HMS Lauderdale (L95)

HMS Lauderdale at Algiers Harbour decorated with a 'V', c. 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Lauderdale
Ordered	4 September 1939
Builder	John Isaac Thornycroft
Laid down	12 December 1939
Launched	5 August 1941
Commissioned	August 1942
Identification	Pennant number: L95
Honours and awards	Atlantic 1942 North Sea 1942 Sicily 1943 Mediterranean 1943 South France 1944 Adriatic 1944
Fate	Loaned to the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1946
Badge	On a Field Red two antlers, suspended from the tines a bugle horn, stringed Gold.
Greece
Name	Aigaion
Namesake	Aegean Sea
Fate	Returned to the Royal Navy December 1959 Scrapped in Greece 1960
General characteristics
Class and type	Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,435 long tons (1,458 t) full load
Length	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	10.16 m (33 ft 4 in)
Draught	3.51 m (11 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp
Speed	27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h) 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Range	2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h)
Complement	168
Armament	4 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons on single mounts P Mk. III 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 110 depth charges, 4 throwers, 3 racks

HMS Lauderdale was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Ships of this class were designed as cheap, easily built vessels for convoy escort and antisubmarine duties. She was named like her sisters after a fox hunt, in her case one in Berwickshire. War bonds were issued to finance the building of warships. During Warship Week held in 1942 the civil community of Berwickshire adopted the ship. She has been the only Royal Navy warship to carry this name.

On commissioning she was allocated for duty in the Western Approaches and crossed the Atlantic to Canada for trials - the only Hunt Class vessel to make the crossing.^[1] At the end of March 1942 she returned to Londonderry and undertook North Sea convoy escort duty for the rest of the year.

In 1943 she was allocated for service in the Mediterranean, including support of the allied landings on Sicily in July of that year. In 1944 she continued operations in the Mediterranean and was allocated to support the landings in the South of France. She ended the year in the Adriatic Sea supporting operations there.

In 1945 Lauderdale was allocated for service in the Far East and underwent a refit at Simonstown, South Africa.^[2]

In 1946 she was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy and renamed Aigaion. She was removed from the effective list and returned to British ownership on 12 December 1959 and scrapped in Greece in 1960.^[3]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• English, John (1987). The Hunts: a history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-44-4.