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 | |
| Name | HMS Cotswold |
| Ordered | 11 April 1939 |
| Builder | Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun |
| Laid down | 11 October 1939 |
| Launched | 18 July 1940 |
| Completed | 16 November 1940 |
| Decommissioned | 1946 |
| Identification | Pennant number:L54 |
| Honours and awards |
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| Fate | Scrapped, 1957 |
| Badge | On 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 type | Type I Hunt-class destroyer |
| Displacement |
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| Length | 85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a |
| Beam | 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) |
| Draught | 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Complement | 164 |
| Armament |
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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
- Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004). Gordon Smith (ed.). "HMS Cotswold (L 54) – Type I, Hunt-class Escort Destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- 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.) - Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 29. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.
Publications
- 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 (1987). The Hunts: A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-44-4.
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1942 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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