HMS Express was an E-class minelaying destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, she spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict.
Express spent most of the first year of World War II laying minefields in British, Dutch and German waters. She participated in the evacuation of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in May–June 1940, but resumed minelaying afterwards. The ship was one of five British destroyers that inadvertently entered a German minefield off the Dutch coast a few months later, leading to the sinking of two destroyers and Express having her bow blown off, incapacitating her for over a year of repairs. Two months after returning to duty, Express escorted the battleship and the battlecruiser (Force Z) to Singapore in late 1941, in an unsuccessful attempt to deter Japanese aggression against British possessions in the Far East. She escorted the capital ships in an attempt to intercept landings in British Malaya in December and rescued their survivors after they were sunk by Japanese bombers. Express was then assigned convoy escort duties in and around Singapore and the Dutch East Indies under the control of American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) as the Japanese advanced. She escaped from the East Indies and rejoined the main body of the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. The ship played a minor role in Battle of Madagascar as she screened an aircraft carrier during the late stages of the campaign in 1942.
Express returned home in early 1943 to begin conversion into an escort destroyer. Upon its completion in June, the ship was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and renamed Gatineau. She was assigned to convoy escort duties with the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and participated in sinking a German submarine in March 1944. Gatineau was transferred to Northern Ireland in preparation in May for the Invasion of Normandy and was sent to Canada in July to begin a lengthy refit. The ship was only operational for a few months before the war ended in May 1945 and she returned to Canada shortly afterwards. Gatineau was paid off in early 1946 and was sold the following year. The ship became part of a breakwater on the coast of British Columbia in 1948.
Description The E-class ships were slightly improved versions of the preceding D 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 . The ships carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave them a range of at . Their complement was 145 officers and ratings.Lenton, p. 156
The ships mounted four 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts, designated 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' from front to rear. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two quadruple mounts for the Vickers AA machinegun. The E class was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes.Whitley, p. 103 One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.English, p. 141 To compensate for the weight of her 60 Mark XIV mines and their rails, two of Expresss 4.7-inch guns, their ammunition, both sets of torpedo tubes, her Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping paravanes, and her large boats and their davits had to be removed. She was given small sponsons at the stern to ensure smooth delivery of her mines.Friedman, p. 218
Wartime modifications Express had her rear torpedo tubes replaced by a 12-pounder (76 mm) AA gun in July 1940. In February–June 1943, she was converted into an escort destroyer. A Type 286 short-range surface search radar was fitted and a Type 271 target indication radar was installed above the bridge, replacing the director-control tower and rangefinder. The ship also received a HF/DF radio direction finder mounted on a pole mainmast. Her short-range AA armament was augmented by four Oerlikon guns and the .50-calibre machine guns were replaced by a pair of Oerlikons. A split Hedgehog anti-submarine spigot mortar was installed abreast 'A' gun and stowage for 60 depth charges provided; 'Y' gun and the 12-pounder had to be removed to compensate for their weight. By the end of the war, a Type 277 radar had replaced the Type 271, and the Type 286 had been superseded by a Type 291.English, p. 141; Friedman, pp. 237, 241–45; Lenton, p. 157
Construction and career Express, the eighth ship of that name to serve with the Royal Navy,Colledge, p. 120 was ordered 1 November 1932, from Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend under the 1931 Naval Programme, for use as a destroyer that could quickly be converted for use as a minelayer when required. She was laid down 24 March 1932, and launched on 29 May 1934. The ship was commissioned on 2 November 1934, at a total cost of £247,279, excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament.English, pp. 63–64
