HMS Penn

Vessel name on Arrival: HMS Penn

Original Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker, Newcastle-on-Tyne

Original Yard No: 22

Official Number:

Vessel Type: destroyer

GRT: 1640

Year Built: 1941

Arrival Date: 09/02/1950

Breakup Started: 13/03/1950

Date First Beached: 30/04/1950

Date Breakup Completed: 07/08/1950

Draught For’d: 8' 6"

Draught Aft: 10' 10"

Name Changes:

Other Information:

 

'R'-Class Twin-Screw Destroyer HMS Penn for the Royal Navy                    Pennant No. G 77

 

20-10-1939  :  Ordered

26-12-1939  :  Laid Down

12-02-1941  :  Launched

10-02-1942  :  Completed

 

Tonnages  :  1,640 / 2,250 tons                        Dimensions  :   105.2 metres  x  10.7 metres  x  4.1 metres

 

Propulsion  :  Parsons geared steam turbines supplied by two Admiralty 3-Drum Boilers

 

Machinery Output and Vessel Speed  :   40,000 SHP   /   36.6 knots

 

Range  :  3,600 nautical miles at a mean speed of 14 knots

 

Complement  :  176 men

 

Armaments :

4 x 4 inch Mk. V Guns

1 x quadruple 2-pounder Mk. VII 'Pom-Pom' guns

2 x quadruple torpedo tubes for Mk. IX 21 inch torpedoes

6 x 20mm Oerlikon Guns

4 x Depth-Charge Throwers and Racks for 70 depth charges

 

Battle Honours Won :

1942           :  Malta Convoys

1942/1943  :  Atlantic and North Africa

1943           :  Sicily, Salerno, Agean and Mediterranean

1945           :  Burma

 

Mid-1942 

In the Mediterranean for Malta convoy escort work.  (HMS Penn was involved in the Operation Pedestal, a convoy to bring much-needed reinforcements to Malta. During the course of this operation she helped tow the damaged SS Ohio with her vital supplies of fuel into Grand Harbour, Valletta)

 

Early 1943

 In the North Atlantic with the 3rd Support Group

 

Jul-1943

Operations for the Sicily landings.

On 7 November 1943 HMS Penn with HMS Pathfinder sank the German submarine trap GA45 off Amorgos, Greece.

 

In 1944

In  the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. Took part in carrier strike operations and coastal strikes against Japanese forces on the Burma and Malaya coasts.

 

From 1945

On 15 June 1945 Penn with Paladin sank a Japanese landing craft off the Northwest coast of Sumatra.

 

Continued to serve for a short time after the war.  Released from active operations in October 1945 then, until February 1947, used as a Target Ship based out of Singapore, for the training of aircraft crews.