HMS Tetcott (L99)

Tetcott on a convoy to Russia, March 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Tetcott
Ordered:	20 December 1939
Builder:	J. Samuel White
Laid down:	29 July 1940
Launched:	12 August 1941
Commissioned:	2 December 1941
Identification:	pennant number: L99
Honours and awards:	Libya 1942 Mediterranean 1942 Sicily 1943 Salerno 1943 Aegean 1943–44 Anzio 1944 Adriatic 1944
Fate:	Arrived Thos W Ward, Milford Haven for breaking up 24 September 1956, completed 9 April 1957
Badge:	On a Field White, within an annulet murrey, a demi unicorn erased Black.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type II Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length:	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught:	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp
Speed:	27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range:	3,600 nmi (6,700 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)
Complement:	164
Armament:	6 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2-pounder (40-mm) Mk VIII guns on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns on single mounts P Mk. III 110 depth charges, 2 throwers, 3 racks

HMS Tetcott was a Type II British Hunt-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during World War II. She was the only Royal Navy ship to be named after the Tetcott fox hunt.

Following completion on 11 December 1941 the ship headed for Scapa Flow where it arrived on 16 December and joined the Home Fleet. The vessel collided with the corvette Heartsease on 23 December which meant that the next two months were spent in repair on the Clyde and later in Southampton.

The vessel was finally ready for service again on 2 March 1942 and returned to Scapa Flow for working-up. On 15 April 1942 Tetcott joined convoy WS18 at the ocean escort Clyde Assembly point. The ship escorted this convoy to Cape Town, detaching briefly to call into Freetown on the way.

At Cape Town, Tetcott headed into the Indian Ocean and on to Alexandria via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, arriving in early June 1942 where she joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla.

On 10 June the ship sailed with Grove carrying supplies to the garrison at Tobruk. Grove was torpedoed on 12 June during the return journey and Tetcott picked up the survivors. On 16 June the ship came under heavy Axis air attack whilst defending of ships returning to Alexandria following the termination of Operation Vigorous.

In July the ship operated as part of Operation Exporter off Palestine and Syria. On 4 August, with the destroyers Sikh and Zulu the ship attacked the German submarine U-372 and forced the U-boat to the surface. 16 German crew and a Lebanese civilian were rescued.

In September 1942, the ship was assigned with Hero to convoy duties in the Red Sea, but returned to the Mediterranean in October. In November 1942, the ship formed part of the close escort for Convoy MW13, from Alexandria to Malta. This convoy succeeded in reaching Malta, and the ship formed part of the close escort on the return journey. In December, Tetcott was one of the escorts in the Alexandria to Malta convoy, MW14, after which she joined the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla at Algiers.