HMS Jervis

History

United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Jervis
Namesake:	Admiral John Jervis
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Laid down:	26 August 1937
Launched:	9 September 1938
Commissioned:	8 May 1939
Decommissioned:	May 1946
Identification:	Pennant number: F00 (1937–1940) G00 (1940–1946)
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1954
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	J-class Flotilla leader
Displacement:	1,690 long tons (1,720 t) (standard) 2,330 long tons (2,370 t) (deep load)
Length:	356 ft 6 in (108.66 m) o/a
Beam:	35 ft 9 in (10.90 m)
Draught:	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) (deep)
Installed power:	44,000 shp (33,000 kW) 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × geared 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 (218 for flotilla leaders)
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC
Armament:	3 × twin QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk XII guns 1 × quadruple QF 2-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft guns 2 × quadruple QF 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Mk III anti-aircraft machineguns 2 × quintuple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers
Service record
Part of:	7th Destroyer Flotilla (1939–1940) 14th Destroyer Flotilla (1940–1945)
Commanders:	Captain Philip Mack (1939–1942) Captain A.L Poland (1942) Captain A.F Pugsley (January 1943– 22 June 1943) Captain J.S Crawford (22 June 1943– November 1943) Lt. Commander Roger P. Hill (1944)
Operations:	Battle of Cape Matapan (March 1941) Battle of the Tarigo Convoy (April 1941) Battle of Crete (May 1941) Second Battle of Sirte (March 1942) Operation Vigorous (June 1942) Operation Husky (July 1943) Operation Avalanche (September 1943) Dodecanese Campaign (September–November 1943) Operation Shingle (January 1944) Operation Neptune (June 1944)

HMS Jervis was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy named after Admiral John Jervis (1735–1823). She was laid down by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, at Hebburn-on-Tyne on 26 August 1937. The ship was launched on 9 September 1938 and commissioned on 8 May 1939, four months before the opening of hostilities.

Designed as a flotilla leader to the J-class destroyers, who were intended to make up the 7th Flotilla, Jervis was the sister ship of, and identical to, Kelly, leader to the K class and similar to Napier of the N class. However, despite an impressive war record (she earned 13 battle honours) she remains virtually unknown, overshadowed by her more famous sister.

When war broke out in September 1939, Jervis was under the command of Captain Philip Mack, and was leader of the 7th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) based in the Humber. The first six months of hostilities was taken up with sweeps across the North Sea, in "appalling weather conditions" which saw the Flotilla suffer a succession of storm and collision damage. During this time Jervis captured three blockade runners, one on the second day of the war, and helped search for the merchant ship SS City of Flint. In March 1940 Jervis was involved in a collision with SS Tor, a Swedish freighter, that put her in dock for the next three months for repairs.

During this time Mack, as Captain (D) led the Flotilla from Janus, and in May 1940 sailed with her for the Mediterranean to take command of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla. Jervis' pennant number changed to G00 around this time In July, after working-up trials, she joined him in Malta, where he resumed command. For the next two years Jervis saw action in a constant round of operations; sweeps along the coast, bombarding shore targets for the Army, protecting convoys to Malta, and screening major fleet movements.

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Wikipedia