HMS Whirlwind (R87)
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The second HMS ''Whirlwind'' was a W-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 British Royal Navy and was built by Hawthorn Leslie and was launched on 30 August 1943. She saw service during World War II and the
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.


Design and construction

''Whirlwind'' was one of eight W-class destroyers ordered as the 9th Emergency Flotilla on 3 December 1941. The W-class were War Emergency Programme destroyers, intended for general duties, including use as anti-submarine escort, and were to be suitable for mass-production. They were based on the hull and machinery of the pre-war J-class destroyers, but with a lighter armament (effectively whatever armament was available) in order to speed production. The W-class were almost identical to the U-class ordered as the 7th Emergency Flotilla and the V-class ordered as the 8th Emergency Flotilla earlier in the year, with the major difference the fitting of a new dual-purpose fire control director, capable of directing both anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. ''Whirlwind'' was laid down at Hawthorn Leslie's Hebburn, Tyneside shipyard on 31 July 1942, was launched on 30 August 1943 and was completed on 20 July 1944. The W-class were
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 mean and 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 water-tube boilers supplied steam at and to two sets of
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single-reduction geared
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s, which drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at giving a maximum speed of ( at full load). 615 tons of oil were carried, giving a range of at . The ship had a main gun armament of four 4.7 inch (120 mm) QF Mk. IX guns, capable of elevating to an angle of 55 degrees, giving a degree of anti-aircraft capability. The close-in anti-aircraft armament for the class was one Hazemayer stabilised twin mount for the
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 ...
and four twin Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Two quadruple mounts for 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes were fitted, while the ship had an depth charge outfit of four depth charge mortars and two racks, with a total of 70 charges carried. ''Whirlwind'' was fitted with a Type 276 surface warning radar on the ship's lattice foremast, together with a high-frequency direction finding (HF/DF) aerial, with a Type 291 air warning radar on a pole mast aft. A Type 285 fire control radar integrated with the ship's high-angle gun director, while the Hazemayer mount had an integrated Type 282 radar. ''Whirlwind'' had a crew of 179 officers and other ranks.


Royal Navy service

On commissioning, when the ship was assigned the
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
R87, ''Whirlwind'' was allocated to serve with the Eastern Fleet, and left Britain in October 1944. While on passage, she was briefly diverted to operations in the Mediterranean, escorting the battleship during a bombardment of the island of Milos in the Aegean on 13 November 1944, before continuing to the Eastern Fleet's base at Trincomalee in Ceylon (now
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). ''Whirlwind'' joined the British Pacific Fleet when it formed on 22 November 1944, and took part in the fleet's first operation, Operation Robson, a strike by carrier-borne aircraft from and against targets in
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on 17–23 December 1944. On 16 January 1945, the British Pacific Fleet, including ''Whirlwind'', left Trincomalee for the Pacific. The task force's carriers launched two raids against oil refineries in Sumatra,
Operation Meridian During World War II, Operation Meridian was part of Operation Outflank, a series of British air attacks directed at Japanese-held oil refineries on Sumatra. Meridian had two phases: ''Meridian One'' on 24 January 1945 and ''Meridian Two'' on 2 ...
on 24 January and 29 January before completing passage to the Pacific when the Fleet reached
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in Australia on 4 February 1945. Following service in the Second World War, ''Whirlwind'' was based at Rosyth in 1947 and 1948 as a boys training ship. Between 1952 and 1953 she was converted into a Type 15 fast
anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
by Palmers, with the new
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
F187. She recommissioned on 28 July 1953 and was allocated to the 5th Frigate Squadron for service in the Mediterranean. In 1954 she participated in the recovery of the wreckage of the crashed de Havilland Comet off the island of Elba. In 1956 she was part of the Royal Navy force deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the
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. At this time she was part of the 5th Frigate Squadron. She also undertook patrols off the Cyprus coast. Between June 1959 and May 1961 she underwent a refit at Rosyth. In 1961 ''Whirlwind'' recommissioned to the
8th Frigate Squadron 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
for service at Home and in the West Indies. In December 1962 ''Whirlwind'' was at Bermuda during the talks between British Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...
and American President John F. Kennedy that resulted in the Nassau Agreement which allowed Britain to purchase
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nuclear-armed missiles. ''Whirlwind''s crew provided security for the meeting while the ship formed a communications link for the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
. In 1964, along with , ''Whirlwind'' deployed for patrol off Bahamas to intercept illegal traffic from Cuba.


Decommissioning and disposal

In 1966 ''Whirlwind'' was placed on the disposal list. On 12 August 1969 she was towed from Portsmouth to Pembroke Dock for use as a target. She foundered at her moorings in Cardigan Bay on 29 October 1974 while in use as a target.


References


Publications

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whirlwind (R87) W and Z-class destroyers 1943 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom Type 15 frigates of the Royal Navy Cold War frigates of the United Kingdom Ships sunk as targets Maritime incidents in 1974 Shipwrecks of Wales