HMS Defender (H07)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Defender
Ordered	2 February 1931
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow in Furness
Yard number	674
Laid down	22 June 1931
Launched	7 April 1932
Completed	31 October 1932
Motto	Fendendo vince ("By defence I conquer")
Honours and awards	Calabria 1940, Spartivento 1940, Matapan 1941, Malta Convoys 1941, Greece 1941, Crete 1941, Libya 1941
Fate	Sunk on 11 July 1941
Badge
General characteristics as built
Class and type	D-class destroyer
Displacement	1,375 long tons (1,397 t) (standard) 1,890 long tons (1,920 t) (deep)
Length	329 ft (100.3 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power	3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 36,000 shp (27,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	5,870 nmi (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	145
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC
Armament	4 × single 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × single 12-pdr (3 in (76.2 mm)) AA gun 2 × single 2-pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA guns 2 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 rail and 2 throwers

HMS Defender was a D-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before she was transferred to the China Station in early 1935. She was temporarily deployed in the Red Sea during late 1935 during the Abyssinia Crisis, before returning to her assigned station where she remained until mid-1939. Defender was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before World War II began in September 1939. She briefly was assigned to West Africa for convoy escort duties in 1940 before returning to the Mediterranean. The ship took part in the Battles of Calabria, Cape Spartivento, and Cape Matapan over the next year without damage. Defender assisted in the evacuations from Greece and Crete in April–May 1941, before she began running supply missions to Tobruk, Libya in June. The ship was badly damaged by a German bomber on one of those missions and had to be scuttled by her consort on 11 July 1941.