HMS Medway (F25)
Medway at anchor
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Medway |
| Namesake: | River Medway |
| Ordered: | 14 September 1926 |
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | April 1927 |
| Launched: | 19 July 1928 |
| Completed: | 3 July 1929 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: 25 |
| Fate: | Sunk by U-372, 30 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 580 ft (176.8 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 85 ft (25.9 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft 3 in (6.5 m) |
| Installed power: | 8,000 bhp (6,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, MAN diesel engines |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 400 + 1,335 (spare) |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
HMS Medway was the first purpose-built submarine depot ship constructed for the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during the late 1920s. The ship served on the China Station before the Second World War and was transferred to Egypt in early 1940. Ordered to evacuate Alexandria in the face of the German advance after the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, Medway sailed for Lebanon at the end of June, escorted by a light cruiser and seven destroyers. Her strong escort could not protect her; on 30 June a German submarine torpedoed and sank her.
Medway was designed to support up to 18 Odin and Parthian-class submarines in peacetime and an additional three submarines during wartime. She carried three QF 4-inch Mk IV deck guns as spares together with 144 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes to resupply her submarines. The ship proved to be less top-heavy than anticipated and had the enormously high metacentric height of 13 feet (4.0 m) at full load. Built with bilge keels only 12 inches (305 mm) deep, Medway once rolled 42° each way with a period of nine seconds, losing her main topmast. Her bilge keels were subsequently increased in depth to 36 inches (914 mm).
She was 580 feet (176.8 m) long overall and had a beam of 85 feet 1 inch (25.9 m) and a draft of 21 feet 3 inches (6.5 m). The ship displaced 14,650 long tons (14,890 t) at standard load and up to 18,362 long tons (18,657 t) at (full load). Her crew numbered 400 officers and enlisted men; she could also accommodate up to 1,335 additional men.
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