HMS Isis (D87)

HMS Isis was one of nine Template:Sclass2s built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.

DescriptionEdit

The I-class ships were improved versions of the preceding H-class. They displaced Template:Convert at standard load and Template:Convert at deep load. The ships had an overall length of Template:Convert, a beam of Template:Convert and a draught of Template:Convert. They were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of Template:Convert and were intended to give a maximum speed of Template:Convert.<ref name=l6/> Isis reached a speed of Template:Convert from Template:Cvt during her sea trials.<ref>March, p. 315</ref> The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert. Their crew numbered 145 officers and ratings.<ref name=l6>Lenton, p. 161</ref>

The ships mounted four 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts, designated 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' from bow to stern. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two quadruple mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. The I class was fitted with two above-water quintuple torpedo tube mounts amidships for [[British 21 inch torpedo|Template:Convert]] torpedoes.<ref>Whitley, p. 111</ref> One depth charge rack and two throwers were fitted; 16 depth charges were originally carried,<ref name=l6/> but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.<ref>English, p. 141</ref> The I-class ships were fitted with the ASDIC sound detection system to locate submarines underwater.<ref>Hodges & Friedman, p. 16</ref>

Construction and careerEdit

Isis, named for the Egyptian goddess, was laid down by the Yarrow and Company, at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 6 February 1936, launched on 12 November 1936 and commissioned on 2 June 1937. Isis took part in the evacuation of Greece in April 1941. On 19 February 1943 she and the escort destroyer Template:HMS and a Vickers Wellington medium bomber attacked and sank the Template:GS in the Mediterranean Sea north-east of Benghazi.

Isis was hit in 1941 off Beirut, Lebanon after the Battle of Crete. She pursued two Vichy French destroyers which escaped. A Junkers Ju 88 aircraft then attacked and severely damaged her. Template:HMS attempted to tow her to Haifa, Palestine. The tow rope snapped, however the engines were restarted and she successfully reached Haifa.

Isis struck a mine and sank on 20 July 1944 at the position Template:Coord in channel 'T' off the western sector of the Normandy landing beaches.<ref>HMS Isis (D 87) of the I class uboat.net</ref><ref>HMS Isis - Casualty Search</ref> She was the last interwar standard destroyer lost in the war, with eleven officers and 143 ratings lost.<ref>English, pp. 124–125</ref>

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite book

|_exclude=case, year, _debug
| last1 = Colledge
| first1 = J. J. 
| author-link1= J. J. Colledge
| last2 = Warlow
| first2 = Ben
| date = 2006
| orig-date = 1969
| title = Ships of the Royal Navy: {{#if:|The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy|The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy}}
| edition = Rev.
| location = London
| publisher = Chatham Publishing
| isbn = 978-1-86176-281-8

}}

Template:I class destroyer Template:July 1944 shipwrecks Template:Coord