HMS Faulknor (H62)

HMS Faulknor during the Second World War
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Faulknor
Namesake:	Robert Faulknor
Ordered:	17 March 1933
Builder:	Yarrows, Scotstoun
Cost:	£271,886
Laid down:	31 July 1933
Launched:	12 June 1934
Commissioned:	24 May 1935
Decommissioned:	25 July 1945
Motto:	Dulcit amor Patria ("Love of fatherland leads")
Honours and awards:	Battle honours : Atlantic 1939–43 Norway 1940 Spartivento 1940 Malta Convoys 1941 Arctic 1942–43 Sicily 1943 Salerno 1943 Aegean 1943 Mediterranean 1943–44 Anzio 1944 Normandy 1944
Fate:	Sold, 21 January 1946
Badge:	On a Field White, a trident Gold, over two laurel leaves Green
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	F-class destroyer flotilla leader
Displacement:	1,475 long tons (1,499 t) (standard) 2,010 long tons (2,040 t) (deep load)
Length:	343 ft (104.5 m) o/a
Beam:	33 ft 9 in (10.3 m)
Draught:	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power:	38,000 shp (28,000 kW) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	175
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC
Armament:	5 × single QF 4.7 in (120 mm) Mark IX guns 2 × quadruple QF 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Vickers Mark III anti-aircraft machine guns 2 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers

HMS Faulknor was the flotilla leader for the F-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. The ship had a particularly active operational role during World War II, being awarded 11 battle honours, and was known as "The hardest worked destroyer in the Fleet". She was the first ship to sink a German U-boat, took part in the Norwegian Campaign, served with Force H in the Mediterranean on the Malta Convoys, escorted convoys to Russia and across the Atlantic, and saw action during the invasions of Sicily, Italy and Normandy, and was at the liberation of the Channel Islands. She was then decommissioned and sold for scrap in late 1945.

As the flotilla leader for the F-class destroyers, Faulknor was built to the same design as Exmouth, flotilla leader for the preceding E-class destroyers, which marked a return to building flotilla leaders to an enlarged design, the most obvious difference being the additional 4.7-inch (120 mm) gun between the funnels. Overall, she was only slightly larger than the other F-class destroyers in terms of length, beam, and draught, although she displaced an additional 90 long tons (91 t) tons, and had a complement of 175 officers and ratings, compared to the standard F-class complement of 145.