HMS Eskimo was a destroyer, Eskimo served throughout the Second World War, seeing action in Norway, the Mediterranean, the English Channel and in Burma. After the war Eskimo was used as an accommodation and headquarters ship, finally being used as a practice target before being scrapped in 1949.
Description
The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to lend gun support to the existing destroyer flotillas and were thus significantly larger and more heavily armed than the preceding. The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. They had an overall length of, a beam of and a draught of. The destroyers were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at. The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the flotilla leaders carried an extra 20 officers and men for the Captain and his staff. The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight quick-firing 4.7-inch Mark XII guns in four twin-gun mounts, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. For anti-aircraft defence, they carried a single quadruple mount for the QF two-pounder Mk II "pom-pom" AA gun and two quadruple mounts for the 0.5-inch Mark IIImachine gun. The ships were fitted with a single above-water quadruple mount for British 21 inch torpedo| torpedoes. The Tribals were not intended as anti-submarine ships, but they were provided with ASDIC, one depth charge rack and two throwers for self-defence, although the throwers were not mounted in all ships; Twenty depth charges were the peacetime allotment, but this increased to 30 during wartime.
Wartime modifications
Heavy losses to Germanair attack during the Norwegian Campaign demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the Tribals' anti-aircraft suite and the RN decided in May 1940 to replace 'X' mount with two QF Mark XVI dual-purpose guns in a twin-gun mount. To better control the guns, the existing rangefinder/director was modified to accept a Type 285 gunnery radar as they became available. The number of depth charges was increased to 46 early in the war, and still more were added later. To increase the firing arcs of the AA guns, the rear funnel was shortened and the mainmast was reduced to a short pole mast.
Construction and career
Eskimo was laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers-Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 5 August 1936. She was launched on 3 September 1937 and commissioned on 30 December 1938. Eskimo participated in the Second Battle of Narvik in April 1940. On 12 April, Eskimo was hit by a torpedo fired from German destroyer. The explosion caused severe damage, blowing off Eskimo's bow. After temporary repairs by the shipwrights of the fleet repair shipVindictive at Skjelfjorden in Norway, Eskimo was able to return to the Vickers-Armstrong works at Newcastle for rebuilding, which took until Sept. 1940. She supported the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942 and served with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth. Eskimo was extensively damaged when two German dive bombers attacked her in the Mediterranean while taking part in Operation Husky. She cornered and sank the enemy German submarine while in company with the Canadian destroyer and a Liberator aircraft of the Czech air force in the English Channel north of Brest on 24 June 1944. During the final days of the war, she operated in the Far East.
Fate
Eskimo was reduced to an accommodation and headquarters ship for minesweepers, wreck-disposal vessels, and salvage craft clearing the Thames and Medway estuaries in 1946. She was used as a target ship in the Gareloch, sold for scrap on 27 June 1949 and finally broken up at Troon.
