Dates: 1942 - 1961
HMS Orwell (Pennant No. G 98) was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built by Thornycroft of Southampton and commissioned on 17 October 1942. Crew: 176.
HMS Orwell was in action at the Battle of the Barents Sea, when all 14 merchant ships in convoy JW 51B reached their destinations in the USSR, despite the attack by Hipper and Lutzow. Hitler was infuriated at what he perceived as the uselessness of the surface raiders, given that 2 heavy cruisers had been driven off by destroyers. This failure nearly made Hitler decide to scrap his surface fleet and concentrate on U-boat warfare.
She rescued survivors from U489, sunk by RCAF aircraft, in August 1943 and in October rescued survivors from the Polish destroyer ORP Orkan (formerly HMS Myrmidion), when she was torpedoed by U-378.
HMS Orwell was on convoy escort duties during the Battle of North Cape in December 1943.
During April 1944, she was in action with HMS Offa against the E-Boats which had attacked the US landing craft convoy en route to Slapton Sands for Exercise Tiger. The E-Boats used their high speed and a smoke screen to effect an escape. She then joined HMS Onslow and HMS Obedient in Lyme Bay searching for survivors from the sunk US landing craft and landed recovered bodies at Portland.
In January 1945, HMS Orwell attacked a German convoy of Egersund, Norway, together with the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk, the light cruiser HMS Bellona and the destroyers HMS Onslow and HMS Onslaught. Two German merchant ships, the Bahia Camarones and the Charlotte and the minelayer M 273 were sunk.
In March 1945, HMS Orwell picked up 65 survivors from the American merchant ship Horace Bushnell that had been torpedoed and damaged by the U-995.
She took part after the end of hostilities in Operation Deadlight, the destruction of surrendered U-Boats in NW Approaches.
In 1952 she was converted to a Type 16 anti-submarine frigate and was finally paid-off at Rosyth in 1961. She was sold for breaking up in 1965.
Associations:
Arctic Campaign Memorial Trust
13 Sherwood Avenue
Potters Bar Hertfordshire EN6 2LD
Tel: 01707 655846
Fax: 01707 655846
E-mail: ronwren.acmt@virgin.net
North Russia Club
87 Olive Road
Coxford
Southampton SO16 5FT
Tel: 01703 906402
Russian Convoy Association
83 Booths Lane
Great Barr
Birmingham West Midlands B42 2RG
Tel: 0121 360 7267
Website: http://website.lineone.net/~nautical/russianconvoyclub.htm
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