HMAS Vendetta (D69)

HMAS Vendetta
History
United Kingdom
Name	Vendetta
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company
Laid down	November 1916
Launched	3 September 1917
Completed	17 October 1917
Fate	Transferred to RAN
Australia
Name	Vendetta
Commissioned	11 October 1933
Decommissioned	27 November 1945
Motto	Vindico "I Avenge"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Libya 1940–41 Matapan 1941 Greece 1941 Crete 1941 Mediterranean 1941 Pacific 1941–43 New Guinea 1943–44
Fate	Scuttled off Sydney, 2 July 1948
General characteristics
Class and type	V-class destroyer
Displacement	1,090 tons standard 1,490 tons deep load
Length	312 ft (95.1 m) length overall 300 ft (91.4 m) between perpendiculars
Beam	29 ft 6 in (9.0 m)
Draught	14 ft 8 in (4.5 m) maximum
Propulsion	3 × Yarrow boilers, 2 × Brown-Curtis turbines, 29,417 shp (21,936 kW), 2 shafts
Speed	Over 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement	6 officers and 113 sailors
Armament	As built: 4 × single QF 4-inch (102-mm) Mk V guns 1 × 2-pounder (40-mm) pom-pom 5 × .303-inch machine guns 2 × triple 21-inch (533-mm) torpedo tube sets Added later: 2 × depth charge chutes 4 × depth charge throwers Post-1942 conversion: 2 × 4-inch guns 2 × pom-poms 4 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns 7 × .303-inch guns depth charge chutes and throwers

HMAS Vendetta (D69/I69) (formerly HMS Vendetta (FA3/F29/D69)) was a V-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of 25 V class ships ordered for the Royal Navy during World War I, Vendetta entered service in 1917.

During World War I, Vendetta participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight, and operated against Bolshevik forces during the British Baltic Campaign. Most of the ship's post-war career was spent operating in the Mediterranean. In 1933, Vendetta was one of five destroyers selected for transfer to the RAN. Over the next six years, the ship was either involved in peacetime activities or was in reserve, but when World War II started, she was assigned to the Mediterranean as part of the 'Scrap Iron Flotilla'. During the Greek Campaign, Vendetta was involved in the transportation of Allied troops to Greece, then the evacuation to Crete. After, the destroyer served with the Tobruk Ferry Service, and made the highest number of runs to the besieged city of Tobruk.

At the end of 1941, Vendetta was docked for refit in Singapore, but after the Japanese invaded, the destroyer had to be towed to Fremantle, then Melbourne. After the refit, which converted the destroyer into a dedicated escort vessel, ended in December 1942, Vendetta spent the rest of World War II operating as a troop and convoy escort around Australia and New Guinea. Vendetta was decommissioned in late 1945, and was scuttled off Sydney Heads in 1948.