HMS Martin (G44)

Martin's sister ship, HMS Marne
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Martin
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne
Laid down:	23 October 1939[1]
Launched:	12 December 1940
Fate:	Sunk, 10 November 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	M-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,920 long tons (1,950 t) (standard) 2,725 long tons (2,769 t) (deep load)
Length:	362 ft 3 in (110.4 m) (o/a)
Beam:	37 ft (11.3 m)
Draught:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power:	48,000 shp (36,000 kW) 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	190
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC Type 285 gunnery radar Type 290 air warning radar
Armament:	3 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) Mk XI dual-purpose guns 1 × single QF 4 in (102 mm) Mk V anti-aircraft gun 1 × quadruple QF 2-pdr (40 mm) Mk VIII AA guns 2 × single Oerlikon 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns 2 × quadruple, 2 × twin 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Vickers Mark III anti-aircraft machineguns 1 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 42 × depth charges, 2 × racks, 2 × throwers

HMS Martin was an M-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, launched at the Tyneside yard of Vickers-Armstrongs on 12 December 1940. She had a busy but brief wartime career, being sunk by the German submarine U-431 on 10 November 1942 off Algiers.

Service history

Convoy PQ17

Martin was an escort for the Home Fleet during the ill-fated Convoy PQ 17, sailing from Scapa on 30 June and cruising off Bear Island, arriving back at Scapa Flow on 11 July. Martin left Scapa Flow on 15 July for Seidisfjord and left there on 20 July in company with Marne, Middleton and Blankney for Archangel loaded with replenishments for the escorts and merchant ships. They arrived at Kola Inlet on 24 July and Archangel some days later. Martin sailed from Archangel on 14 August and joined the US cruiser USS Tuscaloosa. After calling at Kola Inlet, whence she sailed on 24 August in company with Marne and Onslaught, Martin sank the German minelayer Ulm and took 54 prisoners-of-war. She arrived at Scapa Flow on 30 August, having survived a minor collision with Vidette on that day.

Convoy PQ18

Martin sailed from Scapa Flow on 4 September to join the escorts of convoy PQ 18. In the convoy she was part of Force “B”, and joined the convoy with the cruiser Scylla, and the escort aircraft carrier Avenger southwest of Jan Meyen Island on 9 September. PQ 18 was heavily attacked by aircraft and lost ten ships, which were sunk, by torpedo bomber attacks and two others by U-boat, out of an original convoy of 40 ships. On 16 September, Martin with Scylla and the rest of the destroyers transferred to the westbound convoy, PQ 14. This convoy escaped air attack, but lost three ships out of fifteen to U-boats, which in addition sank two of the escort and a fleet oiler. Martin arrived back at Scapa Flow on 27 September with survivors from four merchant ships.

Loss

Martin was the allocated to the escort group for Force “H” in Operation “Torch”, the landings in North Africa. She sailed from Scapa Flow on 30 October as part of the escort for Force “H”, and after fuelling at Gibraltar on 5 November re-joined Force “H”- the covering force to the landings at Algiers and Oran, on 8 November. The task of Force “H” was to guard against action by the Italian fleet, during the landings. Martin was torpedoed by U-431 under command of Wilhelm Dommes on the morning of 10 November as a result of which she blew up and sank in position 37°53′N 003°57′E / 37.883°N 3.950°E.^[1] The only survivors were four officers and 59 ratings picked up by the destroyer Quentin.

Notes

1. "HMS Martin at UBoat.net". Retrieved 2009-11-16.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• English, John (2001). Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937–43. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
• Friedman, Norman (2006). British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-86176-137-6.
• Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

External links

• HMS Martin website
• IWM Interview with survivor George Nye

Coordinates: 37°53′N 003°57′E / 37.883°N 3.950°E