HMS Ashanti (F51)
Encyclopedia
HMS Ashanti was a Tribal-class
Tribal class destroyer (1936)
The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw service in World War II...
destroyer of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. Following the style of her sister ships she was named for an ethnic group, in this case the Ashanti people of the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. She served in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was broken up in 1949. She was the first of two Royal Navy ships to bear the name Ashanti.
Pennant Numbers
She carried three pennant numberPennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
s:
- L51 August 1938 - December 1938
- F51 January 1939 - Autumn 1940
- G51 Autumn 1940 - April 1949
Pre-war
Although it was initially intended for all Tribal-class destroyers to visit the land of the people after whom they were named, HMS Ashanti was one of the few to actually do this. She sailed to TakoradiSekondi-Takoradi
Sekondi-Takoradi, population 335,000 , comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi, is the capital of the Western Region of Ghana. It is Ghana's fourth largest city and an industrial and commercial center. The chief industries are timber, plywood, shipbuilding and railroad repair and...
, Gold Coast, on 27 February 1939. During the visit, the ship's company was presented with a silver bell and a gold shield by the Asantehene, the ceremonial leader of the Ashanti, then the Chief Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II. The ship also accepted visitors from the tribe, many of whom presented good-luck charms and symbols of valour and survival to the ship.
In May 1939, the ship went to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on a good-will visit. It was in preparation for the looming Second World War and for British seamen to make friends with their future allies of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
.
The following month, Ashanti, as part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, attempted to rescue the stricken submarine HMS Thetis
HMS Thetis (N25)
HMS Thetis was a Group 1 T-class submarine of the Royal Navy which served under two names. Under her first identity, HMS Thetis, she commenced sea trials on 4 March 1939. She sank during trials on 1 June 1939 with the loss of 99 lives...
. Although the submarine was found still afloat, salvage attempts failed and only four men were saved when the ship sank with the remaining 99 trapped within.
Second World War
Ashanti and the 6th Flotilla started the war by working with the French Navy, but as the war dragged on, they saw less and less of each other. By 1940, her main role was anti-submarineAnti-submarine weapon
An anti-submarine weapon is any one of a range of devices that are intended to act against a submarine, and its crew, to destroy the vessel or to destroy or reduce its capability as a weapon of war...
patrols, escort duties and supporting capital ships. She was forced back to port in March 1940 after seawater leaked in and mixed with the boiler feedwater
Boiler feedwater
Boiler feedwater is water used to supply a boiler to generate steam or hot water. At thermal power stations the feedwater is usually stored, pre-heated and conditioned in a feedwater tank and forwarded into the boiler by a boiler feedwater pump....
.
In April, after repairs were completed, she was deployed in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to support operations in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. She achieved little in this capacity, apart from being the target for numerous air attacks by German planes. One attack knocked out her main turbo-generator and the ship's power failed. She managed to zigzag her way out of the fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
and escape the attackers, and by June she was again in her rôle of escort and anti-submarine duties. On the 10th of August, she helped other naval vessels and trawlers rescue more than 300 survivors from the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Transylvania which had been sunk earlier that day by the German submarine U-56 some 40 miles to the north of the Ulster coast.
When the new battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
HMS King George V
HMS King George V (41)
HMS King George V was the lead ship of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, King George V operated during the Second World War as part of the British Home and Pacific Fleets...
was completed, Ashanti formed part of her escort to Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. The main threat was mines, and Ashanti, together with four other destroyers, took the lead in a secret, suicidal attempt to detonate any mines that may be in the area. In the darkness, HMS Fame
HMS Fame (H78)
HMS Fame was an F class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was active during the Second World War, taking part in the Battle of the Atlantic.-Construction:...
ran aground while at high speed in a murky drizzle. HMS Ashanti was right behind her and, although only doing six knots, struck her damaging fuel lines on both ships. HMS Fame subsequently caught fire. The tribal-class destroyer HMS Maori
HMS Maori (F24)
HMS Maori was a Tribal-class destroyer laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 6 June 1936, launched on 2 September 1937 by Mrs. W. J. Jordan and commissioned on 2 January 1939...
also ran aground, destroying her ASDIC dome
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
. Feelings were running high on board as no-one knew the objective of the operation. Matters were compounded as the tide was receding, and the destroyers were left beached waiting for high-tide. When high-tide came, the destroyers were swung round onto rocks and damaged yet further, Ashanti was so damaged by the rocks, that Vickers-Armstrongs sent out a repair crew to the site of the incident. Only after two weeks was Ashanti successfully re-floated and taken to Sunderland for extensive repairs and hull stiffening. It was almost a year before the ship was ready for action again.
Her next major deployment was with other Tribal-class destroyers in Operation Archery
Operation Archery
Operation Archery, also known as the Vaagso Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid during World War II against German positions on Vaagso Island , Norway, on 27 December 1941....
in the Lofoten Islands
Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in December 1941. They cleared out the German presence in Vågsøy
Vågsøy
Vågsøy is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality's administrative center is the town Måløy. Vågsøy is also the name of the main island in the municipality with an area of...
and used the islands as a base from which they attacked the German shipping presence. Shore targets were hit and small German boats were damaged, but the operation was abandoned on 28 December after German air attacks on the island's harbour increased. After the raid, Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
was convinced that the British were preparing an invasion of Norway, and diverted many precious resources there in preparation for an attack.
The Tribal-classes was still together and after escorting Arctic convoys
Arctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
to Murmansk
Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk.-Geography:...
, they were sent to be part of a huge relief effort to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. They were then sent back to the Arctic to escort more Russian convoys. She, along with the other Tribal-class destroyers, were later re-equipped for this rôle, with insulation around vital areas to prevent temperature related damage.
HMS Ashanti was an escort for the Arctic convoy PQ-18
Convoy PQ-18
Convoy PQ-18 was one of the Arctic convoys sent from Britain to aid the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942 and arrived in Arkhangelsk on 21 September 1942....
to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was attacked by numerous U-boats and German aircraft. 42 Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Heinkel He-111 torpedo bombers and 35 Junkers Ju-88 dive bombers simultaneously attacked the convoy, swamping the defenders. U-Boats began shadowing the convoy and some were sunk; U-88 was sunk by HMS Faulknor
HMS Faulknor (H62)
HMS Faulknor was a F class destroyer flotilla leader of the British Royal Navy in commission from 1934. The ship had a particularly active operational role during World War II, being awarded 11 battle honours, and was known as "The hardest worked destroyer in the Fleet"...
, U-457 by HMS Impulsive
HMS Impulsive (D11)
HMS Impulsive was an I-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She has been the only ship of the Navy to bear this name....
and U-589 by HMS Onslow
HMS Onslow (G17)
HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer flotilla leader of the Royal Navy She was ordered from John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Glasgow on 3 September 1939. The ship was laid down on 1 July 1940 and launched on 31 March 1941. She was completed on 8 October 1941 at a cost of £416,942.Attached to the...
and aircraft from HMS Avenger
HMS Avenger (D14)
HMS Avenger was a Royal Navy escort aircraft carrier during the Second World War. In 1939 she was laid down as the merchant ship Rio-Hudson at the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company yard in Chester, Pennsylvania. Launched on 27 November 1940, she was converted to an escort carrier and transferred...
. Eight ships were sunk on 12 September, on 13 September, the Germans lost five Heinkels to Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
fighters. The tanker SS Atheltemplar was another casualty, being torpedoed on 14 September and abandoned. Later attacks were beaten off at the cost to the Germans of 20 more planes shot down. Two more merchantmen were sunk by air attack in Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
harbour. In total, 13 merchants were lost from the convoy.
