HMS Exmoor (L08)

HMS Exmoor (foreground) on 11 February 1942.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Burton
Namesake:	A fox hunt in Derbyshire, England
Ordered:	20 December 1939
Builder:	Swan Hunter, Wallsend
Laid down:	7 June 1940
Launched:	12 March 1941
Renamed:	Exmoor June 1941
Namesake:	A fox hunt in Somerset, England
Completed:	18 October 1941
Commissioned:	18 October 1941
Decommissioned:	November 1945
Identification:	pennant number: L08
Honours and awards:	Battle honours for: North Sea 1941 (carried forward from previous HMS Exmoor (L61)) Atlantic 1941-1942 Libya 1942 Sicily 1943 Salerno 1943 Aegean 1943 Mediterranean 1944
Fate:	For sale 1953 Sold to Denmark
Badge:	On a red field, two foxes brushes in saltire between two mullets, all gold
Denmark
Name:	HDMS Valdemar Sejr
Namesake:	Valdemar II (1170-1241), King of Denmark (1202-1241)
Acquired:	1954
Identification:	F343
Fate:	For disposal 1962 Sold for scrapping 1966
General characteristics Type II
Class and type:	Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length:	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught:	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) full
Range:	3,600 nmi (6,700 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)
Complement:	164
Armament:	6 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III 110 depth charges, 2 throwers, 3 racks

The second HMS Exmoor (L08), ex-HMS Burton, was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy in commission from 1941 to 1945. She was a member of the second subgroup of the class, and saw service during much of World War II. She later served in the Royal Danish Navy as HDMS Valdemar Sejr (F 343).

The ship was ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme from Swan Hunter, Wallsend, on 20 December 1939. She was laid down as Job Number J4190 as Burton on 7 June 1940 and launched on 12 March 1941. While she was fitting out, she was renamed Exmoor in June 1941 after the loss that year of the previous Exmoor. She was completed on 18 October 1941 and immediately commissioned, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Lawrence St. George Rich, RN.

Upon commissioning, Exmoor immediately began acceptance trials. Upon their successful completion later in October, she steamed to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, where she performed work-ups with ships of the Home Fleet. After completing work-ups in November 1941, she was selected for patrol and convoy escort duties at Gibraltar, but before taking up those responsibilities she steamed to Derry – also known as Londonderry – in Northern Ireland and on 13 November 1941 joined her sister ship Badsworth and the destroyers Vanquisher and Witch as escort of the military convoy WS12Z while it transited the Western Approaches. She was detached from the convoy on 17 November 1941.