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HMS Escapade (H17)

HMS Escapade (H17) was an E-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy during the Second World War. The ship was launched on 30th January 1934 as the first of a class of eight destroyers at Scotts Greenock from the stack. It was put into service on 30 August 1934.

James Foster
James Foster
Dec 27, 2013793 Shares60.9K Views
HMS Escapade (H17)

HMS Escapade (H17) was an E-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.

The ship was launched on 30th January 1934 as the first of a class of eight destroyers at Scotts Greenock from the stack. It was put into service on 30 August 1934.

Along with her ​​sister ships, HMS Escapade formed the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, which was assigned to the Home Fleet. Shortly before the Second World War, the ships were replaced by the new tapered destroyers of the K class.

In 1940, the destroyer was used several times to cover ships of the Home Fleet in the Norway-company (companies Weserübung), in September 1940 then in the failed attempt to occupy Dakar (Operation Menace), and then in the occupation of French-Cameroon by Free French and British troops.

In the subsequent period, the use of gravity of the ship was in home waters. In June 1942, however, led a convoy during Operation Harpoon to Malta. Five months later, HMS Escapade (Operation Torch) was used to support the Allied landings in North Africa.

With reinforced submarine defense – and anti-aircraft armament, destroyers were used from the beginning of 1943 to secure convoys in the North Atlantic. He was also involved in the sinking of a German U-boat engaged in it. In September 1943, he was severely damaged in the premature explosion of depth charges on his hedgehog launcher.

After the war, HMS Escapade was removed from the list of active ships of the Royal Navy in 1946 and sold for scrap.

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