Sikh underway after completion
|
|
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name: | Sikh |
Namesake: | Sikh |
Builder: | Alexander Stephen and Sons, Linthouse |
Cost: | £337,704 |
Laid down: | 24 September 1936 |
Launched: | 17 December 1937 |
Completed: | 12 October 1938 |
Identification: | Pennant numbers: L82/F82/G82 |
Motto: | Sicut leonis: 'Be like the lions' |
Honours and awards: |
|
Fate: | Sunk, 14 September 1942 |
Badge: | On a Field Red. a 'Sikh' lion, Gold, behind his head a Sikh quoit, silver. |
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: |
|
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: |
|
HMS Sikh was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The ship entered service in 1938 and served during the Second World War, participating in the sinking of Bismarck and the Battle of Cape Bon. In 1942, while participating in a commando raid, Sikh was sunk by a combination of antiaircraft guns, shore artillery and aerial bombs.
Sikh was built by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow and commissioned in 1938. The ship entered service as part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy.
In 1941, while under the command of Commander Stokes, she took part in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. The night before Bismarck was sunk, she fired a salvo of four torpedoes and claimed a hit after hearing underwater explosions, but actually there were no hits.
Sikh transferred to the Mediterranean serving as part of Force H. On 13 December 1941, Sikh — together with Legion, Maori and the Dutch vessel HNLMS Isaac Sweers — sank the Italian cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano in the Battle of Cape Bon.