HMS Petard (G56)

Petard photographed from the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, December 1943
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Petard
BuilderVickers-Armstrongs, High Walker
Laid down26 December 1939
Launched27 March 1941
Completed15 June 1942
IdentificationPennant number G56/F56
FateBroken up in June 1967 at Bo'ness
General characteristics as P–class
Class and typeP-class destroyer
Displacement
Length345 ft (105 m) o/a
Beam35 ft (11 m)
Draught9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp on 2 shafts
Speed36.75 knots (68.06 km/h)
Range3,850 nautical miles (7,130 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement176
Armament
General characteristics as Type 16 class
Class and typeType 16 frigate
Displacement
  • 1,800 long tons (1,800 t) standard
  • 2,300 long tons (2,300 t) full load
Length362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) o/a
Beam37 ft 9 in (11.51 m)
Draught14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • Steam turbines, 40,000 shp
  • 2 shafts
Speed32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h) full load
Complement175
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Type 293Q target indication Radar
  • Type 974 navigation Radar
  • Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
  • Type 146B search Sonar
  • Type 147 depth finder Sonar
  • Type 162 target classification Sonar
  • Type 174 attack Sonar
Armament

HMS Petard was a P-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was one of only three P-class ships, out of the original eight, to survive the war in a serviceable condition.[1]

Originally to have been named HMS Persistent, Petard was launched in March 1941.[2] She initially carried the pennant number G56, which was changed after the war to F56.

Petard had the distinction of sinking a submarine from each of the three Axis navies: the German U-559, the Italian Uarsciek and the Japanese I-27.[3]

Members of the ship's crew recovered from U-559 a new, four-wheel Enigma cypher machine and the books to go with it,[4] albeit at the cost of the lives of her First Lieutenant and an Able Seaman, both of whom were drowned when the U-boat they were searching sank with them inside.

  1. ^ Harper, p. 49.
  2. ^ Harper, pp. 48–49.
  3. ^ Harper, p. ix.
  4. ^ Jak P. Mallmann Showell, U-Boat Warfare p. 107