HMS Welshman (M84)

HMS Welshman, 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Welshman
Ordered:	21 March 1939
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn
Laid down:	8 June 1939
Launched:	4 September 1940
Completed:	25 August 1941
Honours and awards:	Malta Convoys, 1942
Fate:	Sunk, 1 February 1943
Badge:	On a Field barry wavy of six white and blue, a dragon rampant Red, supporting in the paws a trident Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Abdiel-class minelayer
Displacement:	2,650 long tons (2,693 t) standard 3,415 long tons (3,470 t) full load
Length:	400 ft 6 in (122.07 m) p/p 418 ft (127 m) o/a
Beam:	40 ft (12 m)
Draught:	11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m) full
Propulsion:	4 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers Parsons geared steam turbines 2 shafts 72,000 shp (53,690 kW)
Speed:	39.75 knots (73.62 km/h; 45.74 mph) 38 kn (70 km/h; 44 mph) full
Range:	1,000 nmi (1,900 km) at 38 kn (70 km/h; 44 mph)
Complement:	242
Armament:	6 × QF 4 in (100 mm) L/45 Mark XVI guns on twin mounts HA/LA Mk.XIX 4 × QF 2-pdr L/39 Mk.VIII on quadruple mount Mk.VII 8 × Vickers .50 machine guns on quadruple mount Mk.I (later up to 12 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk.III or twin mounts Mk.V) 156 × naval mines
Service record
Part of:	Home Fleet Force H
Operations:	Malta Convoys Operation Torch

HMS Welshman was an Abdiel-class minelayer of the Royal Navy. During World War II she served with the Home Fleet carrying out minelaying operations, before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-1942 for the Malta Convoys. She also saw service during Operation Torch. The ship was torpedoed and sunk off Tobruk by the German submarine U-617 with the loss of 157 lives.

Commissioned in late August 1941, Welshman sailed to Scapa Flow to join the Home Fleet, before assignment to the 1st Minelaying Squadron at the Kyle of Lochalsh in September. She conducted minelaying operations in the waters off western Scotland before being detached in December for deployment in the Bay of Biscay.

In January 1942 she transported stores and personnel to Gibraltar, Freetown and Takoradi before deploying to the Strait of Dover in early February to lay mines across the routes likely to be used in the event of a breakout by German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. After a refit, Welshman resumed minelaying operations in the Bay of Biscay in April.

In May 1942 she sailed to the Mediterranean to join Force H in the Malta Convoys. On 8 May Welshman sailed from Gibraltar disguised as a French destroyer, with 240 tons of stores and RAF personnel aboard, in "Operation Bowery". She was sighted by enemy aircraft the next day, but her deception succeeded. On entering the Grand Harbour at Malta on 10 May she detonated two mines with her paravanes, sustaining some damage. She returned to Gibraltar on 12 May, and sailed to the UK for repairs at Yarrows at Scotstoun, returning to Gibraltar at the end of the month.

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