HMS Whitehall, pennant number D94, later I94, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War.
Construction and commissioning
Whitehall, the first Royal Navy ship of the name, was ordered in January 1918 as part of the 13th Order of the 1918–1919 Naval Programme. She was laid down in June 1918 by Swan Hunter at Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne, and launched on 11 September 1919.Naval History: SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY, 1914–1919 – in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (Part 2 of 2) Work was then suspended and she was towed to Chatham Dockyard, where her fitting-out finally was completed in July 1924. She was commissioned into service on 9 July 1924 with the pennant number D94.
Service history
Before the Second World War After entering service with the fleet in 1924, Whitehall saw limited operational use before being decommissioned for economic reasons, transferred to the Reserve Fleet, and placed in reserve.
In August 1939, Whitehall was recommissioned with a reserve crew for the Royal Review of the Reserve Fleet in Weymouth Bay by King George VI. She then remained in commission as the fleet mobilised because of deteriorating diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, and received orders to proceed to Rosyth, Scotland, in the event of war and report for duty there with the 15th Destroyer Flotilla.
Second World War
1939 After the United Kingdom entered the Second World War on 3 September 1939, Whitehall took aboard stores and her wartime complement and proceeded to Rosyth for her assignment with the 15th Destroyer Flotilla. Upon arrival, she took up convoy escort and patrol duties in the North Sea, which she continued through November 1939. In December 1939 she was transferred to Western Approaches Command for convoy defence operations in the Southwestern Approaches. On 28 December 1939, she joined the destroyers , , and as the escort for the Gibraltar-bound Convoy OG 21 as it formed in the Southwestern Approaches; the British destroyers remained with the convoy during the initial leg of its voyage, detaching on 29 December to return to base after being relieved by two French Navy warships.
1940 In January 1940, Whitehall proceeded to Gibraltar where on 21 January she set out for the United Kingdom as the escort for Liverpool-bound Convoy HG 16F along with Vanoc and the destroyer , reinforced the following day by the sloop . The three destroyers detached from the convoy on 28 January and returned to base in the United Kingdom. On 23 March, Whitehall joined the destroyers and in relieving two French warships in the Southwestern Approaches as the escort of the Gibraltar-to-Liverpool Convoy HG 23F, remaining with the convoy until its arrival at Liverpool on 26 March. On 5 May 1940, Whitehall, the sloop , and two French warships joined Convoy OG 28 as it formed in the Southwestern Approaches for its passage to Gibraltar; she and Rochester detached from the convoy later in the day to return to base. Whitehalls pennant number was changed to I94 during May 1940.
The highly successful German invasion of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands began on 10 May 1940, and on 20 May Whitehall was assigned to the support of operations ashore as Allied forces retreated before the German offensive and required evacuation to the United Kingdom. On 26 May, she was assigned to Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France. She made two evacuation trips on 30 May, carrying 655 troops from Dunkirk to Dover on the first voyage and another 593 on the second. On 31 May, she joined Winchelsea and the destroyer in an evacuation run to Dunkirk and carried another 943 troops to Dover. On 1 June, after German aircraft sank the destroyer in shallow water at La Panne, Belgium, Whitehall joined the fishing trawler Jolie Mascotte in rescuing 131 members of Basilisks crew, destroyed the wreck of Basilisk with gunfire,English, John, Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s, Kendal, England: World Ship Society, 1993, , p. 32.Gardner, W. J. R., The Evacuation from Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo, 26 May-4 June 1940, London: Frank Cass, 2000, , pp. 90-91. and then, after suffering damage in a German air attack, landed 571 personnel – a mix of evacuated troops and Basilisk survivors – at Dover, bringing to 2,762 the number of personnel she evacuated during Dynamo. The ship was depicted in the Dover scene of the 1958 movie 'Dunkirk', starring John Mills.
After Dynamo, Whitehall was under repair at Plymouth until 26 August 1940. With her repairs complete, she transferred to Harwich to conduct patrols and convoy defence operations in the North Sea. In September 1940, she was transferred to Western Approaches Command for convoy escort duties in the Western Approaches as a part of the 8th Escort Group based at Liverpool. She joined the destroyer , the minesweeper , the corvettes , , , and , and three naval trawlers as the escort of Convoy HX 79 on 18 October 1940; the convoy came under sustained attack by five German submarines, which sank 12 of its merchant ships and damaged another without loss to themselves.convoyweb.org.uk Convoy HX.79
Whitehall continued on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic for the rest of 1940 without major incident.
