HMS Codrington

HMS Codrington was ordered on 6 March 1928 from the yards of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend, under the 1927 Naval Estimates. She was laid down on 20 June 1928 and was launched a year later on 8 August 1929. She was commissioned on 4 June 1930.[1] She has so far been the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named HMS Codrington, after Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, commander of the allied fleet at the Battle of Navarino.

Codrington was a flotilla leader and therefore larger than the other A-class destroyers. Her bridge structure was larger to provide the additional accommodation required for the Flotilla Staff. She displaced 2,012 long tons (2,044 t) with an overall length of 323 ft (98 m), a beam of 34 ft (10 m) and a draught of 19 ft (5.8 m). She was fitted with turbine machinery giving a speed of 37.74 kn (43.43 mph; 69.89 km/h) on trials carried out in February 1930. Some smaller weapons were fitted for use against aircraft. The ship had two quadruple 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tube mountings and for attacks on submarines was fitted with four depth charge chutes and two throwers, and an additional 4.7 in (120 mm) gun fitted between the two funnels.

After working up, in July 1930 Codridgton joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla as part of the Mediterranean as leader.[2] In June 1931, the destroyer returned to Devonport Naval Base for modifications to her turbines, returning to the Mediterranean at the end of the month after the completion of the modifications. Codrington was refitted again at Devonport in September–October 1932, again returning to the 3rd Flotilla.[2] On 12 June 1934, Codrington and the destroyer Acasta collided. Both ships received minor damage, with no injuries occurring.[3][4]

On 17 July 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out,[5] with Codrington carrying out patrols off the Spanish coast.[2] On 23 August, Codrington went to the aid of the British steamer Gibel Jerom (operated by the Bland Line), which had been stopped by the Spanish Republican cruiser Miguel de Cervantes off Cape Tres Forcas while bound for Nationalist-held Melilla with a cargo of petrol. Codrington's commanding officer warned the Captain of Miguel de Cervantes that Britain would not tolerate any interference with British shipping outside the Three-mile limit. Codrington escorted Gibel Jerom back to Gibraltar.[6][7] On 12 January 1937, Codrington and the depot ship Woolwich were in Valencia harbour when the harbour was shelled by a Nationalist warship.[8]

Codrington returned to Britain in March 1937,[9] and was replaced as leader of the 3rd Flotilla by the newly built Inglefield in June 1937.[10] She then entered the reserve, but was refitted and then attached to the Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham, Plymouth in October 1938.[2][11] On 7 June 1939, Codrington took part in a tribute to the crew of the submarine Thetis, which had sunk on trials in Liverpool Bay, above where Thetis had sunk.[12] After another refit she was recommissioned on completion of the refit in August 1939.[2]

In July 1940 Codrington was deployed out of Dover for convoy defence and patrol duties in the English Channel. She put into port near the end of the month for a boiler clean, alongside the depot ship Sandhurst in the Submarine Basin. The port came under air attack on 27 July and a bomb fell alongside Codrington. The subsequent explosion broke her back and she sank. She had only three men wounded. The sinking was not made public until 18 May 1945. The wreck was still evident in 1947.

• 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.
• 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.
• Halpern, Paul G., ed. (2016). The Mediterranean Fleet, 1930–1939. Publications of the Navy Records Society. Vol. 163. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-55560-7.
• 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.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
• 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.

• HMS Codrington at Uboat.net.
• HMS Codrington's prewar and wartime career

51°7′32″N 1°20′4″E