HMS ''Janus'', named after the

Roman god Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

, was a ''Javelin'' or J-class

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 ordered from the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at

Wallsend-on-Tyne 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 f ...

as part of the 1936 Build Programme and laid down on 29 September 1937, launched on 10 November 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1939.

Service history

North Sea and Mediterranean duties

Off

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

, Norway, on 30 April 1940 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 ...

was mistaken for a cruiser and was badly damaged by German

Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Con ...

dive bombers and had to be sunk by ''Janus''. ''Janus'' served in the North Sea until May 1940 and had participated in over 20 convoy duties in that time. From May 1940 ''Janus'' began Mediterranean duties with the

14th Destroyer Flotilla The14th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from April 1916 to 11 February 1919 and again from 1 June 1940 to January 1944. History World War One The flotilla was first establishe ...

in Alexandria. She participated in the

Battle of Calabria The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the World War II, Second World War. Ships of the Kingdom of Italy, Italian ''Regia Marina'' were oppose ...

in July 1940 and the

Battle of Cape Matapan The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 ...

in March 1941, and in the

action off Sfax The Battle of the Tarigo Convoy (sometimes referred to as the Action off Sfax) was a naval battle of World War II, part of the Battle of the Mediterranean. It was fought on 16 April 1941, between four Royal Navy, British and three Regia Marina, ...

in April 1941.

Fate

On 23 January 1944 ''Janus'' was struck by one

Fritz X Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. ''Fritz X'' was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. ''Fritz X'' was a nickname us ...

guided bomb dropped by a German

He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

and sank off the

Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...

beachhead in western

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(according to another version, she was sunk by

Henschel Hs 293 The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sink ...

glider bomb or a conventional torpedo – see

article). It took a mere twenty minutes for ''Janus'' to sink. Of her crew only 80 survived, being rescued by and smaller craft. It was recorded that during her last duty ''Janus'' had laid down nearly 500 salvos of 4.7-inch shells in the first two days of the landings in support of allied troops. ''Janus''s badge is still on display at the Selborne dry dock wall.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * J, K and N-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne 1938 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Destroyers sunk by aircraft Maritime incidents in January 1944 Ships sunk by German aircraft Naval magazine explosions {{UK-destroyer-stub