The return convoy QP-14 was not spared German attack either, it came under attack by U-703. Ashanti and Somali
HMS Somali (F33)
HMS Somali was a Tribal-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.-History:She was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear....
worked together in hunting the U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
, an operation which was hindered by lack of fuel. Somali, just after replacing Ashantis position, was torpedoed by the submarine and severely damaged. Most of her crew were evacuated, but of the 80 who stayed behind to save the ship, most were lost when it eventually sank. Five other ships were sunk in the same day, four by U-435, including the minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
HMS Leda.
Her next deployment was for Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, in which she escorted the capital ships in preparation for the invasion of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. Once the invasions had started on 8 November, she was deployed to prevent any interference from enemy ships in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. She remained in the Mediterranean Sea until June 1943, when more problems with her feedwater tanks required a major re-fit in the Thames commercial shipyard in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
After the re-fit, she operated out of Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
escorting Arctic convoys through the long Arctic nights of late 1943. From 1944, she patrolled the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in preparation for the Normandy Landings. In this capacity, she closely co-operated with Tribal-class destroyers HMCS Haida
HMCS Haida (G63)
HMCS Haida is a Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943-1963.Haida sank more enemy surface tonnage than any other Canadian warship...
and HMCS Huron
HMCS Huron (G24)
HMCS Huron G24/216 was a Tribal class destroyer built by Vickers-Armstrongs on the River Tyne in England, and served in the Royal Canadian Navy. It was the first ship to bear this name...
. For the invasion itself, she patrolled the channel and guarded against German surface ships in the Southwest Approaches
Southwest Approaches
The Southwest Approaches is the name given to the offshore waters to the southwest of Great Britain. The area includes the Celtic Sea, the Bristol Channel and sea areas off southwest Ireland...
and the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
area. On 9 June, a German destroyer group was found off Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and engaged
Battle of Ushant (1944)
The Battle of Ushant, also known as the Battle of Brittany, occurred on the early morning of 9 June 1944 and was an engagement between a German destroyer flotilla, and an Allied destroyer flotilla off the coast of Brittany. The action came shortly after the initial Allied landings in Normandy...
by HMS Ashanti, HMCS Huron, HMCS Haida, as well as HMS Eskimo
HMS Eskimo (F75)
HMS Eskimo was a Tribal-class destroyer, laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 5 August 1936...
, HMS Javelin
HMS Javelin (F61)
HMS Javelin was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 11 October 1937, launched on 21 December 1938, and commissioned on 10 June 1939....
, ORP Piorun
ORP Piorun (G65)
ORP Piorun was an used by the Polish Navy during the Second World War. The name is Polish for "Thunderbolt".-History:The ship was built by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Glasgow. She was laid down in July 1939, launched on 7 May 1940 and completed on 4 November 1940...
and ORP Błyskawica. The Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
ship Z-32 was driven ashore and wrecked, Z-24 was severely damaged and the ZH1, the ex-Dutch destroyer Gerard Callenburgh, was sunk.
Her last action in the war was prevention of the evacuation of German personnel from France. On 5 August 1944, she engaged a German convoy off the Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu is an island and commune just off the Vendée coast of western France.The island's two harbours, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule, located in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are famous for the fishing of tuna and lobster....
and sank two escort minesweepers and a Patrol Vessel. HMCS Haida was damaged in the engagement.
HMS Ashanti was then taken in for an extensive and expensive re-fit and played no further part in the fighting. Other Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyers were sent to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
to fight against the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
.
Post-war
Ashanti had survived North Atlantic gales, technical trouble, the Norwegian Campaign, running aground, Arctic convoys, the invasion of North Africa, U-boat attacks, aircraft attacks, and some of the toughest destroyer fighting of the Second World War. Yet by the end of the war it was clear that she had out-lived her usefulness. She was paid-off and went into Reserve after VJ DayVictory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...
. In 1947, she was put on the disposal list and used for ship target trials. On 12 April 1948 she arrived at West of Scotland Shipbreakers for demolition.