HMS Fury was an F-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–1936 during the Abyssinia Crisis. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, she spent time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. The ship escorted the larger ships of the fleet during the early stages of the Second World War and played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Fury was sent to Gibraltar in mid-1940 and formed part of Force H where she participated in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir and the Battle of Dakar. The ship escorted numerous Malta convoys in 1940–1941 and Arctic convoys during 1942.
Fury was briefly transferred to the Mediterranean in August 1942 to participate in Operation Pedestal but returned to the Home Fleet immediately afterwards to resume her role screening convoys to Russia. She continued in this role until March 1943 when she began escorting Atlantic convoys for several months. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet a few months later as the Allies began Italian campaign in mid-1943. Later in the year, she participated in the Dodecanese Campaign in the Aegean where she helped to sink a German troop convoy. Fury returned to the Home Fleet in mid-1944 in preparation for Operation Neptune, the Allied invasion of France. The ship provided naval gunfire support during the landings until she struck a mine during a storm on 21 June and was then blown ashore. She was deemed uneconomical to repair and scrapping began in September.
Description The F-class ships were repeats of the preceding E class. They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . They were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Fury carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ships' complement was 145 officers and ratings.Lenton, p. 156
The ships mounted four 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts, 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' in sequence from front to rear. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine guns. The F class was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes.Whitley, p. 103 One depth charge rack and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.English, p. 141
Wartime modifications
Between October 1940 and April 1941, Fury had her rear torpedo tube mount replaced by a 12-pounder (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun.Friedman, p. 241 During her early 1942 refit, two Oerlikon light AA guns were installed abreast the bridge. By July 1942, a Type 286 short-range surface-search radar was fitted as was a HF/DF radio direction finder mounted on a pole mainmast. By February 1943 photographic evidence shows that a pair of Oerlikons had replaced her Vickers .50 machine guns. During her early 1944 refit, another pair of Oerlikons was added and her 12-pounder gun was removed. Photos taken of the ship in July 1944 show her with a Type 271 radar mounted on her searchlight platform that was probably installed during her last refit.
Construction and career Fury was built by J. Samuel White at its Cowes shipyard under the 1932 Naval Programme. The ship was laid down on 19 May 1933, launched on 10 September 1934, as the eleventh ship to carry the name and completed on 18 April 1935.English, pp. 75–76Colledge, p. 135 The ship cost £248,538 (pounds) excluding Admiralty-supplied equipment such as armaments and communications equipment. Fury was initially assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) of the Home Fleet, but was sent to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet, together with most of her sister ships, during the Abyssinian crisis in June.English, pp. 76–77, 86 On 11 December 1936, the day after his abdication broadcast, Fury embarked The Duke of Windsor for passage to Boulogne-sur-Mer.Pigott, p. 62 After returning home, she remained there aside from deployments to Spanish waters to enforce the arms embargo imposed on both sides in the Spanish Civil War by the Non-Intervention Committee. The flotilla was renumbered the 8th Destroyer Flotilla in April 1939, five months before the start of the Second World War. Fury remained assigned to it until June 1940, escorting the larger ships of the fleet and conducting anti-submarine patrols.English, p. 86
On 15 September, Fury was one of the destroyers that relieved her sisters escorting the aircraft carrier after they had sunk after it attacked the carrier. Two months later, she was escorting the battleship when the latter struck a magnetic mine as they were entering Loch Ewe on 4 December. Fury remained there for a time in case any further mining attempts were made. In February 1940, she was one of the escorts for Convoy TC 3 carrying troops from Canada to Britain.Smith, pp. 24, 33, 35 On 17 April, Fury screened the damaged heavy cruiser as she returned to Scapa Flow after bombarding the airbase at Stavanger, Norway.