Express and her sister ships were assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) of the Home Fleet. She remained at home for the next nine months while her armament was adjusted at Sheerness Dockyard from 13 December to 5 January 1935. The ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet, together with most of the rest of her flotilla, beginning in September 1935, during the Abyssinian Crisis, and returned home in March 1936. Upon her arrival, Express was refitted at Portsmouth Dockyard 23 March–4 May. The ship was then temporarily assigned to Gibraltar for the next two months as tensions rose before the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. She then spent the rest of the year at home, before patrolling Spanish waters in the Mediterranean in January–March 1937, enforcing the edicts of the Non-Intervention Committee. After a brief refit, Express then conducted minelaying trials for two months and was refitted again at Portsmouth between 9 August–2 October. Shortly afterwards, the ship had a fire in her forward boiler room that badly damaged her electrical cabling; she was repaired at Gibraltar from 24 October to 3 December. Express spent most of 1938 at home other than one period in Spanish waters, where she was based out of Gibraltar. During her time at Portsmouth, the ship operated as a minelayer from 15 August to 4 October, before beginning a refit there on 21 November that lasted to 16 January 1939. Upon its completion, Express returned to Gibraltar for several months. After returning to the UK, the ship escorted the President of France, Albert François Lebrun, across the English Channel on 21 March en route to his state visit to the UK. She was earmarked for conversion to a boy's and anti-aircraft training ship in June, but shortages of crewmen put paid to the idea. Express was present at the Reserve Fleet Review on 5 August.English, pp. 73–74
World War II Shortly after the outbreak of war in September, Express joined her sister at Immingham on the North Sea on 8 September, operating under the direct control of the Commander-in-chief, Home Fleet, Admiral Sir Charles Forbes.Smith, pp. 124–25 The two destroyers made their first minelaying sortie in the Heligoland Bight on the night of 9/10 September.Rohwer, p. 4 and did it again a week later without being detected. They then reverted to ordinary duties for the next several months, before beginning to lay defensive minefields off the English coast in November. On 12 December, the Admiralty formed the 20th Destroyer Flotilla with Express as the flotilla leader; the other ships assigned were Esk and the newly converted destroyers, and .Smith, pp. 125, 127 The four destroyers laid 240 mines off the mouth of the Ems on the night of 17–18 DecemberRohwer, p. 12 and the two sisters then began a refit at Portsmouth.Smith, p. 128
Express and Esk began to lay more defensive minefields in February 1940, often with the large auxiliary minelayers and .Smith, pp. 131–33 On the night of 2/3 March, the sisters were joined by the newly converted destroyers and in laying mines near Horns Reef, in the Heligoland Bight, that sank the in March,Rohwer, p. 16 and later the submarines , , and .Haarr 2013, pp. 27–76 After resuming defensive minelaying later that month, Express was damaged in a collision with the fishing trawler Manx Admiral off Kinnaird Head on 23 March and was under repair until 24 April.English, p. 74; Smith, p. 131
On the night of 9/10 May, Express, Esk and Intrepid laid another minefield in the Heligoland Bight and were diverted on their return voyage to escort Princess Victoria as she mined Dutch waters off Egmond the following night after the Germans invaded the Netherlands on 10 May. This began an intensive series of minelaying sorties in Dutch waters during the rest of the month that saw three German minesweepers sunk on 26 July. The minelaying, however, was interrupted at the end of the month by the need to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.Smith, pp. 142–46 On 29 May, Express towed the disabled destroyer clear of a wreck in Dunkirk harbour and transferred many of her evacuees aboard before she could repair her engines later that day.Winser, p. 18 The following day, Rear-Admiral Frederic Wake-Walker, commanding the ships involved in the evacuation, briefly hoisted his flag aboard her. She was lightly damaged by bomb splinters on 31 May, but continued to ferry soldiers back to England.Admiralty Historical Section, pp. 59, 83 The ship and the destroyer were the last ships to leave Dunkirk with troops on 4 June when the evacuation ended. She brought out 3,419 troops over the course of the operation.Winser, pp. 33, 85
The ships of the 20th Flotilla resumed minelaying operations on 15 June, although most of these over the next several months were defensive in nature.Smith, pp. 146–48 On the evening of 31 August 1940, Express, Esk, Icarus, Intrepid, and Ivanhoe departed Immingham to lay an offensive minefield off Texel, with cover provided by three destroyers of the 5th DF. At 23:07 it became clear that the ships of the 20th Flotilla had entered a German minefield when Express struck a mine abreast 'B' gun, losing her entire bow up to the bridge. The detonation killed 4 officers and 54 ratings; one officer and 7 crewmen were later rescued by the Germans. Esk and Ivanhoe, the closest ships to Express, closed to render assistance, while the other two destroyers turned hard to starboard and retraced their route to exit the minefield, according to standing orders. Five minutes after the first mine detonated, Esks bow struck a mine and she came to a stop. Five minutes later Ivanhoe struck another mine that badly damaged her bow. At about 23:20, Esk struck another mine amidships that detonated her magazines. By 01:40, Express had managed to raise steam again and steamed astern to minimise the pressure of the water on her shored-up bulkheads.Smith, pp. 152–58, 165