1941 After spending the first half of 1941 on North Atlantic convoy duty without any significant incidents, Whitehall was selected in June 1941 to carry out trials of a new weapon, the Five Wide Virgins,British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After, Norman Friedman, P138 a mortar designed by John I. Thornycroft & Company to fire depth charges ahead of a ship attacking an enemy submarine. Whitehall conducted the trials during July 1941, and the weapon was unsuccessful, although a later antisubmarine mortar designed by the Admiralty, Hedgehog, would become an important Allied antisubmarine weapon.Caption of Imperial War Museum ADMIRALTY OFFICIAL COLLECTION Catalogue No. A 4667
After completion of the antisubmarine mortar trials, Whitehall returned to North Atlantic convoy duty. On 2 August 1941, she deployed with Winchelsea, Witch, the heavy cruiser , the destroyers , , , and , the Polish Navy destroyer , and the Royal Netherlands Navy destroyer from the River Clyde in Scotland as escort for Convoy WS 9C, all but London detaching from the convoy on 5 August to return to the Clyde. On 9 August she escorted the military convoy WS 8C from the Clyde to Scapa Flow as part of the build-up for a planned occupation of the Azores that later was cancelled, returning to the Clyde on 10 August. She joined Witch and the Royal Netherlands Navy light cruiser in escorting Convoy WS 10X from Liverpool to the Clyde on 15 August 1941.
From 17 to 24 September 1941, Whitehall, Witch, Isaac Sweers, Piorun, the destroyers , , and , the Polish Navy destroyer , and the escort destroyer escorted WS 11X from the Clyde during its passage of the Northwestern Approaches bound for Gibraltar and Operation Halberd, a major effort to relieve Malta, then under siege by Axis forces; the destroyers detached to return to the Clyde while the battleship and light cruisers and covered the convoy during its Atlantic passage. From 1 to 4 October 1941, Whitehall, Witch, the light cruiser , and the destroyer escorted military convoy WS 12 during its passage of the Northwestern Approaches, detaching along with the other escorts to return to the Clyde. From 13 to 18 November 1941, she joined Witch, the destroyers and , and the escort destroyers and as local escort of the military convoy as it departed the Clyde and transited the Northwestern Approaches, detaching to return to the Clyde; the battleship provided the ocean escort for the convoy.
1942
Whitehall remained on North Atlantic convoy duty until February 1942, when she was transferred to the Mediterranean. She arrived at Gibraltar on 27 February to take part in Operation Spotter I, an aircraft delivery run to Malta that was cancelled due to aircraft fuel problems. On 6 March 1942, Whitehall, Laforey, Lightning, Blankney, the destroyers , and , and the escort destroyers and set out from Gibraltar as the escort of the aircraft carriers and and the battleship for Operation Spotter II, another aircraft delivery to Malta. On 20 March, Whitehall, Active, Anthony, Blankney, Croome, Duncan, Exmoor, Laforey, and Wishart again departed Gibraltar as escort for Argus and Eagle as the two carriers again delivered aircraft to Malta in Operation Picket I. On 27 March, the same ships began Operation Picket II to deliver aircraft to Malta yet again.
In April 1942, Whitehall returned to the United Kingdom to rejoin her escort group, and was selected for conversion into a Long-Range Escort. In May 1942, she entered the Royal Navy Dockyard at Sheerness to undergo a refit and begin the conversion, which included the installation of a Type 271 surface warning radar and a Type 286P air warning radar. After the completion of her post-conversion acceptance trials and pre-deployment work-ups, she rejoined her escort group in August 1942. On 30 September 1942, she was detached from the group to escort the 1st Minelaying Squadron while it laid mines in the Northern Barrage, and in October 1942 she transferred to the 2nd Escort Group to continue North Atlantic convoy defence operations. Later that month, she joined the destroyers and in escorting Convoy ONS 138 on a transatlantic voyage from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; the convoy avoided attack by German submarines by exploiting radio direction-finding information to alter course around them. In November 1942, Whitehall returned to the United Kingdom as part of the escort for a convoy making the reverse trip.
During 1942, Whitehall was "adopted" by the civil community of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in a Warship Week national savings campaign.
1943
Atlantic Convoys Whitehall continued on Atlantic convoy duty without major incident until April 1943, when she joined Hesperus, Vanessa, corvettes of her escort group, and the 5th Support Group – consisting of the escort aircraft carrier and four destroyers – in escorting Convoy ONS 4. The convoy came under attack by German submarines of Wolfpack Meise. Hesperus sank the submarine , and the escorts damaged other submarines; Whitehall and the corvette pursued a radio direction-finding fix on on 23 April, but were unable to attack because U-732 dived to avoid attack by aircraft from Biter before their arrival on the scene. Syrett, David, The Defeat of the German U-Boats: The Battle of the Atlantic, University of South Carolina, 1994, , pp. 53-54. In May 1943, Whitehall, Hesperus, and ships of the 2nd Escort Group were among eight escorts of the 25-ship Convoy SC 129, which came under attack by 21 German submarines of Wolfpack Elbe on 11 May. The submarines sank two of the convoys merchant ships that day, and Whitehall, Hesperus, and the corvette joined forces to drive off and . Hesperus damaged and sank on 11–12 May, while Whitehall pursued two radio direction-finding contacts on the afternoon of 12 May, attacking one submarine with depth charges and another with gunfire and depth charges without sinking them. Syrett, David, The Defeat of the German U-Boats: The Battle of the Atlantic, University of South Carolina, 1994, , p. 114. German attacks ceased on 13 May after Biter arrived to provide air cover.