Beginning on 23 April, the ship was one of the escorts for the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and as they conducted air operations off the coast of Norway in support of Allied land operations. Glorious was detached to refuel at Scapa Flow on 27 April and was escorted by Fury and seven other destroyers. Three days later, she screened the battleship as the latter rendezvoused with Ark Royal. On 9 May, Fury, her sister and three other destroyers were detached from the escort of the battlecruiser to intercept a German force of E-boats that was expected. Other forces searching for German minelayers nearby also failed to locate their quarry. During this time, the destroyers and were detached from the screen of the light cruiser to pursue a possible submarine contact and Kelly was torpedoed by S-31 in the darkness later that night. The destroyer came up to assist and towed Kelly most of the way to Hebburn, escorted by Fury, Kandahar and the destroyer .Haarr 2010, pp. 143, 150, 187–89Langtree, p. 71 On 18 May, Fury and her sisters Foresight and were transferred to the Humber to counter the threat of E-boats and minelayers in the North Sea.Admiralty Historical Section 2003, p. 59
Force H, 1940–1941 On 29 June, Fury sailed from Scapa to Gibraltar to join her sisters of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla as the escorts for Force H. On 3 July she took part in Operation Catapult the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir against the French Fleet.Smith, pp. 58–60 In late August the ship escorted Valiant and the new carrier from Britain to Gibraltar. The next day, Fury and Force H covered the passage of Valiant and Illustrious through the Western Mediterranean to rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet (Operation Hats).Rohwer, p. 37–38 On 13 September, Force H rendezvoused with a convoy that was carrying troops intended to capture Dakar from the Vichy French. Ten days later, they attacked Dakar, but were driven off by the Vichy French defences.Rohwer, p. 42 During the battle on 24 September, Fury, the destroyer , and the heavy cruiser engaged the Vichy French destroyer which was set on fire and forced to beach.English, p. 100 In early October, Fury escorted a troop convoy from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to French Cameroon.Rohwer, p. 43
She returned to Gibraltar on 19 October, together with her sisters Faulknor and .Smith, p. 67 The ship escorted the carriers and Ark Royal during Operation Coat and Operation White in November. Fury escorted Force F to Malta during Operation Collar later in the month and participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November, where she was part of the screen for the battlecruiser and the battleship . In January 1941, the ship screened Force H during Operation Excess.Rohwer, pp. 47, 49–50, 54; Smith, pp. 70–75 At the end of the month, Force H departed Gibraltar to carry out Operation Picket, an unsuccessful night torpedo attack by eight of Ark Royals Swordfish on the Tirso Dam in Sardinia. The British ships returned to Gibraltar on 4 February and began preparing for Operation Grog, a naval bombardment of Genoa, that was carried out five days later.Admiralty Historical Section 2002, pp. 48–53 The following month Fury underwent a brief refit at Malta. At the end of March, together with the light cruiser and three other destroyers, the ship attempted to intercept a Vichy French convoy that included the freighter , supposedly laden with of rubber, which had already been unloaded. Her sister was ordered to board and capture Bangkok but she was thwarted by gunfire from Coastal artillery off the port of Nemours, Algeria.Smith, p. 86 A few days later, Fury and four other destroyers escorted Sheffield, Renown and Ark Royal in Operation Winch, which delivered a dozen Hurricane fighters to Malta.Rohwer, p. 67 Beginning on 24 April, Fury and Force H covered Argus flying off more Hurricanes as well as the destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla sailing to Malta.Smith, p. 90
In early May she was part of a destroyer screen with five other destroyers for the battleship and the light cruisers , and which were joining the Mediterranean Fleet. This was part of Operation Tiger which included a supply convoy taking tanks to the Middle East and the transfer of warships. Fury and her sisters had their Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping gear rigged to allow them to serve as fast minesweepers en route to Malta. Despite this, one merchant ship was sunk by mines and another damaged. Later that month, she participated in Operation Splice, another mission in which the carriers Ark Royal and flew off fighters for Malta.Rohwer, p. 72; Smith, pp. 91–96 Force H was ordered to join the escort of Convoy WS 8B in the North Atlantic on 24 May, after the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 23 May but they were directed to search for and the heavy cruiser on 25 May. Heavy seas increased fuel consumption for all of the escorts and Forester was forced to return to Gibraltar to refuel later that day, before rejoining the capital ships of Force H on 29 May, after Bismarck had been sunk. In early June the destroyer participated in two more aircraft delivery missions to Malta (Operations Rocket and Tracer). On 22 June, the 8th Destroyer Flotilla was sent to intercept a German supply ship spotted heading towards the French coast. The next day they intercepted which was scuttled by her crew upon the approach of the British ships that rescued the crew and 78 British POWs taken from ships sunk by German raiders. In late June, Fury screened Ark Royal and Furious as they flew off more fighters for Malta in Operation Railway.Smith, pp. 96–106
Another Malta convoy (Operation Substance) was conducted in mid-July, escorted by Force H and elements of the Home Fleet and another in early August (Operation Style), albeit with only Force H covering the convoy.Smith, p. 110 Several weeks later, Fury participated in Operation Mincemeat, during which Force H escorted a minelayer to Livorno to lay its mines while Ark Royals aircraft attacked Northern Sardinia as a diversion.Admiralty Historical Section 2002, p. 163; Rohwer, p. 94 In late September, the destroyer escorted another convoy to Malta in Operation Halberd.
Arctic Waters 1942–1943