HMS Paladin (G69)

Paladin in 1954
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Paladin
Ordered:	2 October 1939
Builder:	John Brown
Laid down:	22 July 1940
Launched:	11 June 1941
Commissioned:	December 1941
Decommissioned:	June 1961
Identification:	Pennant number: G69, later F169
Honours and awards:	Diego Suarez 1942 Sicily 1943 Mediterranean 1943 Burma 1944-45
Fate:	Scrapped in 1962
Badge:	On a Field Blue, a sword erect White, pommel and hilt Gold enfiled with two spurs in Saltire also Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type:	P-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,690 tons (1,717 tonnes) standard 1,640 tons (1,666 tonnes) 2,250 tons (2,286 tonnes) full load
Length:	345 ft (105 m) o/a
Beam:	35 ft (11 m)
Draught:	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp on 2 shafts
Speed:	36.75 knots (68.06 km/h)
Range:	3,850 nautical miles (7,130 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	176
Armament:	5 × QF 4 in Mk.V (102 mm L/45), single mounts HA Mk.III 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII (40 mm L/39), quad mount Mk.VII Up to 6 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon, single mount P Mk.III 4 (1×4) tubes for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes, Mk.IX 4 × throwers and 2 × racks for 70 depth charges
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type 16 frigate
Displacement:	1,800 long tons (1,800 t) standard 2,300 long tons (2,300 t) full load
Length:	362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) o/a
Beam:	37 ft 9 in (11.51 m)
Draught:	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers Steam turbines, 40,000 shp 2 shafts
Speed:	32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h) full load
Complement:	175
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 293Q target indication Radar Type 974 navigation Radar Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF Type 146B search Sonar Type 147 depth finder Sonar Type 162 target classification Sonar Type 174 attack Sonar
Armament:	1 × twin QF 4-inch (102 mm) gun Mk XVI 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun Mk.5 5 × single 40 mm Bofors gun Mk.9 2 × Squid A/S mortar 1 × quad 21-inch (533 mm) tubes for Mk.9 torpedoes

HMS Paladin was a P-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War. She was built by John Brown and Co. Ltd., Clydebank. She saw action in the Mediterranean and Far East. After the war she was converted into a type 16 frigate and was eventually scrapped in 1962.

She was laid down on 22 July 1940, launched on 11 June 1941 and completed on 12 December of that year. She was allocated to the Eastern Fleet which was then under the command of Admiral Sir James Somerville, leaving Greenock on 17 February 1942, arriving in Colombo via the Cape on 24 March. She was at sea with the fleet when the Japanese made their Indian Ocean raid with air attacks on Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. After the sinking of the heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire on 5 April, Paladin took part in the rescue of about 1,120 men from both crews, many of whom were in the water for 30 hours in a shark-infested sea. In the first week of May 1942, she took part in Operation Ironclad, the capture of Diego Suarez, Madagascar, from Vichy French forces, forming part of the screen for the heavy ships, and for which she received her first battle honours.

In June 1942, she was among the ships loaned from the Eastern Fleet to the Mediterranean for Operation Vigorous, the passage of a convoy to Malta from Alexandria; at the same time, Operation Harpoon, the passage of another convoy from the west, sailed from Gibraltar. While the latter got through, the Vigorous convoy was prevented from doing so by the appearance of the Italian battle fleet, coupled with heavy air attacks. Paladin, along with a force of two cruisers and four destroyers, bombarded shipping and harbour facilities at Mersa Matruh on the night of 19/20 July. Very early in the morning of 14 September, she, along with four other destroyers and the cruiser Dido, bombarded the Daba area to good effect.

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Wikipedia