HMS Beagle (H30)

HMS Beagle off Gold Beach during the Normandy Landings, 6 June 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Beagle
Namesake:	Beagle
Ordered:	4 March 1929
Builder:	John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Cost:	£220,342
Laid down:	11 October 1929
Launched:	26 September 1930
Completed:	9 April 1931
Decommissioned:	24 May 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: H30
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 15 January 1946
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	B-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,360 long tons (1,380 t) (standard) 1,790 long tons (1,820 t) (deep load)
Length:	323 ft (98.5 m) o/a
Beam:	32 ft 3 in (9.8 m)
Draught:	12 ft 3 in (3.7 m)
Installed power:	34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts 2 × Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range:	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	142 (wartime)
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 119 ASDIC
Armament:	4 × 1 – 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns 2 × 1 – QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk II AA guns 2 × 4 – 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers

HMS Beagle was a B-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy (RN) around 1930. Initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, she was transferred to the Home Fleet in 1936. During World War II, the ship spent the bulk of the war on escort duty, participating in the Norwegian Campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Torch, the Russian Convoys, and in the Normandy landings before accepting the surrender of the German garrison of the Channel Islands the day after the formal German surrender on 9 May together with another ship. One exception to this pattern was when she helped to evacuate British soldiers and civilians during the Battle of France in 1940. During the war, Beagle assisted in sinking one German submarine and claimed to have shot down two German aircraft. Redundant after the war, she was broken up for scrap in 1946.

Beagle displaced 1,360 long tons (1,380 t) at standard load and 1,790 long tons (1,820 t) at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 323 feet (98.5 m), a beam of 32 feet 3 inches (9.8 m) and a draught of 12 feet 3 inches (3.7 m). She was powered by Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum boilers. Beagle carried a maximum of 390 long tons (400 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship's complement was 134 officers and enlisted men, although it increased to 142 during wartime.