History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Ordered: | 11 April 1939 |
Builder: | Swan Hunter, Wallsend |
Laid down: | 10 August 1939 |
Launched: | 9 April January 1940 |
Commissioned: | 12 October 1940 |
Out of service: | 20 May 1946 |
Recommissioned: | June 1949 following repossession from ROC |
Identification: | L60 |
Honours and awards: |
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Fate: | sold to Egypt |
Badge: | On a field Red, on a White roundel, a bugle horn stringed Black within the strings a blue rose. |
China | |
Name: | Lin Fu |
Commissioned: | 21 January 1948 |
Out of service: | 29 May 1949 |
Fate: | returned to RN control after the Nationalist Government fell. |
Egypt | |
Name: | Mohammed Ali |
Acquired: | 9 November 1949 |
Renamed: | Ibrahim el Awal |
Fate: | captured by Israel on 31 October 1956 and commissioned as INS Haifa (K-38) |
Israel | |
Name: | INS Haifa |
Homeport: | Haifa |
Identification: | K-38 |
Captured: | 31 October 1956 |
Fate: | Scrapped in 1972 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Type I Hunt-class destroyer |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 280 ft (85 m) |
Beam: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
Draught: | 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 27½ kts (26 knots full) |
Range: | 3,500 nmi (6,480 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) / 1,000 nmi (2,000 km) at 26 knots (48 km/h) |
Complement: | 146 |
Armament: |
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HMS Mendip (L60) was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the first subgroup of the class. The ship is notable for seeing service in the navies of three other nations after her use by the Royal Navy. She saw service in the Second World War and later as an Egyptian Navy ship in the Suez Crisis. She was captured in battle on 31 October 1956 by the Israeli Navy and re-commissioned as INS Haifa (K-38).
Mendip was ordered under the 1939 Naval Building Programme from Swan Hunter at Wallsend on 17 April 1939 She was laid down as Job No. J4111 on 10 August 1939 and launched on 9 April 1940. She was the first Royal Navy ship to carry the name of the Fox-Hunt in Somerset. Construction of the ship was completed on 16 October 1941, and following a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign in March 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
On commissioning Mendip was assigned to the Home Fleet's base at Scapa Flow for working-up in October, but sustained damage when one of her own depth charges exploded during work up exercises. She was repaired and resumed work up on 18 February 1941. On 30 March she was assigned to the 21st Destroyer Flotilla at Sheerness where she spent the next three years convoy escort and patrol duties in the North Sea and English Channel. During this time Mendip protected coastal traffic against attack by German aircraft and E-boats, rescued survivors, took part in minelaying and offensive operations against enemy installations. In September 1942 she became senior ship in 21 Flotilla with the appointment of Captain CR Parry, 21 Flotilla's Captain (D), as her commander.