HMS ''Martin'' was an M-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, launched at the Tyneside yard of Vickers-Armstrongs on 12 December 1940. She had a busy but brief wartime career, being sunk by the German submarine on 10 November 1942 off

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Service history

Convoy PQ 17

''Martin'' was an escort for 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 ...

during the ill-fated

Convoy PQ 17 PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the port of Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, aft ...

, sailing from Scapa on 30 June and cruising off Bear Island, arriving back 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 ...

on 11 July. ''Martin'' left Scapa Flow on 15 July for Seidisfjord and left there on 20 July in company with , and for Archangel loaded with replenishments for the escorts and

merchant ships A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...

. They arrived at Kola Inlet on 24 July and Archangel some days later. ''Martin'' sailed from Archangel on 14 August and joined the US cruiser . After calling at Kola Inlet, whence she sailed on 24 August in company with ''Marne'' and , ''Martin'' participated in sinking of the German minelayer on 25 July and taking 54 prisoners-of-war. She arrived at Scapa Flow on 30 August, having survived a minor collision with on that day.

Convoy PQ18

''Martin'' sailed from Scapa Flow on 4 September to join the escorts of convoy PQ 18. In the convoy she was part of Force "B", and joined the convoy with the cruiser , and the escort aircraft carrier southwest of Jan Meyen Island on 9 September. PQ 18 was heavily attacked by aircraft and lost ten ships, which were sunk, by torpedo bomber attacks and two others by U-boat, out of an original convoy of 40 ships. On 16 September, ''Martin'' with ''Scylla'' and the rest of the destroyers transferred to the westbound convoy, QP 14. This convoy escaped air attack, but lost three ships out of fifteen to U-boats, which in addition sank two of the escort and a fleet oiler. ''Martin'' arrived back at Scapa Flow on 27 September with survivors from four merchant ships.

Loss

''Martin'' was allocated to the escort group for Force "H" in Operation “Torch”, the landings in North Africa. She sailed from Scapa Flow on 30 October as part of the escort for Force "H", and after fuelling 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 ...

on 5 November re-joined Force "H"- the covering force to the landings at Algiers and

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 ...

, on 8 November. The task of Force "H" was to guard against action by the Italian fleet, during the landings. ''Martin'' was torpedoed by under command of Wilhelm Dommes on the morning of 10 November as a result of which she blew up and sank in position . The only survivors were five officers and 59 ratings picked up by the destroyer .

Notes

References

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External links

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HMS ''Martin'' websiteIWM Interview with survivor George Nye
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin L and M-class destroyers of the Royal Navy 1940 ships Ships built on the River Tyne Maritime incidents in November 1942 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Ships built by Vickers Armstrong