HMS Stevenstone

Stevenstone at anchor in the Solent
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Stevenstone
Ordered	23 August 1940
Builder	J. Samuel White, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Laid down	2 September 1941
Launched	23 November 1942
Commissioned	18 March 1943
Honours and awards	English Channel 1943-44 North Sea 1944 Normandy 1944
Fate	Scrapped in 1959
Badge	On a Field per fess wavy Blue and White a cubit arm vested blue charged with a fesse indented and double cotised Gold, the hand proper grasping a horn also Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type	Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,435 long tons (1,458 t) full load
Length	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	10.16 m (33 ft 4 in)
Draught	3.51 m (11 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed	27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range	2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h)
Complement	168
Armament	4 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk. VIII AA guns on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts P Mk. III 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 110 depth charges, 4 throwers, 3 racks

HMS Stevenstone was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the third subgroup of the class, and saw service in the Second World War. All the ships of this class were named after British fox hunts. She was the first Royal Navy warship with this name, after the Stevenstone hunt in Devon.^[1]

In 1946 and 1947 Stevenstone was part of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla based in the Mediterranean and was repaired in Chatham in 1948. She was subsequently sold for scrap and arrived at the ship breakers in Dunston on 2 September 1959^[2]

References

1. Smith, Gordon (2011). "HMS Stevenstone, escort destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
2. Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2, page 44

Sources

• Colledge, J. J. & Warlow, Ben, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present, Newbury, 2010
• English, John, The Hunts - A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II, Cumbria, 1987 (World Ship Society)
• Whitley, M. J., Destroyers of World War Two - an international encyclopedia, London, 1988
• Gardiner, Robert (ed.), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, London, 1987

Further reading

• Whitby, Michael (2022). "The Challenges of Operation 'Tunnel', September 1943 — April 1944". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 29–46. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.