HMS Abdiel (M39)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Abdiel |
| Builder: | J. Samuel White, Cowes |
| Laid down: | 29 March 1939 |
| Launched: | 23 April 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1941 |
| Identification: | Pennant number M39 |
| Fate: | Lost, 10 September 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Abdiel-class minelayer |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 127.4 m (418 ft) (overall) |
| Beam: | 12.2 m (40 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.4 m (11 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 40 knots (74 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,800 mi (9,334 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 244 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Magazine box protection, deck, side-plating, turrets and bulkheads, belt, internal boiler room sides (added 1936–1940). |
HMS Abdiel was an Abdiel-class minelayer that served with the Royal Navy during World War II. She served with the Mediterranean Fleet (1941), Eastern Fleet (1942), Home Fleet (1942–43), and the Mediterranean Fleet (1943). Abdiel was sunk by mines in Taranto harbour in 1943. Although designed as a fast minelayer her speed and capacity made her suitable for employment as a fast transport.
On 22 March 1941, Abdiel (Captain Hon. Edward Pleydell-Bouverie) had acceptance trials interrupted and was ordered to lay mines with the objective of preventing the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau breaking out from Brest. In operation 'GV', 'GX' and 'GY', Abdiel with the destroyers Intrepid, Impulsive and Icarus escorted by Kipling, Kelly and Jackal on 23 and 28 March laid mines in the vicinity of Little Sole Bank and 40 mi (64 km) WSW of Brest.
From 17 to 30 April 1941 Abdiel attempted to complete her trials programme but this was again abandoned when the ship was ordered to join the cruiser Dido and the destroyers Kelly, Kipling, Kelvin, Jackal and Jersey. This group was then transferred from Plymouth to Gibraltar, having loaded military stores destined for Malta. The ships subsequently joined the Mediterranean Fleet.
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