HMS ''Bulldog'' (H91) was a built for 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 ...
(RN) between 1929 and 1931. Initially assigned to the
Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
, she transferred to the
Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
in 1936. During the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
of 1936–1939, the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms
blockade
A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force.
A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...
imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. ''Bulldog'' saw service throughout
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
on
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
escort duty during the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
and in the
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
. Her most notable actions were the capture of an
Enigma machine and
codebook
A codebook is a type of document used for gathering and storing cryptography codes. Originally codebooks were often literally , but today codebook is a byword for the complete record of a series of codes, regardless of physical format.
Cryptog ...
s from the in 1941, sinking another German submarine in 1944 and taking the surrender of the German garrisons on the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
on 9 May 1945. Surplus after the war, she was
broken up for scrap in 1946.
Description
''Bulldog'' displaced at (
standard load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
) and at
deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
. The ship had an
overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draught of .
[ She was powered by ]Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
geared steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s,[ driving two ]shafts
''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...
, which developed a total of giving a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...
s. With a maximum of of fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
she had a range of at .[Whitley, p. 99] Ship's complement was 134 officers and enlisted, increasing to 142 during wartime.[Friedman, p. 298]
She mounted four quick-firing (QF) 4.7-inch Mk IX guns in single mounts, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. She was briefly fitted with a C XIII mount capable of 60-degree elevation for testing. Anti-Aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
(AA) defence consisted of two QF 2-pounder Mk II AA guns on a platform between her funnels
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...
. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
mounts for torpedoes.[ One ]depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
rail, two throwers and 20 depth charges were originally carried, this increased to 35 shortly after the war began. The ship was fitted with a Type 119 ASDIC
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on or ...
set to detect submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s through sound waves that would reflect off the submarine.
By April 1941, the ship's AA armament was increased when a 3-inch (12-pounder) AA gun, replaced the rear torpedo tubes. In late 1941, the ship was converted to an escort destroyer
An escort destroyer with United States Navy hull classification symbol DDE was a destroyer (DD) modified for and assigned to a fleet escort role after World War II. These destroyers retained their original hull numbers. Later, in March 1950, th ...
by replacing her 'A' gun with a Hedgehog
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...
anti-submarine mortar. By April 1943, her 'Y' gun had been removed for an increase to 70 depth charges. Additional depth charge stowage later replaced the 12-pounder. The 2-pounder mounts were replaced by Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...
s with two more later added to the forward superstructure.[Whitley, p. 100][Lenton, p. 153] To combat German E-boat
E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat") of the Kriegsmarine during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a patrol craft from an armed motorboat to a lar ...
s, a QF 6-pounder gun was mounted on the bow in 1944.
Construction and service
The ship was ordered on 22 March 1929 from Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England.
At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...
at Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...
, under the 1928 Naval Programme. She was laid down on 10 August 1929, and launched on 6 December 1930, as the sixth RN ship to carry this name. ''Bulldog'' was completed on 8 April 1931 at a cost of £221,408, excluding items supplied by the Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
such as guns, ammunition and communications equipment.[March, p. 260] After her commissioning, she was assigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla
The British 4th Destroyer Flotilla , or Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1909 to July 1951.
History
In 1907 the Home Fleet had a large formation of destroyers called the Home Fleet Flotilla of destr ...
with the Mediterranean Fleet until September 1936, when she was transferred to the Home Fleet. ''Bulldog'' aided survivors of the 1932 Ierissos earthquake
The 1932 Ierissos earthquake occurred at 19:20 on 26 September. It caused severe damage in Ierissos, Greece and the surrounding part of the Chalkidiki peninsula, with 161–491 casualties reported.
Tectonic setting
The Aegean Sea is an area of m ...
and patrolled southern Spanish waters during the first month of the Spanish Civil War. During her time in the Mediterranean, the ship was refitted at Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
in 1932 and 1935 and in Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1936.
Once she returned to Britain, ''Bulldog'' was almost continuously under repair or refitting at Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...
until 9 January 1937. She remained with the 4th Flotilla until January 1939 and made multiple deployments off the coast of Spain enforcing the arms embargo until 31 March 1938, when she was refitted, at Sheerness Dockyard
Sheerness Dockyard also known as the Sheerness Station was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the Sheerness peninsula, at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent. It was opened in the 1660s and closed in 1960.
