HMS Mendip (L60)

HMS Mendip

HMS Mendip in 1948
History
United Kingdom
Ordered	11 April 1939
Builder	Swan Hunter, Wallsend
Laid down	10 August 1939
Launched	9 April 1940
Commissioned	12 October 1940
Out of service	20 May 1946
Recommissioned	June 1949 following repossession from ROC
Identification	Pennant number: L60
Honours and awards	North Sea 1941–45 English Channel 1942–43 Sicily 1943 Salerno 1943 Mediterranean 1943 Normandy 1944
Fate	Sold to Egypt
Badge	On a field Red, on a White roundel, a bugle horn stringed Black within the strings a blue rose.
China
Name	Lin Fu
Commissioned	21 January 1948
Out of service	29 May 1949
Fate	Returned to RN control after the Nationalist Government fell.
Egypt
Name	Mohammed Ali el-Kebir
Acquired	9 November 1949
Renamed	Ibrahim el-Awal
Fate	Captured by Israel on 31 October 1956 and commissioned as INS Haifa (K-38)
Israel
Name	INS Haifa
Acquired	31 October 1956 (captured)
Decommissioned	1968
Homeport	Haifa
Identification	K-38
Fate	Used as target ship, sank by missile in 1970
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Type I Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,170 kW)
Speed	27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h) 26 kn (29.9 mph; 48.2 km/h) full
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) 1,000 nmi (1,850 km) at 26 kn (48 km/h)
Complement	164
Armament	4 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk. VIII AA guns on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts P Mk. III 50 depth charges, 2 throwers, 1 rack

HMS Mendip (L60) was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the first subgroup of the class. The ship is notable for seeing service in the navies of three other nations after her use by the Royal Navy.^[1] She saw service in the Second World War and later as an Egyptian Navy ship in the Suez Crisis. She was captured in battle on 31 October 1956 by the Israeli Navy and re-commissioned as INS Haifa (K-38).