HMS ''Contest'' was a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

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 ...

, built by J. Samuel White,

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

. Laid down on 1 November 1943 and commissioned on 9 November 1945, she was the Royal Navy's first all-welded warship. She was scrapped in 1960.

Operational service

On commissioning ''Contest'' served as part of the 8th Destroyer Squadron in the Far East. In 1947, ''Contest'' was ordered to the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

as a deterrence against feared violence when the leaders of the

Maasina Ruru Maasina Ruru was an emancipation movement for self-government and self-determination in the British Solomon Islands during and after World War II, 1945–1950, credited with creating the movement towards independence for the Solomon Islands. The ...

independence movement were arrested. While on passage back to the UK from the Far East in December 1947, ''Contest'' and

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

were diverted to

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

in response to anti-Jewish rioting, with men from the two destroyers and the survey ship being landed to try to restore order. She returned to the UK for a refit in 1948. She was given an interim modernization and was fitted for minelaying. In 1951 she was the Torpedo training ship at Portsmouth. She then served as part of the

6th Destroyer Squadron 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

in 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 1953 she took part in the Coronation Review of the Fleet to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.Souvenir Programme, ''Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15 June 1953'', HMSO, Gale and Polden

Decommissioning and disposal

''Contest'' was paid off in the late 1950s. Following her sale she arrived at the breakers yard for scrapping at Thos. W. Ward Grays, Essex on 2 February 1960.

References

Publications

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Contest Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom 1944 ships C-class destroyers (1943) of the Royal Navy