 1917 for the Royal Navy. The design was based on the Admiralty modified R class and all ships had names beginning with S or T....

 destroyers on loan to the RAN with five more capable (but slightly older) destroyers. Waterhen was one of the five ships selected, and was commissioned into the RAN at Portsmouth on 11 October 1933. The ships arrived in Australia on 21 December 1933. Waterhen was paid off into reserve on 9 October 1934 but recommissioned on 14 April 1936. She was decommissioned again on 1 June 1938, and returned to service between 29 September and 10 November 1938.

World War II

With war in Europe looming, Waterhen was recommisioned on 1 September 1939. On 14 November, Waterhen sailed to Singapore, then after rendezvousing with the rest of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla (referrred to as the "Scrap Iron Flotilla

Scrap Iron Flotilla

The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific during World War II. The name scrap iron flotilla was bestowed upon the group by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels....

" by German propagandists), headed for the Mediterranean. While en route, Waterhen detached to participate in the unsuccessful hunt for the German warship Admiral Graf Spee

German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee

Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron that fought the battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands in World War I...

. During the early part of her Mediterranean deployment, Waterhen was involved in convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols, but these were mostly uneventful until Italy entered the war in August 1940.

On 17 August, the destroyer performed shore bombardments of the Libyan coast. On 21 August, the did the same at Bardia

Bardia

Bardia is a geographic region in the Democratic Republic of Nepal.Bardia comprises a portion of the Terai, or lowland hills and valleys of southern Nepal. The Terai is over 1,000 feet in elevation, and extends all along the Indian border...

. In October, Waterhen escorted supply ships to Crete, where a forward base was being set up to assist in the Allied reinforcement of Greece. On 25 December, the ship captured the Italian supply ship Tereremo Diritto. On 30 December, Waterhen unintentionally rammed and sank the anti-submarine trawler , and was forced to dock for repairs. In April, Waterhen became involved in Allied evacuations from Greece and Crete. After this, she was assigned to the Tobruk Ferry Service

Tobruk Ferry Service

The Tobruk Ferry Service was the name given to the force of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships involved in the supply of Allied forces involved in the Siege of Tobruk...

; supply runs to the Allied force besieged at Tobruk

Siege of Tobruk

The siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted 240 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War...

.

Loss

On 29 June, Waterhen and were making the run to Tobruk when they were attacked off Sollum by Axis aircraft. The 12 German and 7 Italian Ju-87 dive bombers heavily damaged the Australian destroyer (although the only casualty was a wound from a flying can of bully beef). Defender took Waterhen in tow, but at 13:50 on 30 June 1941, the destroyer rolled over and sank. She was the first ship of the Royal Australian Navy to be lost by enemy action in World War II.

The ship earned three battle honour

Battle honour

A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....

s for her wartime service: "Libya 1941", "Greece 1941", and "Crete 1941".

Further reading