Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
Royal Navy — Destroyer I42

HNLMS Campbeltown (I42)

Wickes-class destroyer

HNLMS Campbeltown (I42)
Ware, C J (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer — This photograph A 952 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-01) — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — I42 IWM caption : Two destroyers photographed shortly after the Royal Navy acquired them from America under the Destroyers for Bases agreement HMS CASTLETON , left, and HMS CAMPBELTOWN , lying side by side while undergoing refit. The ships were sailed across the Atlantic by British crews. On the left are two Polish sailors.

Service

  1. United States Navy as Buchanan20 January 1919 — 1939118 days of the war
  2. Royal Navy as Campbeltown9 September 1940 — 28 March 1942565 days of the war
Wickes-class destroyer Particulars
Name
HNLMS Campbeltown
Pennant / hull number
I42
Namesake
Franklin Buchanan
Builder
Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, US
Laid down
29 June 1918
Launched
2 January 1919
Commissioned
20 January 1919
Decommissioned
1939
Fate
Expended on 28 March 1942 in a special operation against the docks at Saint-Nazaire (1942)
Status
Unknown

Specifications

Displacement, standard
1,260 long tons (1,280 t)
Length
95.71 m (314 ft)
Beam
9.14 m (30 ft)
Draught
2.74 m (9 ft)
Speed
39.7 knots (73.5 km/h, 45.7 mph)
Complement
158
Main gun
102 mm (4 in)

HNLMS Campbeltown was a Wickes-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She carried the pennant number I42. She was named for Franklin Buchanan. Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, US laid her keel on 29 June 1918. She entered service on 20 January 1919, having been launched on 2 January 1919.

Her class ran to 104 ships. The class followed the Caldwell-class destroyer and was succeeded by the Clemson-class destroyer.

Displacement was 1,260 long tons. She measured 95.7 m (314 ft) long with a beam of 9.1 m (30 ft). Her designed speed was 39.7 knots, and she carried a complement of 158.

Her main battery was four 102 mm (4 in) guns. Her machinery developed 30,000 shp.

She served with the United States Navy as Buchanan until 1939. She then passed to the Royal Navy, serving as Campbeltown from 9 September 1940. She was in commission for 683 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned in 1939.

Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 2 × Brown-Curtiss single reduction geared steam turbines
  • 4 × Normand return-flame boilers
  • 2 × shafts
Power
  • 30000 shp
Armament
  • As built:
  • 4 × 4 in/50 cal guns
  • 1 × 3 in/23 cal anti-aircraft gun
  • 6 × 21 in torpedo tubes
  • Conversion for St Nazaire Raid:
  • 1 × 12-pounder gun
  • 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
  • 4.5 ST amatol explosive charge (consisting of 24 × Mark VII depth charges)

Sister ships

79 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from HNLMS Campbeltown (I42) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: Ware, C J (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer — This photograph A 952 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-01) — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons