HMAS Nestor

Port bow view of HMAS Nestor in 1941
History
Australia
Namesake:	Greek mythological rule Nestor
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited
Laid down:	1939
Launched:	9 July 1940
Commissioned:	3 February 1941
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Bismarck 1941 Atlantic 1941 Malta Convoys 1941–42 Indian Ocean 1942
Fate:	Scuttled on 16 June 1942, following damage from bombing
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	N-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,773 long tons (1,801 t) (standard) 2,384 long tons (2,422 t) (deep load)
Length:	356 ft 6 in (108.7 m) (o/a)
Beam:	35 ft 9 in (10.9 m)
Draught:	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power:	40,000 shp (30,000 kW) 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 Shafts; 2 steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	183
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC Type 285 gunnery radar Type 286 radar surface-search radar
Armament:	3 × twin QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk XII guns 1 × single QF 4-inch Mk V (102 mm) AA gun 4 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns 2 × twin QF 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Mk III machineguns 1 × quintuple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 45 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers

HMAS Nestor (G02) was an N-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built in Scotland, Nestor was commissioned in February 1941; although manned by Australians and commissioned as an Australian warship, she remained the property of the Royal Navy.

Entering service in 1941, Nestor spent most of her career as a patrol and escort vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Far East. In December 1941, the destroyer located and sank the German submarine U-127. In June 1942, Nestor sailed as part of the Operation Vigorous escort force, protecting a supply convoy to Malta. On the evening of 15 June, the ship was heavily damaged by air attack. Despite attempts to tow the ship to base, Nestor was abandoned and scuttled off Crete the next morning. Nestor is the only ship of the RAN that never operated in Australian waters.

The N-class destroyer had a displacement of 1,773 tons at standard load, and 2,550 tons at full load.Nestor was 356 feet 6 inches (108.66 m) long overall and 229 feet 6 inches (69.95 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 35 feet 8 inches (10.87 m), and a maximum draught of 16 feet 4 inches (4.98 m). Propulsion was provided by Admiralty 3-drum boilers connected to Parsons geared steam turbines, which provided 40,000 shaft horsepower to the ship's two propellers.Nestor was capable of reaching 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). The ship's company consisted of 249 officers and sailors at the time she was sunk.

The ship's armament consisted of six 4.7-inch QF Mark XII guns in three twin mounts, a single 4-inch QF Mark V gun, a 2-pounder 4-barrel Pom Pom, four 0.5-inch machine guns, four 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, four .303 Lewis machine guns, two Pentad torpedo launcher tube sets (with 10 torpedoes carried), two depth-charge throwers and one depth-charge chute (with 45 charges carried). The 4-inch gun was removed later in Nestor's career.