HMS Saumarez history
HMS Saumarez was launched on November 20, 1942 and entered service on July 1, 1943. After a series of offshore drills, it was transferred to the 3rd destroyers squadron and then to the 23rd Wing to escort convoys in the Arctic. On December 26, 1943, it engaged the German battleship Scharnhorst (which it touched at least once) alongside the HMS Duke of York and lost three crew members as a result of direct fire.
Engaged in the English Channel in May 1944 in order to participate in Operation Neptune, the Saumarez was transferred to Task Force D, escorting high-tonnage warships and troop transports on the night of 5 to 6 June 1944 in the direction of Sword Beach and then took part in the bombing of the German positions in this sector at the dawn of D-Day.
Patrolling off Brittany, it surprised and engaged an adverse convoy on August 14 in front of the port of Saint-Pierre. Once again deployed to escort a convoy in the Arctic, it was transferred to the British Indian Ocean fleet in early 1945: in March it participated in engagements against Japanese ships. It was deployed during the assault on Rangoon and then during Operation Dukedom before being renovated in Durban from June to August 1945.
Engaged after the Second World War in the Mediterranean Sea and on October 22, 1946, it struck an underwater mine by crossing the Corfu Channel, causing losses and damages. During the towing operation, destroyer HMS Volage was also hit by a mine. Repaired to Malta and then to Great Britain in Rosyth, the Saumarez was finally sold on September 8, 1950 to be scrapped.
HMS Saumarez technical sheet
Denomination: G 12 – H.M.S. Saumarez
Class: S-class destroyer
Crew: 180 sailors
Armament (1944): 4x 120 mm guns, 2x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 8x 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, 8x 533 mm torpedo tubes
Displacement: 1,737 tons
Speed: 36,75 knots
Length: 110,57 m
Beam: 10,87 m
Draught: 4,32 m