QUILLIAM-Class
Fleet Destroyer ordered on 2nd April 1940 with the
3rd Emergency
Flotilla from Hawthorn Leslie, Newcastle.
The ship was laid down on 6th November 1940 and
launched on 1st June 1942 as the 7th RN warship to
bear carry the name, introduced
in 1895. It was previously used by a destroyer
built in 1895 and sold in 1919. Build was
completed on 7th January 1943 at a cost of
£436,576 excluding the equipment which was
supplied by the Admiralty such as
armament, wireless and radar equipment. After a
successful WARSHIP WEEK for National Savings in
March 1942 she was adopted by the civil community
of Islington in Greater London.
B a t t l
e
H o n o u r s
SICILY 1943 - SALERNO 1943 - MEDITERRANEAN 1943
H e r a l d i
c
D a t a
Badge On a Field
per fess Blue and Green. a quail
White.
M o t t o
I will be prompt at
a signal
D
e t a i l s o f
W a r S e r v i c e
(for more
ship information,
go
to Naval
History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search)
1 9 4 2
December
Contractor's trials and
commissioning.
1 9 4 3
January
7th
Build completion
and commenced Acceptance Trials.
On completion of
trials and service took passage to Scapa Flow.
February On
completion of work-up at
Scapa Flow deployed with Home Fleet at Scapa
Flow.
Nominated for
escort of joint military convoy WS27 and KMF10A
during passage from
Clyde.
(Note: WS27 was
destined for Middle East via Cape of Good Hope
and KMF10A for
Mediterranean
via Gibraltar.
Ship
was intended to
join the rest of the Flotilla in Indian Ocean,)
27th
Joined Convoy WS27 in Clyde with HM Battleship
MALAYA, HM Destroyers RAIDER,
QUADRANT,
QUEENBOROUGH and WOLVERINE as Ocean Escort
during Atlantic
passage.
March
2nd
Remained with WS27 when KMF10A
ships detached for passage to Gibraltar.
5th
HMS QUADRANT detached from escort.
8th
Detached from WS27 with HMS
QUEENBOROUGH and RAIDER on arrival at Freetown.
Retained at
Freetown for Atlantic convoy defence.
(Note: Intended
transfer to Indian Ocean was cancelled to due to
future requirements in
support
of planned allied landings in Mediterranean.)
11th
Deployed for escort of WS27 with
HMS QUEENBOROUGH and HMS RAIDER during
passage
to Durban.
24th
Detached from WS27 with HMS
QUEENBOROUGH and HMS RAIDER on arrival at
Durban.
April
Passage
to Freetown to resume
Atlantic duties.
Nominated for
return to UK to join Flotilla.
29th
Took passage from Freetown with HM
Destroyer QUALITY to join Flotilla at Scapa
Flow.
May
Joined
Flotilla and deployed
for Home Fleet duties at Scapa Flow.
June
Nominated for support
of allied landings in Sicily (Operation HUSKY)
Passage to
Gibraltar as part of screen for Home Fleet major
units detached for support of
planned landings
in Sicily.
July
Deployed in Malta to
prepare for planned allied landings.
8th
Sailed from Malta as part of
screen for Battleships NELSON, RODNEY, WARSPITE,
VALIANT, HM
Aircraft Carriers INDOMITABLE, FORMIDABLE HM
Cruisers
AURORA PENELOPE, CLEOPATRA and EURYALUS
with HM
Destroyers
QUILLIAM,
QUEENBOROUGH, ISIS, FAULKNOR,
ECHO, INTREPID, RAIDER,
ECLIPSE, FURY,
INGLEFIELD, ILEX, TROUBRIDGE, TYRIAN, TUMULT,
OFFA,
Greek destroyer
VASILISSA OLGA and Polish destroyer ORP PIORUN
in western
Mediterranean.
10th
Deployed with above ships in
western Mediterranean to provide cover
against
interference
by Italian
surface ships to allied landings
For details see
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett
and
Naval Staff
History).
12th
Deployed for interception patrol
after landings established.
14th
Deployed with HM Cruisers
CLEOPATRA and EURYALUS with HM Destroyer
QUILLIAM of east
coast of Sicily.
August
Mediterranean deployment
for support of operations in continuation.
21st
Carried
out bombardment of
Italian mainland from Straits of Messina.
31st
Part of screen for HMS NELSON,
HMS RODNEY and HM Cruiser ORION during
preliminary
bombardment of Italian coast between Reggio
Calabria and Pessaro before
landings on
mainland of Italy (Operation BAYTOWN).
September Carried
out bombardment with HM
Destroyers OFFA, PETARD, QUEENBOROUGH,
QUILLIAM,
TARTAR, TROUBRIDGE, TYRIAN and ORP PIORUN
Screening
duties in continuation.
2nd
Carried out bombardment south of
Reggio.
9th
Part of screen for HM
Battleships NELSON, RODNEY, WARSPITE, VALIANT,
HM
to
Aircraft Carriers ILLUSTRIOUS,
FORMIDABLE with HM Destroyers QUILLIAM.,
16th
QUEENBOROUGH, PETARD, TROUBRIDGE,
TYRIAN, TUMULT, OFFA,
FAULKNOR,
INTREPID, ECLIPSE, INGLEFIELD, FURY, ILEX, ECHO,
RAIDER,
Polish ORP
PIORUN, Greek VASILISSA OLGA, Free French
destroyers LE TERRIBLE and
LA FANTASQUE
for gunfire support during allied landings at
Salerno.
(Operation
AVALANCHE - For details see above references).
Carried out
interception patrols against submarine and
E-Boat attacks on ships off beach
head.
Provided
naval gunfire support during
enemy counter-attacks.
October
Transferred to Adriatic for
support of military operations and convoy
defence.
22nd
Intercepted and captured enemy
mercantile during Adriatic patrol
November Adriatic
deployment based at
Bari in continuation.
15th
During patrol in Adriatic struck
mine in barrage laid by U453 off Bari on 25th
October.
16th
Beached south of Bari to await
salvage.
December
Taken in tow to Bari for
temporary repair.
1 9 4 4
January Under
temporary repair to
allow passage for permanent repair at Taranto.
to
Passage to Taranto
under tow
April
Repair arranged in
Malta.
Prepared for tow
at Taranto
May
Passage under tow to
Malta.
18th
Capsized and sank in Gulf of
Taranto in position 40.05N, 17.52E whilst in
tow.
Addendum
CONVOY
ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
QUAIL
by
Don Kindell
These
convoy lists have not been cross-checked with
the text above
|
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|
Date
convoy sailed
|
Joined
convoy as escort
|
Convoy No.
|
Left
convoy
|
Date
convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
19/04/43
|
19/04/43
|
CF
012
|
28/04/43
|
28/04/43
|
29/04/43
|
29/04/43
|
CF
012A
|
unknown
|
10/05/43
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note
on Convoys)
|