HMS Virago (R75)
Virago at anchor on the River Tyne, October 1943
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Virago |
| Ordered: | 1 September 1941 |
| Builder: | Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom |
| Laid down: | 16 February 1942 |
| Launched: | 4 February 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 5 November 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 1963 |
| Identification: | pennant number R75/F76 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Scrapped 4 June 1965 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | V-class destroyer |
HMS Virago was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. She was later converted into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F76.
In addition to escorting the perilous Arctic convoys during 1943-44, Virago participated with other British destroyers in the Battle of North Cape on 26 December 1943, where her torpedoes sank the badly beaten German battleship Scharnhorst, following a fierce fight between the Germans and the battleship Duke of York.
During the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 she fired on German positions behind Lion-sur-Mer on Sword Beach, and later gave cover fire for troops advancing inland.
Transferred to the Eastern Fleet in early 1945. On 26 March 1945 she, along with the destroyers Saumarez, Volage, and Vigilant, intercepted a Japanese supply convoy east of Khota Andaman, Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. She and Vigilant sank the Japanese submarine chaser CH-34.
She patrolled the Malacca Strait and supported Operation Dracula off the coast of Burma in late April 1945. Virago subsequently participated in the Battle of the Malacca Strait with Saumarez, Verulam, Venus and Vigilant which culminated in the sinking of the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro on 16 May 1945. This was a textbook destroyer night action, and was the last naval gun battle of the Second World War. Virago participated in preparations for Operation Zipper (the invasion of Malaya) in July/August 1945, and its eventual execution as a reoccupation manoeuvre in September 1945 following the surrender of Japan. Based in Hong Kong with the British Pacific Fleet after VJ day, Virago returned to Chatham, Kent in December 1945.
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