Allied Warships

HMS Keith (D 06)

Destroyer of the B class

HMS Keith before World War Two

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	B
Pennant	D 06
Mod	Flotilla leader
Built by	Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.)
Ordered	22 Mar 1929
Laid down	1 Oct 1929
Launched	10 Jul 1930
Commissioned	20 Mar 1931
Lost	1 Jun 1940
Loss position	51° 04'N, 2° 08'E

History	On 1 June 1940 HMS Keith (Capt. Edward Lyon Berthon, RN, also Commanding officer of the 19th Destroyer Flotilla) was sunk by German Stuka dive bombers off Dunkirk, France while she was participating in the evacuaton of the British Expeditionary Force from France. The wreck lies in 23 meters of water in position 51º04'43"N, 02º08'46"E.

Commands listed for HMS Keith (D 06)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

	Commander	From	To
1	Capt. Alfred Jerome Lucian Phillips, RN	31 Jul 1939	6 Sep 1939
2	Cdr. (retired) Henry Thurston Wake Pawsey, OBE, RN	6 Sep 1939	15 Feb 1940
3	Capt. David James Robert Simson, RN	15 Feb 1940	23 May 1940 (+)
4	Capt. Edward Lyon Berthon, DSC, RN	27 May 1940	1 Jun 1940

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Notable events involving Keith include:

9 Oct 1939
Around 2100 hours the British destroyers HMS Griffin (Lt.Cdr. J. Lee-Barber, RN with Capt. G.E. Creasy, MVO, RN aboard), HMS Gipsy (Lt.Cdr. N.J. Crossley, RN), HMS Keith (Cdr. H.T.W. Pawsey, OBE, RN), HMS Boadicea (Lt.Cdr. G.B. Kingdon, RN) and the Polish destroyer Grom (Lt.Cdr. A. Hulewicz, ORP) were ordered to leave Harwich and establish a patrol in the North Sea. Shortly before that, a German He 59 seaplane dropped two magnetic mines nearby, but there was no time for searching. HMS Gipsy hit one of those mines which tore her into two pieces. Most of the survivors were picked up by HMS Griffin and HMS Keith. (1)

2 Nov 1939
A submarine was reported near Margate Buoy and the destroyers HMS Keith (Cdr.(Retd.) H.T.W. Pawsey, OBE, RN), HMS Blanche (Lt.Cdr. R.N. Aubrey, RN) and HMS Gurkha (Cdr. F.R. Parham, RN) were ordered to hunt this submarine. No contact was obtained though.