Editing HMS Inglefield

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:HMS Inglefield (D02).jpg|300px|HMS Inglefield]]
|Ship caption=HMS ''Inglefield'', with HMS ''Hood'' in the background
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=''Inglefield''
|Ship namesake=[[Edward Augustus Inglefield|Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield]]
|Ship ordered=14 November 1935
|Ship builder=[[Cammell Laird]], [[Birkenhead]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down= 29 April 1936
|Ship launched= 15 October 1936
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=  25 June 1937
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: D02/I02
|Ship motto=''The sun my compass''
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=*Atlantic 1939-43, North Sea 1940,
*Norway 1940–42, Bismarck (Action) 1941,
*Malta Convoys 1942, Arctic 1942–43,
*Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943
*Mediterranean 1944, Anzio 1944
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate= Sunk by German [[Hs 293]] glide bomb, 25 February 1944
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=*On a Field White, a double headed eagle displayed per pale Blue and Red
*(From the crest of Admiral Inglefield)
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=(as built)
|Ship class={{sclass2|I|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1544|LT|t}} ([[Standard displacement|standard]])
*{{convert|2081|LT|t}} ([[deep load]])
|Ship length={{convert|330|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} ([[o/a]])
|Ship beam={{convert|34|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|12|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship power=*3 [[Admiralty 3-drum boiler]]s
*{{cvt|38000|shp|lk=on}}
|Ship propulsion=2 shafts; 2 geared [[steam turbine]]s
|Ship speed={{convert|36|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{convert|5500|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn}}
|Ship complement=175
|Ship sensors=[[ASDIC]]
|Ship armament=*5 × single [[4.7 inch QF Mark IX|4.7 in (120&nbsp;mm) guns]]
*2 × quadruple [[Vickers .50 machine gun|{{cvt|0.5|in|1}}]] [[machine guns]]
*2 × quintuple [[British 21 inch torpedo|21 in (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tubes]]
*16 × [[depth charge]]s, 1 rail and 2 throwers
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox service record
|is_ship=yes
|label= 
|partof=
|codes=
|commanders=
|operations=*[[Battle of Greece]] (1941)
*[[Last battle of the battleship Bismarck|Destruction of ''Bismarck'']] (1941)
*[[Operation Shingle]] (1944)
|victories=Sank {{GS|U-45|1938|2}} (1939) and {{GS|U-63|1939|2}} (1940)
|awards=
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Inglefield''''' was an {{sclass2|I|destroyer|1}} [[flotilla leader|leader]] built for the [[Royal Navy]] that served during [[World War II]]. She was the navy's last purpose-built [[flotilla leader]]. She was named after the 19th century [[Admiral]] [[Edward Augustus Inglefield|Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield]] (1820–1894), and is so far the only warship to carry the name of that seafaring family. In May 1940, her [[pennant number]] was changed to '''I02'''.

==Description==
The I-class ships were improved versions of the preceding [[G and H-class destroyer|H-class]]. ''Inglefield'' displaced {{convert|1544|LT|t|lk=on}} at [[Displacement (ship)|standard]] load and {{convert|2081|LT|t}} at [[deep load]]. The ship had an [[length overall|overall length]] of {{convert|330|ft|m|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|34|ft|m|1}} and a [[draft (hull)|draught]] of {{convert|12|ft|6|in|m|1}}. She was powered by two [[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company|Parsons]] geared [[steam turbine]]s, each driving one [[propeller shaft]], using steam provided by three [[Admiralty three-drum boiler]]s. The turbines developed a total of {{convert|38000|shp|lk=on}} and were intended to give a maximum speed of {{convert|36|kn|lk=in}}.<ref name=l6/> ''Inglefield'' reached a speed of {{convert|36.7|kn}} from {{cvt|38081|shp}} during her [[sea trial]]s.<ref>March, p. 315</ref> The ship carried enough [[fuel oil]] to give her a range of {{convert|5500|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}. Her crew numbered 175 officers and [[Naval rating|ratings]].<ref name=l6>Lenton, p. 161</ref>

