HMS Matabele (F26)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Matabele |
| Namesake: | Southern Ndebele people |
| Ordered: | 19 June 1936 |
| Builder: | Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock, Scotland |
| Cost: | £342,005 |
| Laid down: | 1 October 1936 |
| Launched: | 6 October 1937 |
| Completed: | 25 January 1939 |
| Identification: | Pennant number L26, later F26 |
| Motto: | Hamba Gahle: " Go in Peace." |
| Fate: | Sunk, 17 January 1942 by U-454 |
| Badge: | On a Field per fess wavy White and Blue, an elephant proper. |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Tribal-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 377 ft (115 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 6 in (11.13 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
| Range: | 5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 190 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
ASDIC |
| Armament: |
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HMS Matabele was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in World War II, being sunk by a U-boat on 17 January 1942. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Matabele, which in common with the other ships of the Tribal class, was named after an ethnic group of the British Empire. In this case, this was the Anglicisation of the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe.
Matabele was ordered on 19 June 1936 under the 1935 Build Programme from the Greenock yards of Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. She was laid down on 1 October 1936 and launched on 6 October 1937. Also launched on this day from Scotts' yard was Matabele's sister, Punjabi. She was commissioned on 25 January 1939 at a total cost of £343,005, which excluded items supplied by the Admiralty, such as weapons and communications outfits. She was initially assigned to the 2nd Tribal Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, which was renamed the 6th Destroyer Flotilla in April 1939.
Her early career with the flotilla mostly involved port visits and exercises. On 12 May she escorted the ocean liner RMS Empress of Australia through the English Channel. Empress of Australia was carrying King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their Royal Tour to Canada. In June Matabele was assigned to assist in rescue operations for the stricken submarine Thetis which had sunk during builder's trials in Liverpool Bay. On her release from these duties, Matabele resumed her Home Fleet programme with the Flotilla. With war looming, she took up her Home Fleet war station in August, and was deployed for interception and anti-submarine patrol in Home waters.
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