HMS Cotswold (L54)

HMS Cotswold was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy which served in World War II. She was scrapped in 1957.

HMS Cotswold, 1941 (IWM)
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Cotswold
Ordered11 April 1939
BuilderYarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun
Laid down11 October 1939
Launched18 July 1940
Completed16 November 1940
Decommissioned1946
IdentificationPennant number:L54
Honours and
awards
  • North Sea 1941–45
  • English Channel 1943
  • Normandy 1944
FateScrapped, 1957
BadgeOn a Field per fess wavy Green and Red, in front of two hunting horns in Saltire Gold, a mitre White embellished Red
General characteristics
Class and typeType I Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard
  • 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h)
  • 26 kn (29.9 mph; 48.2 km/h) full
Range
  • 3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
  • 1,000 nmi (1,850 km) at 26 kn (48 km/h)
Complement164
Armament

Service history

Cotswold was ordered on 11 April 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme as job number 1836.[1] She was completed in November 1940. She was adopted by the civil community of North Cotswold Urban District in Gloucestershire as part of Warship Week in 1942, with the fundraising led by Clare Spurgin.[2]

She earned battle honours during the Second World War for the North Sea 1941–1945, where she spent the majority of her service. During 1942 she struck a mine off Ordfordness, and was subsequently repaired in HM Dockyard, Chatham. In June 1944 she formed part of the Naval escort force in support of the Normandy Landings.

Following the war she was transferred to the Reserve Fleet at Portsmouth in June 1946, transferring to Harwich in 1958. She remained there until sold to Thos. W. Ward for scrap. She arrived at the breakers yard at Grays, Essex on 1 September 1957.[3]

References

  1. Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004). Gordon Smith (ed.). "HMS Cotswold (L 54) – Type I, Hunt-class Escort Destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  2. Logan, Anne (8 August 2019). "Spurgin (née Skurray), (Frances) Clare (1897–1986)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/369121. She also undertook local fundraising for the war effort, taking a leading role in 'Warship Week' in which money was collected for HMS Cotswold, a Royal Navy destroyer which was adopted by the North Cotswold District Council. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 29. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.

Publications

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