HMS Duncan (D99)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Duncan.

Duncan in March 1943
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Duncan
NamesakeAdmiral Adam Duncan
Ordered2 February 1931
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Laid down3 September 1931
Launched7 July 1932
Commissioned5 April 1933
DecommissionedMay 1945
Motto
  • Secundis dubusque rectus
  • ("Upright in prosperity and peril")
Honours and
awards		Spartivento (1940), Malta Convoys (1941), Mediterranean (1941), Atlantic (1941–45), Diego Suarez (1942)
FateSold for scrap in September 1945
Badge
  • On a Field Red, a silver hunting horn
General characteristics
Class and typeD-class flotilla leader
Displacement1,400 long tons (1,400 t)
Length329 ft (100.3 m)
Beam33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range5,870 nmi (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement175
Sensors and
processing systems		ASDIC
Armament

HMS Duncan was a D-class destroyer leader 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 where she remained until mid-1939. Duncan returned to the Mediterranean Fleet just after World War II began in September 1939. She was transferred to the Home Fleet in December 1939, although she was badly damaged in a collision the following month, and required repairs that lasted until July 1940. The ship joined Force H at Gibraltar in October, escorting the larger ships and various convoys until March 1941 when she was transferred to West Africa for convoy escort duties for a few months. Duncan rejoined the 13th Destroyer Flotilla at Gibraltar in July and escorted several convoys to Malta during the rest of the year. After a refit, she briefly returned to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla before joining the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean to participate in Operation Ironclad in May 1942. The ship was recalled home to be converted into an escort destroyer in late 1942.

Duncan was assigned to Escort Group B-7 in the North Atlantic after her conversion was complete in May 1943. She escorted a number of convoys before she required a lengthy refit from November to May 1944. She helped to sink two German submarines in October 1943. The ship was assigned to anti-submarine duties in the Western Approaches after her refit was finished in May 1944, and Duncan remained there until April 1945. At that time she was transferred to coastal anti-submarine patrols to counter any last-gasp effort by the Kriegsmarine to interfere with the Allied supply lines to the Continent. Placed in reserve the following month, Duncan was in bad shape and was sold for scrap later that year. The demolition, however, was not completed until 1949.