HMS Forester (H74)

Forester in 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Forester
Builder	J. Samuel White, Cowes
Cost	£248,898
Laid down	15 May 1933
Launched	28 June 1934
Completed	19 April 1935
Commissioned	29 March 1935
Decommissioned	September 1945
Identification	Pennant number: H74
Fate	Sold for scrap, January 1946
General characteristics
Class and type	F-class destroyer
Displacement	1,405 long tons (1,428 t) (standard) 1,940 long tons (1,970 t) (deep load)
Length	329 ft (100.3 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft 3 in (10.13 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) (deep)
Installed power	36,000 shp (26,800 kW) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × Parsons geared steam turbines
Speed	35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph)
Range	6,350 nmi (11,760 km; 7,310 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	145
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC
Armament	4 × single QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns 2 × quadruple 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) machine guns 2 × quadruple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 rack and 2 throwers

HMS Forester was one of nine F-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis. A few weeks after the start of World War II in September 1939, she helped to sink one German submarine and then participated in the Second Battle of Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Forester was sent to Gibraltar in mid-1940 and formed part of Force H where she participated in the attack on the Vichy French ships at Mers-el-Kébir and the Battle of Dakar between escorting the aircraft carriers of Force H as they flew off aircraft for Malta and covering convoys resupplying and reinforcing the island until late 1941. During this time the ship helped to sink another German submarine.

Converted into an escort destroyer midway through the war, Forester was assigned to escort convoys to Russia for the next year and a half and then in the North Atlantic until mid-1944. The ship helped to sink another German submarine before she was transferred to the English Channel to protect convoys during the Normandy landings. Forester assisted in sinking a German submarine before returning to the North Atlantic for a few months. The ship was under repair for the first half of 1945 and was then reduced to reserve in November before being scrapped in early 1946.