C and D Class Destroyer - Service

Service

All five of the C class were assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet upon commissioning during 1932. Following the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, the entire flotilla was sent to the Red Sea in August 1935 to monitor Italian warship movements until April 1936. Refitted upon their return, they were deployed to Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–37 to intercept shipping carrying contraband goods to Spain and to protect British-flagged ships. Crescent and Cygnet were sold to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1937 and Comet and Crusader in 1938. Kempenfelt was bought in 1939, but the Royal Navy did not turn her over until enough auxiliary anti-submarine ships had been commissioned to replace her after World War II had started. All four 'C'-class ships were stationed at Esquimalt in British Columbia when the war began, but only Fraser and St. Laurent were immediately recalled to begin convoy escort duties on the Atlantic Coast, the other two following in November. Assiniboine was sent to the Caribbean for local escort duties in December where she assisted in the capture of the blockade runner MV Hannover in March 1940. Fraser, St. Laurent, and Restigouche were transferred to the UK in late May and helped to evacuate refugees from France. Fraser was sunk on 25 June 1940 in a collision with the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta in the Gironde estuary while the other two were assigned to the Western Approaches Command for escort duties.

The remaining ships spent most of the rest of the war escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, based in either Canada or the UK. Ottawa assisted the British destroyer Harvester in sinking the Italian submarine Comandante Faà di Bruno on 7 November 1940. She was sunk by the German submarine U-91 on 14 September 1942 whilst escorting Convoy ON 127. St. Laurent had her first victory on 27 December 1942 when she was credited with sinking U-356 whilst defending Convoy ON 154. Together with the destroyer HMS Forester, and the frigates HMCS Owen Sound and HMCS Swansea, she sank U-845. Whilst escorting Convoy SC 94 on 3 August 1942, Assiniboine rammed and sank U-210. Restigouche never sank a submarine, but she and St. Laurent were transferred to the UK to protect the shipping mustering for Operation Overlord in May 1944 and Assiniboine followed in July. They saw some action against German patrol boats in the Bay of Biscay, but Restigouche and St. Laurent were in poor shape by this time and were sent back to Canada for lengthy refits in late 1944. They remained in Canada after the completion of their refits in early 1945, whilst Assiniboine remained in the UK until June. All three ships transported Canadian troops home after VE Day until they were decommissioned in late 1945. All three were broken up in 1946–47.

Upon commissioning in 1932–33, the D class formed the 1st Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. The flotilla toured the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in September–November 1933. After refitting in the UK during 1934, the flotilla was transferred to the China Station, arriving at Hong Kong in January 1935 and renumbered as the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. Most of the flotilla was sent to the Red Sea during the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935–36. They returned to the Hong Kong in mid-1936 and remained there until World War II began. Diamond was in the midst of a refit that lasted until November, but the rest of the flotilla was immediately transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Daring was kept in the Red Sea for escort duties until November, but the rest of the flotilla was used on contraband patrol duties upon arrival. They all needed repairs which were made before the end of the year.

Duncan, Diana, Duchess, Delight and Daring were transferred to the Home Fleet in December 1939, although Duchess was rammed and sunk on 10 December by the battleship Barham that she was escorting. Duncan was so badly damaged in a collision with a merchant ship in January 1940 that her repairs required six months to complete. Daring was sunk by the German submarine U-23 on 18 February whilst escorting a convoy from Norway. Diana and Delight were assigned to convoy escort duties in early 1940, before participating in the Norwegian Campaign in April–June. Whilst attempting to sail through the English Channel in daylight, contrary to orders, Delight was sunk by German aircraft on 29 July. After a brief refit in July–August, Diana was transferred to the RCN to replace HMCS Fraser which had been sunk in a collision by a Royal Navy cruiser. Recommissioned on 6 September and renamed HMCS Margaree, the ship was assigned to convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic. On 22 October, she was sunk in a collision with the freighter MV Port Fairy.

The remaining four ships of the flotilla were briefly assigned to Freetown, West Africa in early 1940 to escort convoys passing through the area and to search for German commerce raiders. They were all recalled to the Mediterranean in April–May in anticipation of Italian entry into the war. Decoy, Defender, and Dainty sank two Italian submarines, Dainty sinking one more with the destroyer Ilex in June, before they participated in the Battle of Calabria early the following month. Diamond joined her sisters in late July and all four ships escorted convoys and the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet for the rest of the year. Duncan joined Force H at Gibraltar in October and participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento together with Diamond and Defender in November. Decoy had been damaged by aircraft earlier that month and was under repair until February 1941.

Whilst patrolling the North African coast on 24 February with the destroyer Hasty, Dainty was sunk by German bombers. Duncan, Diamond and Defender continued to provide escorts as needed in early 1941, although Duncan was transferred to Freetown in March. Decoy, Defender and Diamond evacuated Allied troops from Greece and Crete in April–May, although Diamond was sunk by German aircraft on 27 April while doing so. After Defender participated in the invasion of Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon in June, she joined Decoy in escorting convoys to Tobruk and was badly damaged when returning from one of these missions. The ship was attacked by a single German Junkers Ju 88 bomber on 11 July and had to be scuttled by her consort, the Australian destroyer Vendetta. Duncan rejoined Force H that same month and she escorted several major convoys to Malta before returning to the UK in October for a lengthy refit. Decoy was damaged in a collision in December and was repaired at Malta until February 1942.

Decoy was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March and was escorting Force B when the Japanese carriers attacked Ceylon. The Japanese never spotted Force B, and the ship remained with the fleet until ordered home in September to convert to an escort destroyer. After Duncan's refit was completed in January 1942, she rejoined Force H and escorted several missions to fly off Royal Air Force fighters from aircraft carriers to Malta before she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in April to support Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Diego Suarez, in early May. She, too, was recalled to the UK to be modified as an escort destroyer.

Decoy was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on 1 March 1943 during her conversion and was recommissioned on 12 April with the new name of HMCS Kootenay (the ship was gifted to the Canadians on 15 June). After working up, she was assigned to Escort Group C5 for convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic. In April, Duncan joined Escort Group B-7. Whilst defending Convoy ON-207 on 23 October, Duncan, together with the destroyer Vidette and a Consolidated B-24 Liberator of No. 224 Squadron RAF, sank U-274. Later the same month, on 29 October, Duncan shared the sinking of U-282 with Vidette and the corvette Sunflower whilst protecting Convoy ON-208. Both ships remained on escort duty until May 1944 when they were transferred to the UK in preparation for Operation Overlord. Duncan was assigned to the Western Approaches Command, conducting anti-submarine operations, for the rest of the war. Kootenay was tasked to protect Allied shipping in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay and, together with other ships, she sank U-678 in the English Channel on 7 July 1944, U-621 in the Bay of Biscay on 18 August, and, two days later, U-984 west of Brest.

After a lengthy refit in Canada from October 1944 to February 1945, Kootenay returned to the UK and was assigned to the Western Approaches Command until the end of the war. She then transported returning troops in Canada until paid off in October. She was sold for scrap in 1946. Duncan was paid off in May and sold in July although she was not completely broken up until 1949.