Location
In the Age of Sail, the R ...
. The ship escorted the battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
to 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 ...
in September during the Munich Crisis
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...
. ''Bulldog'' was briefly assigned to the Gibraltar Local Flotilla in January 1939, until she became plane guard
A plane guard is a warship (commonly a destroyer or frigate) or helicopter tasked to recover the aircrew of planes or helicopters which ditch or crash in the water during aircraft carrier flight operations.
Ships
For ships, the plane guard is po ...
for the aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
in the Mediterranean in March.[English, p. 41]
In October she was deployed with ''Glorious'', the battleship and the destroyer as part of a Hunting Group in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, based at Socotra
Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen’s ...
. She sailed to Malta with ''Glorious'' in January 1940 to refit, returning to plane guard duty for during March. In April ''Bulldog'' had repairs made to her feed water
Boiler feedwater is an essential part of boiler operations. The feed water is put into the steam drum from a feed pump. In the steam drum the feed water is then turned into steam from the heat. After the steam is used it is then dumped to the mai ...
heater at Devonport, that lasted until 3 May.[ ''Bulldog'' joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow and sailed on 9 May, with a force consisting of the cruiser and thirteen destroyers, to search off the mouth of the ]Skagerrak
The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea.
The ...
for German minelayer
A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...
s. The British force was spotted by German E-boats but the German ships returned to base before they could be intercepted. One of the E-boats torpedoed the destroyer the next day causing serious damage. ''Bulldog'' towed ''Kelly'' to Hebburn
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 from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south ...
for repairs, sustaining damage to her stern during the tow, which was repaired by Swan Hunter from 13 to 21 May.[
]
The ship damaged her propellers on 27 May and was under repairs at Chatham Dockyard until 4 June, when she was transferred to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla
The 1st Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as the First Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from 1909 to 1940 and again from 1947 to 1951.
History
Pre-war history
In May 1906, the First Destroyer Flotilla was at ...
. She sailed for Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, on 9 June, to assist in the evacuation of British troops during Operation Cycle
Operation Cycle is the name of the evacuation of Allied troops from Le Havre, in the Pays de Caux of Upper Normandy from 1940, towards the end of the Battle of France, during the Second World War. The operation was preceded by the better kno ...
and was severely damaged by three hits from German aircraft that knocked out her steering gear. ''Bulldog''s crew was able to effect temporary repairs and she reached Portsmouth Dockyard
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...
the following morning. Whilst under repair, she was further damaged by splinters during an air raid on 24 August. After her repairs were completed on 2 September, ''Bulldog'' rejoined the flotilla.[
She was refitted at ]Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
from 2 January to 18 February 1941 and was assigned to the 3rd Escort Group for convoy escort duties to and from Iceland.[ ]Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
Joe Baker-Cresswell
Captain Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell DSO (2 February 1901 – 4 March 1997) was a Royal Navy officer, aide-de-camp to King George VI and High Sheriff of Northumberland. He is noted prominently for his role as the commanding officer of HMS ' ...
was the ship's captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and commander of the group. Together with the destroyer and the sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
, she damaged on 7 May, while escorting Convoy OB 318
OB 318 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. During Operation Primrose Royal Navy convoy escorts , ''Broadway'' and captured with an intact Enigma machine and a wealth of signals intelligen ...
off Iceland.[
Two days later, the ]corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
depth-charged ''U-110'', forcing her to the surface. ''Bulldog'' and the destroyer first fired on, then closed on the U-boat, whose crew were abandoning the boat. Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces.
In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...
David Balme of ''Bulldog'' led a boarding party that removed the Enigma coding machine and various codebooks. This was of immense help to the Government Code and Cypher School
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...
in breaking German naval codes. She took the submarine in tow, but it sank the following morning. ''Bulldog'' remained on Atlantic convoy duties until October, when she sailed to Fairfields
Fairfields is a district and civil parish that covers a large new development area on the western flank of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. As the first tier of Local Government, the parish council is responsible for the people who liv ...
in Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
, for conversion to an escort destroyer, a process that lasted until February 1942. As part of the conversion, a Type 271 target indication radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
was installed above the bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, replacing her director-control tower and rangefinder
A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, such as photography an ...
