uboat.net

  Front page - Fighting the U-boats - Allied Warships

Follow us on Twitter
@uboatnet

Notable events involving Klo include:

3 Jun 1941
HMS Klo was attacked and damaged by German aircraft of Mersa Matruh. Her commanding officer Temporary Skipper James Sidney Elliot Ward, RNR was killed in this attack.

2 Oct 1941
The destroyers HMS Kandahar (Cdr. W.G.A. Robson, DSO, RN) and HMS Jaguar (Lt.Cdr. J.F.W. Hine, RN) were sent out from Alexandria at 0615 hours for an A/S search after the A/S whaler HMS Klo had reported being attacked by an enemy submarine.

They sailed together with HMS Kimberley (Cdr. J.S.M. Richardson, DSO, RN) and HMS Kingston (Lt.Cdr. P. Somerville, DSO, DSC, RN) but these two apparently did not go to the assistance of HMS Klo.

At 0947 hours, the destroyers HMS Kipling (Cdr. A. St.Clair-Ford, RN), HMS Jupiter (Lt.Cdr. N.V.J.P. Thew, RN), HMS Hero (Cdr. H.W. Biggs, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Hotspur (Lt. T.D. Herrick, DSC, RN), HMS Griffin (Cdr. J. Lee-Barber, DSO, RN) and HMS Decoy (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Alliston, RN) also departed Alexandria for exercises followed by the battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth (Capt. C.B. Barry, DSO, RN, flying the flag of Admiral Sir A.B. Cunningham, GCB, DSO and 2 Bars, RN), HMS Barham (Capt. G.C. Cooke, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral H.D. Pridham-Whippell, KCB, CVO, RN) and HMS Valiant (Capt. C.E. Morgan, DSO, RN) at 1015 hours. It had been intedend to sail earlier but the submarine-report from HMS Klo delayed the start of the exercises.

The ships remained out for exercises during the night and they returned to Alexandria as follows;

0820/3; HMS Kandahar, HMS Hero and HMS Decoy.

0855/3; HMS Barham, HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Valiant, HMS Kipling, HMS Kimberley, HMS Jupiter, HMS Hotspur and HMS Griffin.

0925/3; HMS Kingston and HMS Jaguar. These last two destroyers entered Alexandria with the submarine HMS Triumph (Cdr. W.J.W. Woods, RN) which returned from patrol. (1)

20 Oct 1941
The light cruisers HMS Ajax (Capt. E.D.B. McCarthy, DSO, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral H.B. Rawlings, OBE, RN), HMS Galatea (Capt. E.W.B. Sim, RN) and HMAS Hobart (Capt. H.L. Howden, RAN) and the destroyers HMS Griffin (Cdr. J. Lee-Barber, DSO, RN) and HMS Jaguar (Lt.Cdr. J.F.W. Hine, RN) departed Alexandria at 0830/20 to bombard an enemy gun battery near Tobruk during the night of 20/21 October.

The cruisers returned to Alexandria at 1330/21. At 0610/21 the destroyers had been detached to go to the assistance of the gunboat HMS Gnat (Lt.Cdr. S.R.H. Davenport, RN) which had been torpedoed and heavily damaged. Due to the air threat they remained near Mersa Matruh and were not allowed to proceed further to the west. HMS Griffin and HMS Jaguar were later joined by the escort destroyers HMS Avon Vale (Lt.Cdr. P.A.R. Withers, DSO, RN) and HMS Eridge (Lt.Cdr. W.F.N. Gregory-Smith, RN).

They contacted the damaged gunboat before sunset. HMS Griffin took HMS Gnat in tow escorted by HMS Jaguar and the A/S whalers HMSAS Southern Maid and HMS Klo.

Tow was later passed to the tug HMS St. Monance.

HMS Jaguar, HMS Avon Vale and HMS Eridge arrived at Alexandria at 0030/23.

HMS Gnat and HMS Griffin arrived at Alexandria later on 23 October. (2)

26 Mar 1942
HMS Klo (Lt. English, RNR) picks up 53 survivors from the British destroyer HMS Jaguar that was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-652 north-east of Sidi Barrani, Egypt in position 31º53'N, 26º18'E.

4 Apr 1942
HMS Otus (Lt. R.M. Favell, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Alexandria together with HMS Klo (Lt. M.C. English, RNR) and HMS Falk (Lt. H.S. Upperton, RNR). (3)

14 Apr 1942
HMS Otus (Lt. R.M. Favell, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Alexandria together with HMS Hero (Cdr. H.W. Biggs, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Peony (Lt.Cdr.(ret.) M.B. Sherwood, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Gloxinia (Lt. A.F. Harkness, DSC, RNR), HMS Hurworth (Lt.Cdr. J.T.B. Birch, RN), HMS Dulverton (Lt.Cdr. W.N. Petch, OBE, RN), HMS Falk (Lt. H.S. Upperton, RNR) and HMS Klo (Lt. M.C. English, RNR). HMS Dulverton (Lt.Cdr. W.N. Petch, OBE, RN) (3)