HMS Acheron (H45)

HMS Acheron
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Acheron
Namesake:	Acheron, a river in Greek mythology
Ordered:	29 May 1928
Builder:	John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire
Laid down:	29 October 1928
Launched:	18 March 1930
Commissioned:	13 October 1931
Motto:	"Post tenebras lux" (After darkness light)
Fate:	Sunk, 17 December 1940 after hitting a mine
Badge:	On a Field Black, barry wavy of 4 Silver.
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	A-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) (standard) 1,765 long tons (1,793 t) (deep load)
Length:	323 ft (98 m) (o/a)
Beam:	32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Draught:	12 ft 3 in (3.73 m)
Installed power:	34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range:	4,080 nmi (7,560 km; 4,700 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	138
Armament:	4 × single QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns 2 × single QF 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns 2 × quadruple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charges, 3 chutes

HMS Acheron was an A-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War in Home waters and off the Norwegian coast, before becoming an early war loss when she sank after hitting a mine off the Isle of Wight on 17 December 1940. The wrecksite is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Construction and commissioning

Acheron was ordered on 29 May 1928 from the yards of John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire under the 1927 Naval Estimates. She was laid down on 29 October 1928 and was launched a year later on 18 March 1930. She was commissioned on 13 October 1931. She suffered from a number of mechanical problems which became evident in the first year of her service and would go on to plague her for the whole of her service, despite a succession of modifications and refits. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, she was under repair at Portsmouth and was not able to take up her war station until December 1939.

Wartime career

On completion of repairs and refit, she joined the 16th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on 23 March 1940. The flotilla was then deployed in the North Western Approaches and the North Sea. After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Acheron was deployed with the flotilla on convoy defence and fleet screening duties in support of the military landings in Norway. On 17 April, she and Arrow were part of the escort for the cruisers Galatea, Arethusa, Carlisle and Curacoa. The cruisers then landed troops at Åndalsnes and Molde. On arrival on at Åndalsnes on 18 April, Acheron was detached and deployed on patrol and escort duties. She then escorted the aircraft carrier Glorious from Scapa Flow, before deploying with the destroyers Antelope and Beagle off Namsos.

On 31 May, Acheron, Acasta, Ardent, Highlander and Diana escorted the carriers Glorious and Ark Royal to Norway to cover the final evacuation of British troops from Norway (Operation Alphabet). This was completed by 9 June, whereupon Acheron resumed her normal duties with the flotilla. She then operated in the English Channel to escort convoys and was in dock at Portsmouth on 21 June to have a 3 in (76 mm) High Angle gun fitted to improve her anti-aircraft defence. Whilst sailing 10 mi (16 km) south off St. Catherine's Point on 20 July, she was attacked by German dive bombers, and was damaged by nine near misses.

She began repairs at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 August, but on 24 August she was seriously damaged during an air raid which killed two of her crew and injured another three. One bomb hit her aft section and exploded, causing severe damage to her machinery, "Y" gun and superstructure. This caused her repairs to be extended until October, with her “Y” Gun being replaced by a mounting from the destroyer Boadicea, which had been damaged in June. In November, Acheron was nominated for service as gunnery training destroyer.

Sinking

Repairs were fully completed by 2 December and she began post refit trials. On 17 December, she was sailing off the Isle of Wight. The trial was being conducted at night, in heavy seas and with a strong north-east wind in complete darkness. She was conducting steaming exercises over a measured mile, 8 nmi (9.2 mi; 15 km) west-south-west of St. Catherine's Point. On one of the passes, she struck a mine. The explosion caused major structural damage forward and her own speed drove her under. She sank within four minutes, taking 196 crewmen and yard workers, who were on board for the trials, to the bottom. There were only 19 survivors. The mine was probably one of those laid by the Luftwaffe in no definite pattern along the Channel coast. Her sinking was not made public until 27 December 1940.

The wrecksite was designated as a Protected Place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 in 2006.

Notes

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9. 
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8. 
• Haarr, Geirr H. (2010). The Battle for Norway: April – June 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-051-1. 
• Haarr, Geirr H. (2009). The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-310-9. 
• Hodges, Peter; Friedman, Norman (1979). Destroyer Weapons of World War 2. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-137-3. 
• Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7. 
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2. 
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1. 
• Winser, John de D. (1999). B.E.F. Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-91-6. 

External links

• HMS Acheron at Uboat.net
• HMS ACHERON - A-class Destroyer
• "Statutory Instrument 2008 No. 950 The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2008". Retrieved 7 August 2008. 

A- and B-class destroyer
A class	Royal Navy Codrington [leader] Anthony Ardent Active Antelope Acasta Arrow Acheron Achates  Royal Canadian Navy Part of Canadian River class Saguenay Skeena
B class	Royal Navy Keith [leader] Basilisk Beagle Blanche Boadicea Boreas Brazen Brilliant Bulldog  Royal Hellenic Navy Salamis (ex-Boreas)
Preceded by: Shakespeare class Followed by: C and D class
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy List of destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in December 1940
Shipwrecks	2 Dec: HMS Forfar, Wilhelmina 5 Dec: HMS Cameron, Nimbin 6 Dec: HMS Regulus 7 Dec: Stolwijk 8 Dec: Calabria 17 Dec: HMS Acheron 21 Dec: Innisfallen 22 Dec: HMS H31, HMS Hyperion 23 Dec: Breda 24 Dec: British Premier Unknown date: HMS Triton
Other incidents	1 Dec: Oslofjord, HMCS Saguenay 7 Dec: Hertford 23 Dec: HMS Heartsease, HMS Tetcott, HMS Warwick Unknown date: Persier
1939 1940 1941 November 1940 January 1941

Coordinates: 50°32′N 1°26′W / 50.533°N 1.433°W / 50.533; -1.433