.[ By 1944 a Type 290 short-range surface search radar was fitted.
''Bulldog'' was an unattached ship assigned to ]Western Approaches Command
Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...
from 10 February 1942, and aided the destroyer after she had collided with the American merchant ship on 31 March[ whilst escorting ]Convoy PQ 14
Convoy PQ 14 was an Arctic convoy sent from Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Convoys from Britain had been despatched since August 1941 and advantage had been taken of the perpetual darkness of ...
from Eban Eban may refer to:
* Eban (name)
* EBAN, European business investment organization
* Eban, Dzheyrakhsky District, village in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia
See also
*
* Eban number
*Eben Eben is a name of Hebrew origin. It is sometimes short f ...
, Scotland to Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
, Iceland. On 12 April, she rejoined the convoy en route to Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...
, where they arrived a week later. Beginning on 28 April, she escorted the returning Convoy QP 11
Convoy QP 11 was an Arctic Convoy of World War II, made up of merchant ships returning from the Soviet Union to Britain after delivering their cargo to the Soviet Union. The convoy consisted of 13 merchant ships, escorted by 18 warships. The convo ...
with the same ships. Two days later the light cruiser joined the convoy. Whilst taking position ahead of the convoy later that day, ''Edinburgh'' was hit by two torpedoes from . The cruiser, heavily damaged and with her steering gear wrecked, was taken in tow for the voyage back to Murmansk.
On 1 May the convoy was attacked by the German destroyers Z7 ''Hermann Schoemann'', , and which had been searching for ''Edinburgh''. Commander Maxwell Richmond, ''Bulldog''s captain and commander of the escorts, interposed his four destroyers between the Germans and the merchantmen and drove off the Germans in a three-hour battle during which ''Bulldog'' was damaged by shell splinters. She was repaired from 2 June to 14 August, then assigned to the Greenock Special Escort Division.[ In November she escorted British ships participating in the ]Allied landings in North Africa
Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while all ...
,[Rohwer, p. 210] before returning to Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
for repairs from 23 November to 14 December.[
''Bulldog'' was assigned to the escort for ]Convoy JW 51B
Convoy JW 51B was an Arctic convoy sent from United Kingdom by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in late December 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports in early January 1943.
JW 51B came under attack b ...
on 20 December, but had to return home for weather repairs on 28 December. After repairs were completed on 16 January 1943, she escorted convoys between Iceland and the UK for the next two months. The ship was under repair at Greenock from 29 March to 22 April, after which she sailed to Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...
for escort duties between Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
, Freetown and Gibraltar. ''Bulldog'' returned home in October for a lengthy refit at Portsmouth Dockyard that lasted from 8 November to 24 May 1944. In June she began escort duties between the River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
and the Faeroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betwee ...
and sank with her hedgehog, all 52 hands lost, on the 26 June.[
]
On 20 August, her hull was badly damaged after a collision with the frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
in Gourock Bay. After repairs at Ardrossan
Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...
that lasted until 4 September, she resumed convoy duties between the Faeroes, the Clyde and Scapa Flow until she required major machinery repairs in November. Upon completion on 30 January 1945, ''Bulldog'' escorted convoys between Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
and various Irish ports for the remainder of the war. On 9 May 1945, she sailed to Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
where she participated in the Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands
The Channel Islands, Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom, were occupied during World War II by German Army forces from 30 June 1940, until May 1945. They were liberated by British forces following the general German surrender.
Considered no ...
with German officers surrendering to British representatives on board the ship. ''Bulldog'' was placed in Category 'B' reserve on 27 May at Dartmouth, transferred to Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
on 27 November and reduced to Category 'C' reserve on 13 December. Approved for scrapping on 22 December, she was turned over to Metal Industries, Limited
Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922 by Robert Watson McCrone. In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal ...
on 17 January 1946.[
]
Notes
Footnotes
References
*
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External links
Imperial War Museum description of the capture of the Enigma machine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulldog (H91)
A- and B-class destroyers
Enigma machine
Ships built on the River Tyne
1930 ships
World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom