HMS Atherstone - Military Genealogy

The present HMS Atherstone is the third to bear the name. The first was an 810 ton paddle minesweeper built in 1916 which served in the Firth of Forth area until 1918 when she was moved to the Humber. She was paid off in August 1924.

The second HMS Atherstone was the first Type I "Hunt" Class Destroyer of 1000 tons displacement to be built. Laid down in April 1939 by Cammell Laird and Company Limited of Birkenhead she was launched on 12 December 1939 and completed on 23 March 1940.

One of the last ships to work up at Portland during the war, she joined the Orkneys and Shetland Command at Scapa Flow at the end of April 1940 and escorted convoys between the Orkneys and the Clyde. In mid-August, the Atherstone was ordered to join the first Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth, whence she undertook anti-invasion patrols and convoy escort duties. On 11 September 1940, while off Ramsgate with a convoy, she was bombed and severely damaged. Repaired at Chatham, the Atherstone returned to coastal convoy escort duties in January 1941 and thereafter served with the First Destroyer Flotilla (Portsmouth), the 15th Destroyer Flotilla (Plymouth) and the 16th Destroyer Flotilla (Harwich), until January 1943. In February 1942, she and the Polish manned "Hunt" Kujiawak intercepted and destroyed two German coasters off Alderney. Towards the end of March 1942, she escorted the Coastal Forces craft on the open sea passages to and from the successful raid on the locks at St Nazaire.

Following the refit at Chatham in January 1943, the Atherstone was allocated to the Mediterranean Fleet, where she was to remain to the end of the war. Allocated to the 56th Destroyer Division, Gibraltar Escort Force, she operated in the Western Mediterranean until the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. After escorting an assault convoy to the assault area for the Salerno invasion for which she was attached to the Algiers based 46th Escort Group, she formed part of the close escort which covered the return of the badly damaged battleship Warspite.

Throughout most of 1944, HMS Atherstone operated from Malta with the 18th Destroyer Flotilla, escorting convoys in the Mediterranean. In August 1944, she was included in the forces which covered the invasion of the South of France and thereafter she operated mainly in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Aegean. In December, following transfer to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, at Alexandria, the Atherstone undertook two patrols in the Adriatic, hunting for German coastal craft among the Dalmatian Islands. On the second of these, her consort, HMS Aldenham was mined and sank with heavy loss of life, the 63 survivors being recovered by the Atherstone.

HMS Atherstone remained in the Mediterranean until 25 September 1945, when she left Gibraltar to return to Portsmouth. She paid off on 5 October and was reduced to reserve, and on 23 November 1957 she was towed to the Clyde for breaking up.