Gallant

History

Design

With development of the new group of destroyers starting in the spring of 1933, the Naval Staff envisioned the new G-class destroyers to be built as an improvement upon the preceding F-class destroyers.

Initially, the new class was to be the primary test bed for larger 5.1-inch guns to give destroyers a heavier punch. The existing mounts for the 5.1-inch guns could only elevate up to 30˚, however, 10˚ below the required maximum. Thus, new gun mounts were under development and were to be fitted onto the G-class destroyers. Unfortunately, designs of the mounts were delayed, and in order to keep to schedule, designers opted to reuse the armament of the F-class: 4.7-inch Mark IX guns in four single mounts; two forward, two aft. Like their predecessors, a gun pit was built around each mount to allow the breech to depress low enough to elevate the barrel to 40˚; furthermore, the anti-aircraft armament and the torpedo armament were also re-purposed off the F-class.

One modification that did see implementation was the incorporation of new Admiralty propulsion machinery that was smaller than that deployed aboard the F-class. This allowed for the overall machinery rooms and spaces to me more compact, resulting in a reduction of tonnage for no loss of performance. The arrangement itself was identical: three boilers that fed to two turbines, each driving a single screw. Another design change was the removal of “cruiser-turbines”: turbines ideal for low speeds, which allowed for greater fuel economy. A gradual change in the opinion of the Naval Staff was that actions during wartime would definitely exceed 15 knots, making a low-speed turbine useless.

Before the design was finalized, a few more changes were implemented to the class. Depth charge racks and launchers were installed to provide the ships a capability to combat submarines, in conjunction with the installation of ASDIC equipment. Smoke-laying apparatus was installed into the funnel systems to generate smoke screens for fleet operations. Greater fuel stores increased the endurance by another 1,500 nautical miles to a total of 5,500 nautical miles.

In accordance to the requirements set by the Naval Staff in 1928, all pre-war Royal Navy destroyers were to adhere to a tonnage limit of 1,320 tons. The G-class destroyers clocked in just shy of 1,350 tons. Post-war critique speculates that such a limitation prevented improvements to greater personnel accommodations and resource stores.

Certain ships of the G-class were subject to interesting experiments. HMS Glowworm was installed with 2 quintuple torpedo-tube launchers. HMS Gipsy was installed with Johnson boilers; they were proved to be lighter, smaller, and more robust than their Admiralty equivalents. HMS Grenville – designated the flotilla leader – was larger and heavier than her sister ships as she had a fifth 4.7-in gun installed in between the funnels.

With the tenders for ship construction finalized by 1934, construction of the destroyers began. HMS Gallant (H59) was laid down on 15 September 1934 at the Alexander Stephen and Sons Ltd. Shipyard. Launched 26 September 1935, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 25 February 1936.

HMS Gallant went through a few wartime armament modifications. In May 1940, her rear torpedo-tube launcher was removed to make space for the installation of a single 3-inch Mark V anti-aircraft gun. Furthermore, throughout the wartime years, 20mm Oerlikon cannons gradually replaced the 50-caliber Vickers machine guns.

Service History

HMS Gallant was commissioned on 25 February 1936, joining the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet. During the late 1930’s she patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War, coming under attack by Spanish Nationalist aircraft in April 1937 but emerging undamaged. She was still in the Mediterranean when World War II broke out, but she — along with her entire flotilla — was transferred to the Western Approaches Command by the beginning of October 1939, before being moved (again) to Nore Command at the end of October. She spent the rest of 1939 and early 1940 escorting convoys and performing patrols in the North Sea until late May, when she moved to the English Channel in preparation for Operation Dynamo: the evacuation of British Expeditionary Force troops surrounded at Dunkirk.

Gallant spent 26 May 1940 guarding the first convoys to reach Dunkirk, and on the night of the 27th she — alongside HMS Vega — scouted a smaller harbor in Dunkirk to see if it could be useful in the Allied evacuation (it was). She first embarked troops herself on the 28th, ferrying them back to Dover. On the 29th she embarked her second load of troops, when she came under attack by German dive bombers and a near-miss knocked out her steering. Nevertheless, Gallant made it back to Dover under her own steam before docking for repairs in the Hull shipyard, having lifted 1,466 soldiers back to Britain. She returned to duty on 5 June, a day after the final Dunkirk evacuations were completed. She resumed her escort and patrol duty, later joining battlecruisers HMS Renown and HMS Repulse in the ultimately unsuccessful search for the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

In late July 1940 Gallant was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, sailing for Gibraltar on 24 July to join Force H, responsible for screening aircraft carrier HMS Argus. She served in this role through the end of August, when she was moved to the screen of aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and battleship HMS Valiant to reinforce the British Fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean. Gallant returned Gibraltar via Malta in mid-September and remained on station around Gibraltar, where, on 20 October, she and destroyers HMS Griffin and HMS Hotspur were credited for the sinking of Italian submarine Lafolé. On 31 October she joined the screen of battlecruiser HMS Renown and battleship HMS Barham to monitor Vichy French naval movements off Morocco. In November she was transferred back to the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, joining Barham again to sail for the Eastern Mediterranean. On 24 November she screened battleship HMS Ramillies and accompanying ships being transferred out of the Mediterranean via Gibraltar. She was involved in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November, finally arriving at Alexandria on the 29th. She spent the rest of the year on screening duties, most notably screening Illustrious and battleships HMS Warspite and Valiant in mid-December.

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  HMS Gallant in April 1938.

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  HMS Gallant, date unknown.

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  HMS Glowworm, G class destroyer.

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  HMS Grafton, G class destroyer.

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  HMS Grenade, G class destroyer.

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  HMS Greyhound, G class destroyer.

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  HMS Griffin, another G class destroyer.