HMAS Vendetta (D69)

HMAS Vendetta
History
United Kingdom
NameVendetta
BuilderFairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company
Laid downNovember 1916
Launched3 September 1917
Completed17 October 1917
FateTransferred to RAN
Australia
NameVendetta
Commissioned11 October 1933
Decommissioned27 November 1945
Motto
  • Vindico
  • "I Avenge"
Honours and
awards
FateScuttled off Sydney, 2 July 1948
General characteristics
Class and typeV-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,090 tons standard
  • 1,490 tons deep load
Length
Beam29 ft 6 in (9.0 m)
Draught14 ft 8 in (4.5 m) maximum
Propulsion3 × Yarrow boilers, 2 × Brown-Curtis turbines, 29,417 shp (21,936 kW), 2 shafts
SpeedOver 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement6 officers and 113 sailors
Armament

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.