HMS Cavalier (R73)

History
HMS Cavalier, September 2005, as she appears at Chatham Dockyard.
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Cavalier
Builder:	J. Samuel White and Company, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Laid down:	28 March 1943
Launched:	7 April 1944
Commissioned:	22 November 1944
Decommissioned:	1972
Identification:	Pennant number: R73 (later D73)
Fate:	Preserved as a museum ship since 1998
General characteristics
Class and type:	C-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,710 tons (standard) 2,520 tons (full)
Length:	363 ft (111 m) o/a
Beam:	35.75 ft (10.90 m)
Draught:	10 ft (3.0 m) light, 14.5 ft (4.4 m) full, 16 ft (4.9 m) max
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp (30,000 kW), 2 shafts
Speed:	37 knots (69 km/h)
Range:	615 tons oil, 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km) at 32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement:	186
Armament:	3 × QF 4.5 in (114 mm) L/45 guns Mark IV on mounts CP Mk.V 2 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 guns on twin mount "Hazemeyer" Mk.IV, 4 × anti-aircraft mountings; Bofors 40 mm, single mount Mk.III QF 2 -pdr Mk.VIII, single mount Mk.XVI Oerlikon 20 mm, single mount P Mk.III Oerlikon 20 mm, twin mount Mk.V 2 × pentuple tubes for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes Mk.IX (at launch, after tubes replaced by Squid mortars, forward tubes replaced later). 4 throwers and 2 racks for 96 depth charges 1 × quadruple GWS20 Seacat SAM launcher (from September 1964) 2 × triple Squid anti-submarine mortar (from 1957)

HMS Cavalier is a retired C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by J. Samuel White and Company at East Cowes on 28 March 1943, launched on 7 April 1944, and commissioned on 22 November 1944. She served in World War II and in various commissions in the Far East until she was decommissioned in 1972. After decommissioning she was preserved as a museum ship and currently resides at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

Cavalier was one of 96 War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered between 1940 and 1942. She was one of the first ships to be built with the forward and aft portions of her hull welded, with the midsection riveted to ensure strength. The new process gave the ship additional speed. In 1970 a 64-mile race was arranged between Cavalier and the frigate Rapid, which had the same hull form and machinery. Cavalier beat Rapid by 30 yards (27 m) after Rapid lifted a safety valve, reaching an average speed of 31.8 knots (58.9 km/h).

After commissioning she joined the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Home Fleet, and took part in a number of operations off Norway. Most notably in February 1945 she was despatched with the destroyers Myngs and Scorpion to reinforce a convoy from the Kola Inlet in Russia, which had suffered attacks from enemy aircraft and U-boats, and had subsequently been scattered by a violent storm. She and the other escorts reformed the convoy, and returned to Britain with the loss of only three of the thirty-four ships. This action earned Cavalier a battle honour.

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