HMS Thanet (H29)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Thanet |
| Ordered: | July 1917 |
| Builder: | Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn |
| Laid down: | 13 December 1917 |
| Launched: | 5 November 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 3 August 1919 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: H29 |
| Motto: | In hoc signo vinces: 'By this sign you will conquer' |
| Fate: | Sunk on 27 January 1942 |
| Badge: | On a field Blue a Cross fitched Gold |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | S-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,075 tons |
| Length: | 276 ft (84 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) |
| Propulsion: | Brown-Curtis, steam turbines, 2 shafts, 27,000 shp |
| Speed: | 36 knots |
| Range: | 250-300 tons of oil |
| Complement: | 90 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Thanet was an S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Built during, and commissioned shortly after the First World War, she went on to see service in the Second World War, being sunk early in 1942.
Thanet had been one of the ships on the China Station on the outbreak of war. After briefly being converted to a minelayer she spent the early years of the war patrolling off Hong Kong. With the Japanese entry to the war Thanet evacuated Hong Kong with another destroyer, just hours after the Japanese began their attack on the city. She made her way to Singapore and briefly deployed there until being sent to intercept an enemy troop convoy, in company with the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire (D68). The allied ships ran into a heavy Japanese force, and after a short battle Thanet was sunk and Vampire was forced to withdraw.
Thanet was ordered from the yards of Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn in July 1917, part of the 1917-18 Programme. She was laid down there on 13 December 1917 and launched on 5 November 1918, six days before the Armistice with Germany. She was commissioned on 3 August 1919, and was initially used to trial a 'flying off platform' for aircraft.
Thanet was on the China Station, deployed with the Local Destroyer Flotilla at Hong Kong on the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939. Her initial duties involved carrying out patrols and intercepting German shipping, and in October she was nominated to be converted for use as a minelayer. Work began at the naval dockyard in Hong Kong on 18 October, and she was able to participate in the laying of a defensive minefield in Lantau Channel between 21 and 27 October, the following day reverting to her anti-submarine role.
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