The ship mounted five [[4.7 inch QF Mark XII|4.7-inch (120&nbsp;mm) Mark IX guns]] in single mounts, designated 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' from [[bow (ship)|bow]] to [[stern]]. For [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] (AA) defence, ''Inglefield'' was fitted with two quadruple mounts for the [[Vickers .50 machine gun|0.5&nbsp;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|{{convert|21|in|adj=on|0}}]] 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>

==Anti-submarine action==
On the outbreak of war, ''Inglefield'' was deployed as the leader of the [[3rd Destroyer Flotilla]], Mediterranean Fleet, and was based at Malta. However, she was transferred to the [[Home Fleet]] before the end of September 1939 to patrol the [[Western Approaches]]. In this rôle, she escorted the [[aircraft carrier]] {{HMS|Courageous|50|2}}, but was answering a distress signal from {{SS|Kafirstan}} when ''Courageous'' was attacked and sunk. ''Inglefield'' searched in vain for the [[U-boat]] {{GS|U-29|1936|2}} that sank the carrier. One month later, ''Inglefield'', along with her sister ships {{HMS|Ivanhoe|D16|2}} and {{HMS|Intrepid|D10|2}}, sank U-boat {{GS|U-45|1938|2}} off the southwest coast of [[Ireland]]. She again came under attack from Nazi U-boats when {{GS|U-18|1936|2}} fired numerous torpedoes at her; they all missed. A few days after that last attack, the ship was required to tow the submarine {{HMS|Triad|N53|6}} back to [[Stavanger]], after she was damaged while on patrol in the [[North Sea]]. Inglefield sank another German U-boat, {{GS|U-63|1939|2}}, in early 1940 with the help of her sister {{HMS|Imogen|D44|2}} and the submarine {{HMS|Narwhal|N45|2}}; 24 Germans were rescued.

==Operation Weserübung==
In May 1940, after the [[Operation Weserübung|failure of British forces]] in [[Norway]], ''Inglefield'' was called upon to evacuate British troops from the Norwegian town of [[Åndalsnes]]. In June, she escorted the damaged [[destroyer]]s {{HMS|Antelope|H36|2}} and {{HMS|Electra|H27|6}} (which had collided with each other whilst escorting the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|2}} during air attacks on [[Trondheim]]) back to port.  It was a slow trip as ''Electra''{{'}}s bow was damaged. Things were not helped by a violent storm which lasted for half of the journey time, during which, an ammunition locker on ''Electra''{{'}}s [[forecastle]] broke loose and started sliding around the deck.

==Pursuing German battleships==
''Inglefield'' was deployed to the North Sea with the destroyer {{HMS|Zulu|F18|2}} to escort the [[battlecruiser]]s {{HMS|Renown|1916|2}} and {{HMS|Repulse|1916|2}} in an unsuccessful operation to seek and destroy the {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||6}}.  It was believed that she was the [[heavy cruiser]] {{ship|German cruiser|Deutschland||2}}, and a massive naval effort by the Royal Navy failed to stop her from returning to a German port.

[[File:Battleship Bismarck burning and sinking 1941.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Bismarck''{{'}}s last action]]
Perhaps her most famous role was in May 1941 when she served as part of the escort for the battleships {{HMS|King George V|41|2}} and {{HMS|Rodney|29|2}} in the [[Last battle of the battleship Bismarck|pursuit and destruction]] of the German battleship {{ship|German battleship|Bismarck||2}}.

In August, she was present at [[Scapa Flow]] for a visit by [[George VI of the United Kingdom|King George VI]], and even embarked the King for the review of the fleet and then for return passage to the mainland on 9 August.

==Convoy defence==
She was part of the escort for the first [[Arctic convoys of World War II|convoy]] to the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], along with the [[aircraft carrier]]s {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}}, and then {{HMS|Argus|I49|6}}. She would regularly return to escort duties in the Arctic, as she was often deployed with the Home Fleet. But occasionally she was sent elsewhere on a particular mission. One example was in early 1942 when she supported commando raids on the Norwegian coast and bombarded [[Florø]] with her [[sister ship]] {{HMS|Intrepid|D10|2}}, an action which sank three ships and damaged on-shore factories.  Another example was in April 1942 when she was also deployed to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] to escort the [[United States Navy|American]] carrier {{USS|Wasp|CV-7|2}} to [[Malta]] in April 1942. On 3 July 1942, she was detached from an Arctic convoy to search for the German battleship {{ship|German battleship|Tirpitz||2}}, which was reported to have left her normal anchorage. In 1943, she was transferred from Arctic convoy duty to Atlantic convoy defence, but she still spent much of her time in home waters.

