HMS ''Blean'' was a Type III of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was named after the Blean Beagles Hunt at the village of

Blean Blean is a village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury, Canterbury district of Kent, England. The civil parish is large and is mostly woodland, much of which is ancient woodland. The village, developed village within the parish is scattere ...

just north of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. She had the shortest career of any of the Hunt-class destroyers. Built at

Hebburn-on-Tyne Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district council, urban district from 1894 until ...

Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...

, she was laid down on 22 February 1941, launched on 15 January 1942 and commissioned on 23 August 1942.

Service history

After working up at

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

followed by some repairs on the Thames she escorted a convoy to Gibraltar arriving on 2 November 1942. She then joined the 58th Destroyer Division escorting

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

convoys. While escorting the British convoy MKF-4 off the

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n coast, ''Blean'' was torpedoed by on 11 December 1942 north-west of

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

. The U-boat aimed one torpedo against her and then one against the convoy, but both hit ''Blean'' and she sank within four minutes with the loss of 89 men. A memorial to her was unveiled in the church of St. Cosmus and St. Damian in the village of Blean on 10 December 2006.

References

Publications

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External links

HMS ''Cavalier'' siteCasualty list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blean (L47) Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Tyne 1942 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in December 1942