HMS ''Corunna'' (D97) was a later or 1943 fleet

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 ...

. She was named in honour of the Battle of Corunna, which took place during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

in 1809 between British and French forces. ''Corunna'' was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited on the Tyne. She was launched on 29 May 1945 and commissioned on 6 June 1947.

Design and construction

The Battle-class was developed as a result of operational experience in the early years of the

Second World War 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 ...

, which had shown that the Royal Navy's existing destroyers had inadequate anti-aircraft protection, and in particular, lacked a modern dual-purpose main gun armament, capable of dealing with both surface targets and air attack, with guns lacking the high elevation mountings necessary to deal with dive bombers. The resulting design was armed with two twin 4.5 inch high-angle gun-turrets of a new design mounted forward and a heavy close-in anti-aircraft armament, with 16 Battle-class destroyers ordered under the 1942 construction programme. For the 1943 construction programme, 24 Battle-class destroyers of a revised design (known as "1943 Battles") were ordered, with three destroyers (''Corunna'', ''Oudenarde'' and ''River Plate'') to be built by Swan Hunter. ''Corunna'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

, at the waterline and between perpendiculars, with 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 normal and at full load.

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. Two

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 supplied steam at and to two sets of

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single-reduction 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 which drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of ( at full load. of fuel oil was carried, giving an endurance of at . Two twin 4.5 inch (113 mm) Mark IV gun mounts, capable of elevating to 85 degrees, were mounted forward, while a single 4.5 inch gun, elevating to 55 degrees was fitted behind the funnel - this fifth gun , which could fire astern, replaced a 4-inch gun fitted to the 1942 Battles used for firing

Star shell A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage so ...

and could be controlled by the main fire control system. Close-in anti-aircraft armament was eight

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

, with two twin stabilised STAAG mounts, with integrated fire control, aft, one simple Mark V twin mount amidships, and two single mounts on the bridge wings. Two quintuple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo-tubes were fitted, with a

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anti-submarine mortar aft. ''Corunna'', named after the 1809 Battle of Corunna, was one of thirteen 1943 Battles ordered on 23 April 1943. The destroyer was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at Swan Hunter's

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

shipyard on 12 April 1944, was launched on 29 May 1945. The end of the

in August 1945 resulted in the decision to cancel 16 of the 1943 Battles, with construction of the remaining ships slowed. ''Corunna'' was commissioned on 23 May 1947, and was completed on 6 June 1947.

Service

On commissioning, ''Corunna'' joined 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 ...

, part of the

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, but was temporarily laid up in reserve for several months from October 1947 owing to a manning crisis in the Royal Navy. On 8 December 1948 ''Corunna'' was in collision with the oiler while being refuelled, and was under repair at

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

from 16 December to 18 February 1949. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.Souvenir Programme, ''Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953'', HMSO, Gale and Polden In 1954, ''Corunna'', with the rest of the Squadron, formerly Flotilla, deployed to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, remaining there until 1955. ''Corunna'', with the rest of the Squadron, returned to the region in 1956 and took part in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. On 15 March 1959, ''Corunna'' accidentally collided with her sister ship in the Bay Of Biscay. ''Corunna'' subsequently began her conversion to a Radar Picket, of which three other ships were also converted. The conversion included new Anti-Aircraft weaponry, new radar, and the addition of the

Sea Cat missile Seacat was a British short-range surface-to-air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system, and was designed so tha ...

system. In 1962, ''Corunna'' joined the 7th Destroyer Squadron, based in the Mediterranean, and the following year joined the 21st Escort Squadron. In 1964, ''Corunna'' deployed, along with the rest of the Squadron, to the

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, where she would remain until 1965.

Decommissioning and fate

In 1967, ''Corunna'' was placed in reserve and was put on the disposal list in 1972. On Friday 17 January 1975 "Corunna" was photographed alongside the partially demolished D86 HMS Agincourt at Sunderland. In 1975, ''Corunna'' arrived at Blyth in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

where she was subsequently broken up.

References

Publications

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Corunna (D97) Battle-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne 1945 ships Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom