Type III HUNT Class Escort Destroyer ordered from
Alexander Stephen at Govan under the 1940 War Emergency Programme on 4th July 1940. She was laid down as
Job No J1490 on 8th April 1941
and was launched on 12th May 1942.
This ship was the first to carry the name, that of a foxhunt no longer in
being. Build was completed on 24th
October 1942. Following a successful WARSHIP WEEK
National Savings campaign in February 1942 she was adopted by the civil
community of Dagenham in the county of Essex.
For information on her loss and
commemoration, see also:
Loss and
Commemoration of HMS Charybdis, by the Charybdis
Association
Account of Their Losses from
Captured German Archives
B a t t
l e H o n o u r s
NORTH SEA 1943 - ENGLISH CHANNEL 1942-43
H e r a l d i
c D a t a
Badge: On a
Field Blue in base water barry wavy White and Blue,
a hunting horn erect in front of two lillies
slipped and leaved in saltire all Gold.
M o t t
o
Fanam extendere factls: ‘Judge us by
our deeds’
(Note: This is the Vergilian equivalent of the motto of Dagenham)
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
October Contractors
trials and commissioned for service.
24th Build
completion and commenced Acceptance Trials.
November On completion
of trials and storing took passage to Scapa Flow.
Worked-up for operational service with ships of Home Fleet at Scapa Flow
During work-up detached to escort HM Battleship DUKE
OF YORK
to
Gibraltar.
Returned as part of escort for HMS DUKE OF YORK and HM Aircraft
Carrier VICTORIOUS from the Mediterranean after they had supported Allied
landings in
North
Africa (Operation TORCH.
December Joined 15th
Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth
for convoy defence and patrol duties in
English
Channel and SW Approaches.
(For
details of operations in Home Waters see HOLD THE NARROW SEA by Peter Smith,
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett and THE BATTLE OF THE
NARROW SEAS
by
Peter Scott).
1 9 4 3
January Deployed for
escort of convoys between UK and Gibraltar in Western Approaches.
to
Sustained damage to propeller.
February
March Under refit
at Portsmouth to fit new propeller.
On
completion deployed as escort to Free French battleship COURBET to Clyde.
April Deployed
with Flotilla in continuation of convoy defence in Channel and SW Approaches.
to (Note:
Deployed as required for interception operations against coastal convoys off
French
August coast
(Operation TUNNEL Series - See HOLD THE NARROW SEA).)
September Deployed on
Anti-submarine patrol duties in
Bay of Biscay.
(Note: Extensive combined air/sea operations were being carried out against U-Boats
in
transit across the Bay
of Biscay to and from Atlantic attacks on convoys.)
October Detached for
TUNNEL operations based at Plymouth.
3rd In
action with German torpedo boats in Channel.
Sustained slight damage.
22nd Deployed
with HM Cruiser CHARYBDIS, HM Destroyers GRENVILLE, ROCKET,
WENSLEYDALE,
TALYBONT and STEVENSTONE as Force X to Intercept blockade
runner MUNSTERLAND on passage from the
Far East into a French port.
23rd Operation
failed.
Under
torpedo attack by German torpedo boats near Guernsey and hit
by torpedo fired by T22.
Sustained major damage forward and totally disabled.
An
attempt to tow was unsuccessful and ship was sunk by
torpedoes from HMS TALYBONT
and
surface gunfire from HMS ROCKET.
42 of
her ship's company were killed with 100 survivors.
(Note: HMS CHARYBDIS was sunk in this action.
This
disastrous ill planned operation and the reasons for its misguided execution are
fully
described in HOLD THE NARROW
SEA and TWO HONOURABLE YEARS a privately
published book by Craig Leith.
See
also Chronology for HMS CHARYBDIS.)
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS
of
HMS
LIMBOURNE
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date convoy sailed
|
Joined convoy as escort
|
Convoy No.
|
Left convoy
|
Date convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
15/12/42
|
15/12/42
|
WP 264
|
19/12/42
|
19/12/42
|
23/01/43
|
23/01/43
|
CG 008
|
24/01/43
|
24/01/43
|
03/02/43
|
03/02/43
|
WP 289
|
05/02/43
|
05/02/43
|
01/04/43
|
01/04/43
|
WP 317
|
03/04/43
|
03/04/43
|
12/04/43
|
12/04/43
|
WP 323
|
14/04/43
|
14/04/43
|
30/04/43
|
30/04/43
|
WP 332
|
02/05/43
|
02/05/43
|
11/05/43
|
11/05/43
|
PW 337
|
14/05/43
|
14/05/43
|
28/05/43
|
28/05/43
|
WP 346
|
30/05/43
|
30/05/43
|
07/06/43
|
07/06/43
|
WP 351
|
09/06/43
|
09/06/43
|
06/06/43
|
07/06/43
|
PW 350
|
08/06/43
|
08/06/43
|
10/06/43
|
10/06/43
|
PW 352
|
12/06/43
|
12/06/43
|
13/06/43
|
13/06/43
|
WP 354
|
15/06/43
|
15/06/43
|
16/06/43
|
16/06/43
|
PW 355
|
18/06/43
|
18/06/43
|
05/07/43
|
05/07/43
|
WP 365
|
06/07/43
|
07/07/43
|
07/07/43
|
07/07/43
|
WP 366
|
09/07/43
|
09/07/43
|
18/08/43
|
18/08/43
|
WP 387
|
20/08/43
|
20/08/43
|
23/09/43
|
23/09/43
|
WP 405
|
25/09/43
|
25/09/43
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note on Convoys)
THE WRECKS OF
HMS
LIMBOURNE and HMS
CHARYBDIS
by Gordon Smith
The ship's remains
were discovered in the 1990's and in 2001 a British team took photographs of
HMS Charybdis which can be found on Leigh Bishop's
Deep Image site. This was obviously a highly professional and
responsible team which worked closely with the
Charybdis/Limbourne
Association. However, as HMS Charybdis is my own father's grave, and aware
of how some wrecks have been treated, I was concerned in case other divers
were not quite so caring. I wrote to Leigh, and his reply reassured me. I
also received an email from Neil Wood of the Association:
"Leigh Bishop has told me about your
message to him regarding the wreck of HMS Charybdis. As a matter of
interest, and as you have probably realised from his site and photos, Leigh
was one of a group of British Divers who in conjunction with our Association
and some other friends, dived on the wrecks of both "Charybdis" and "Limbourne".
There is no question about all of the Divers concerned treating the sites as
War Graves. However, although they lie in French waters and the French Govt.
also treat them as War Graves, other divers can still dive on them. As you
say, the depth is a deterrent, but now-a-days, even that it not quite such a
problem.
Our Association has tried to obtain official permission to recover the ships
bell from HMS Limbourne, which Leigh found located on the sea bed during the
dive. Unfortunately that has not been given. We wanted to recover it as a
memorial to all those lost on "Limbourne", none of whose bodies were ever
recovered."