HMS Duchess (H64)

HMS Duchess (H64)

4 × QF 4.7-inch Mark IX guns
1 × 12-pounder (3 in (76.2 mm)) anti-aircraft (AA) gun
2 × 4 - QF .5-inch Vickers Mark III AA machine guns
2 × 4 - 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers For other ships of the same name, see HMS Duchess.

HMS Duchess was a D-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before she was transferred to the China Station in early 1935. She was temporarily deployed in the Red Sea during late 1935 during the Abyssinia Crisis, before returning to her duty station where she remained until mid-1939. Duchess was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before the Second World War began in September 1939. Whilst escorting the battleship HMS Barham back to the British Isles, she was accidentally rammed by the battleship in thick fog and sank with heavy loss of life on 12 December 1939.