HMS Whitshed (pennant number

Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

 D77) was a V and 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...

 escort destroyer

Escort destroyer

A Escort Destroyer is a US Navy post World War II classification for destroyers modified for and assigned to a fleet escort role. These destroyers retained their original hull numbers...

 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...

, laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend

Wallsend

Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...

 on 3 June 1918, launched in 1919, and commissioned on 11 July of that year. She served throughout the Second World War, finally being sold for scrap on 18 February 1947.

On 21 February 1940, she joined with the sloop , the destroyers Valmy and Guépard 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...

, and a Short Sunderland

Short Sunderland

The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....

 patrol bomber

Patrol bomber

A maritime patrol aircraft , also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol roles - in particular anti-submarine, anti-ship and search and...

 from No. 228 Squadron RAF

No. 228 Squadron RAF

No. 228 Squadron RAF was a unit that during the greatest part of its existence flew over water, doing so in World War I, World War II and beyond, performing anti-submarine, reconnaissance and air-sea rescue tasks.-Formation and World War I:...

 to engage German submarines which had earlier attacked Convoy OA-80G, sinking two merchant ships. In the resulting engagement, U-55

German submarine U-55 (1939)

German submarine U-55 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was ordered 16 July 1937 and laid down on 2 November 1938 at Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel...

 was sunk with the loss of one of her crew.

On 13 July 1940 she hit a mine off Harwich

Harwich

Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

 and was badly damaged, having to be towed into port by .

On 12 December 1942, a group of six destroyers; Whitshed, , , , and the Norwegian engaged German shipping in 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...

. Two enemy vessels were sunk, with Whitshed torpedoing Gauss (Sperrbrecher 178).

The ship was named after Admiral of the Fleet James Whitshed

James Whitshed

Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Hawkins-Whitshed, 1st Baronet GCB was a British naval officer.-Naval career:Hawkins-Whitshed joined the Royal Navy in 1777, and was promoted to Lieutenant the following year. In 1780 he took part in the British victory at Battle of Cape St...

.