==Italian invasion==
[[File:Cassino+Anzio1943JanFeb.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|''Inglefield'' supported the landings at [[Anzio]] by bombarding reinforcement and supply routes and by supplying covering fire for the ground troops]]
Her next major deployment was in July 1943, when she took part in the [[Allied invasion of Sicily|invasion of]] [[Sicily]]. She was one of 18 British, Greek and Polish destroyers which, along with four Royal Navy cruisers, made up the escort for the battleships {{HMS|Nelson|28|2}}, {{HMS|Rodney|29|2}}, {{HMS|Warspite|03|2}} and {{HMS|Valiant|1914|2}}, the aircraft carriers {{HMS|Indomitable|92|2}} and {{HMS|Formidable|67|2}} in the [[Ionian Sea]]. ''Inglefield''{{'}}s main role was to search for U-boats and to bombard enemy positions ashore. Throughout the operations on Sicily, she was based at Malta. When the [[Allied invasion of Italy|invasion of Italy]] took place, ''Inglefield'' supported the [[Allied invasion of Italy#Salerno landings|landings]] at [[Salerno]] in a similar way.  After the beachhead was established, she formed the escort back to home waters, but was soon sent back to the Mediterranean Sea for operations in Italy. One task was to escort {{HMS|Renown|1916|6}}, with [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] on board, from [[Algiers]] to [[Alexandria]].

During [[Operation Shingle]] in early 1944, ''Inglefield'' carried out a diversionary bombardment of [[Civitavecchia]] to draw Axis forces away from [[Anzio]]. She then bombarded the coastal road at [[Formia]] for two days before supporting forces on the ground at Anzio. The ship operated out of [[Naples]], ferrying supplies and troops to the battle, as well as continuing to provide covering fire and bombardment of coastal roads.

==Last action==
On 15 February 1944, she escorted an ammunition ship from Naples to Anzio.  She then took up a defensive position to protect the anchorage in Anzio.  She was in this capacity for ten days before sustaining a direct hit by a [[Henschel Hs 293]] [[Glide bomb|glider bomb]] launched by II./[[KG 100]] during a dusk attack and was sunk with the loss of 35 lives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bollinger |first1=Martin |title=Warriors and Wizards: The Development and Defeat of Radio-Controlled Glide Bombs of the Third Reich |date=2011 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=United States |isbn=9781612510026 |page=320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kk0TJ7-9fo0C&dq=do+217+inglefield&pg=PA116 |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> 157 survivors were rescued and returned to the United Kingdom. Among the survivors was [[Jack Rumbold]], the last officer to abandon ship and who was [[mentioned in dispatches]] for his actions during the sinking.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1366167/Sir-Jack-Rumbold.html |title=Sir Jack Rumbold |date=2001-12-24 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=2020-07-10}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of ships sunk by missiles]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s|year=1993|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Kendal, England|isbn=0-905617-64-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=2006|isbn=1-86176-137-6|author-link=Norman Friedman}}
* {{cite book |last=Hodges |first=Peter |author2=Friedman, Norman |title=Destroyer Weapons of World War 2 |year=1979 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=Greenwich |isbn=978-0-85177-137-3|name-list-style=amp }}
* {{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H. T.|author-link=Henry Trevor Lenton|title=British & Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1998|isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
*{{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
* {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}

==External links==
* [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-28I-Inglefield.htm HMS ''Inglefield'', destroyer]
* [http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/jw53.html Convoy JW 53]
* [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4411.html uboat.net]

{{I class destroyer}}
{{February 1944 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|41|26|N|12|38|E|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inglefield (D02)}}
[[Category:I-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Mersey]]
[[Category:1936 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Destroyers sunk by aircraft]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1944]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft]]