Gunners with 4 inch rounds HMS Vivien 1940 IWM A 1770

HMS ''Vivien'' (L33) was a V-class destroyer of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ...

that saw service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

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 opposing ...

Construction and commissioning

''Vivien'', the first Royal Navy ship of the name, was ordered on 30 June 1916 as part of the 9th Order of the 1916–17 Naval Programme. She 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 ...

in July 1916 by

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

at Scotstoun,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and launched on 16 February 1918. She was completed on 28 May 1918 and commissioned into service the same day. She was assigned the pennant number G39 in June 1918; this was changed to L33 during the interwar period.

Service history

World War I

All V- and W-class destroyers, ''Vivien'' among them, were assigned to the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the F ...

Harwich Force The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war. History After the outbreak of the First World War, a ...

. ''Vivien'' saw service in the last year of

and in 1919 served in the Baltic during the Russian Intervention.

Interwar years

As the result of a reorganization of Royal Navy destroyer

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same clas ...

s in 1921, ''Vivien'' became part of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla along with the destroyer leaders , , and and the destroyers , , , , and . The entire flotilla was transferred to the Reserve Fleet on 4 April 1922 and laid up at

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 ...

, Scotland, with reduced crews, but it was recommissioned on 8 April 1925 and renumbered as the

7th Destroyer Flotilla The 7th Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish ki ...

. In December 1938, ''Vivien'' entered

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 ...

for conversion into an

antiaircraft 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, ...

escort.

World War II

The United Kingdom entered

in September 1939. That month, ''Vivien'' recommissioned for post-conversion acceptance trials. After completing them on 25 October 1939, she steamed to Rosyth to finish her work-ups, and in November 1939 entered service there as an escort for

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 ...

s in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. On 10 April 1940, ''Vivien'' was part of the escort of Convoy ON 25, which had departed Rosyth the previous evening bound for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, when she detected a possible submarine and depth-charged it; she also assisted that day in driving off attacks by German Heinkel He 111 bombers and investigated the wreckage of an He 111 shot down by

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

fighters which crashed 1.5 nautical miles (2.75 km) from her. She did not take part in any of the operations related to the evacuation of Allied personnel from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in May and June 1940. On 10 June 1940 she was part of the escort for the first convoy along the east coast of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

to come under attack by German motor torpedo boats (S-boats, known to the Allies as "

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"). On 11 November 1940, her 4-inch (102-mm) guns shot down one German aircraft and damaged another that attacked a convoy she was escorting.Imperial War Museums: THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR Catalogue number A 1770
/ref> In December 1941, the civil community of

Bromyard Bromyard is a town in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome. It lies near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 between Leominster and Worcester. Bromyard has a number of traditional half-timbered buildings, inc ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

, "adopted" ''Vivien'' in a

Warship Week Warship Weeks were British National savings campaigns during the Second World War, with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy not only had lost many capital ships bu ...

National Savings campaign. During 1942, ''Vivien'' had Type 285

fire control radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are someti ...

installed for her 4-inch (102-mm) guns. On 24 February 1943, she and the escort destroyer were escorting Convoy FS 137 when they engaged German

minelaying 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 contro ...

motor torpedo boats which attacked the convoy east-southeast of Great Yarmouth. During 1944, ''Vivien'' was fitted with surface warning radar, as well as

radio telephone Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

equipment to improve her ability to cooperate with other ships and aircraft. She did not take part in any of the operations related to the Allied invasion of Normandy in the summer of 1944. ''Vivien'' remained on North Sea convoy duty until the

surrender of Germany The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capit ...

in early May 1945.

Decommissioning and disposal

''Vivien'' was decommissioned in May 1945 and placed in reserve. She was placed on the disposal list in 1947 and was sold to BISCO on 18 February 1948 for scrapping by Metal Industries. She arrived at the shipbreakers yard at Charlestown, Fife, Scotland. She arrived under tow at the shipbreakers yard in April 1948.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Naval History: SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY, 1914–1919 – in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (Part 2 of 2)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivien (L33) V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Clyde 1918 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom