On completion
HMS HEBE
(J24) was assigned to the Home Command
in the 1st M/S Flotilla. She was transferred from Portsmouth to Devonport
for manning and commissioned for trials on 6 September 1937. She paid off
into Dockyard Control on 11 September and exchanged crews with HALCYON.
In Reserve at Chatham, she was at 14 days notice.
HEBE was
refitted in March/April 1938 and she then commissioned for service and
started work in the Channel with visits to south coast ports. After
maintenance in August she accompanied the Flotilla on a visit to
Copenhagen which started on 30 August. She spent September/October off the
north-west Scottish coast and sailed down to Portsmouth in December. She was refitted at Portsmouth in April
1939. In June she took part in the search for the submarine THETIS
(sunk in Liverpool Bay). With Sen. Officer 1st M/S embarked, she stayed
with SEAGULL for salvage operations on the
submarine. BRAMBLE relieved her In August as
S.O. M/S.1 and with the war approaching she sailed to her War Station at
Scapa Flow. October/November was spent on operational duties at Port 'A',
Scapa and in the Clyde, helping to sweep enemy mines in the latter.
HEBE docked at Leith
and had a short refit there up to 3 Feb.1940. Out of refit she worked
at Scapa and off the Scottish east coast. Ten 'Halcyons' from the 4th, 5th and 6th
M/S Flotillas took part in Operation 'Dynamo', and HEBE of the 1st
Flotilla (based at Scapa) was also present. For a time she wore the flag
of the F.O. Dover and on 29 May Captain Buck, RN used the ship as his
headquarters in his capacity as Sen. Officer (Afloat). The same day Rear
Admiral Wake-Walker hoisted his flag in HEBE
and took charge of the evacuation. On 31st May HEBE
took onboard Lord Gort for part of his journey from Dunkirk to Dover. On 1 June HEBE
was damaged when she was struck by a bomb.
The crew
suffered from the strain of the operation. 'In
their capacity as command ship off Bray-Dunes, few of the crew had
slept for five days.
In the evening of the 31st the ship’s sub-lieutenant collapsed, going
into fits and convulsions. Next day, 27 members of the crew came down
the same way. Finally, as HEBE returned to Dover on the morning of
June 1st, the ship’s surgeon collapsed too, mumbling that he could not
face another trip to Dunkirk. Under these sad circumstances HEBE was
ordered to rest, the only cure, and proceeded down channel to
Portsmouth on the 5th'. For the next two months
every available small ship was employed in the area where the enemy seemed
likely to attempt an invasion of England, ie, from the Wash to Newhaven.
Destroyer flotillas backed by cruisers were stationed at strategic points
and the battleship REVENGE waited at
Plymouth. By September HEBE
was released to head back north, and she and HAZARD
were sweeping for mines off the east coast that month. On 15 November
HEBE sailed into Leith for a refit which lasted until 3
Feb.1941.
Out of refit she was detailed for an escort
task but on the 8th was involved in a collision and had to put in to
Rosyth for repairs until the 22nd. She escorted the Forth to Thames Convoy
FS22, and then a single ship named PASS OF LENY
who was under tow by the tug SEA GIANT. With
BRAMBLE she performed a Dungeness to Portsmouth mine sweep after
more repairs on the Thames (1.4.41 - 5.41). Thereafter her role became more clear. In mid
May the ships of the 1st Flotilla were ordered to be at one week's notice
for (sweeping) operations, otherwise they were to be available to the CinC
Western Approaches for escort
duties. HEBE therefore escorted the following W. Approaches Convoys
between 19 May and 13 September 1941: HX125, OB327, HX128,
OB336, SC34,
OB343, HX136, HX139, ON5, SC39, SC40,
HX145 and ONM16. These duties
usually lasted three or four days - the first or last legs of convoy
passages - on the vital North Atlantic run. HEBE
then refitted at Belfast between 16 September and 9 November.
HMS Hebe
Source:
www.navyphotos.co.uk
After her Belfast refit HEBE
joined her sisters of the 1st Flotilla on the 'Kola Run'. First HEBE,
HAZARD and SHARPSHOOTER
escorted four of Convoy PQ5's seven ships from Kirkwall to Hvalfjord in
mid November. The 'Halcyons' with the cruiser SHEFFIELD, sailed ahead of
this convoy to arrive Murmansk on 8 December. For a time
HEBE was employed locally in North Russian waters; with BRAMBLE
she escorted two of Convoy QP4's ships, SAN AMBROSIO
and EULIMA, from Archangel to Murmansk. Next with BRAMBLE
and HAZARD she rendezvoused with PQ7 and
brought this convoy into Murmansk on 12 Jan.1942. HEBE
and BRAMBLE then made the passage back to the
UK, escorting QP6 (six ships) between 24 January and 2 February. HEBE
sailed down to Immingham to refit between 8 February and 11 March.
Out of refit HEBE
proceeded to Scapa and was ordered to overtake Convoy PQ13 (19 ships). On
her way to Seidisfjord with the destroyer FURY she had mechanical trouble
but reached Iceland on 22 March. Convoy PQ13 had left Reykjavik on the
20th; HEBE was delayed and eventually on the
28th was ordered to join the escort of PQ14. She was more than a day late
when she overtook this convoy (24 ships), 16 of which returned to Iceland
because of extremely bad weather and ice. HEBE
herself sustained ice damage, and she accompanied four of the returning
merchant ships, who included the ALDERSDALE, to Reykjavik. HEBE
proceeded to the Humber for repairs in April/May.
After her repairs HEBE
was redeployed to more sunny climes. On 31 May 1942 she left Scapa with SPEEDY
for Greenock and onward routing to Gibraltar; she was in fact on transfer
to the Mediterranean Fleet, and joined it by way of Operation 'Harpoon'. Other
ships of the 1st M/S Flotilla also left home to join the 17th Flotilla in
the Med.
Operation 'Harpoon' was the passage of a
convoy to the beleaguered island of Malta. Simultaneously a convoy left
for the island from the Eastern Med. Four Fleet minesweepers, among them HEBE
and SPEEDY, joined the escort of the western Harpoon convoy which left the
Clyde on 5 June 1942. The fleet sweepers and MLs were
needed to sweep the convoy through enemy minefields around Malta, and to
stay there to keep the harbour free of mines.
On
the evening of 15 June when the convoy was 30 miles south of Pantellaria
two Italian 6" cruisers and several destroyers appeared. Dive bombers arrived overhead and sank
the CHANT; KENTUCKY
was hit and taken in tow by HEBE. BURDWAN was
then disabled, and she and KENTUCKY were sunk
by our own forces to give the last two merchant ships a better chance of
survival. HEBE was damaged by a shell from an
Italian cruiser while trying to sink KENTUCKY. Eventually the remainder of
the convoy (only two ships)
and escorts came within range of Malta-based Spitfire aircraft.
Unfortunately ORARI, and three escorting destroyers struck mines on their way in to
Malta 16 June, the Polish KUJAWIAK being
sunk; the other ships survived. On the 16th HEBE
was holed on the port side 8ft above the keel and the starboard propeller
damaged by 'mine or torpedo' off Malta. HEBE
eventually
docked for repairs at Malta on 17th June until July.
In mid August, then based at Malta,
HEBE sailed
out to render assistance to the BRISBANE STAR
and OHIO. These ships had survived Operation
'Pedestal', the epic August convoy to Malta, although very heavily hit,
particularly the tanker OHIO. HEBE
was one of several ships, including SPEEDY, HYTHE
and RYE who somehow pulled the shattered inert tanker
into harbour.
HEBE stayed on
and played her part in keeping Malta's harbour open. It is likely that
following operation 'Torch' in November 1942 (which brought Allied Armies
to the N. African shore) she was then deployed to deal with mines in other
ports, and also to act as an escort vessel. In July 1943 she took part in
Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily).
At the beginning of November there were still 13 German
U-boats in the Mediterranean, and one of them, U.453,
made three minelaying sorties off Brindisi and Bari.
HEBE became a victim of a mine off Bari on 22 November 1943 and she
sank with the loss of 38 of her company. The minefield had been laid off
Bari harbour by U453 during the previous
week. The explosion was abreast the bulkhead between the boiler rooms on
the port side, followed by a second explosion near the same place. She
capsized within four minutes of the first explosion.
Source: One of a series
of articles from World Ship Society’s publication ‘Warship’
THE
WAR OF THE HALCYONS 1939-1945
R
A Ruegg
See also
www.naval-history.net
