Allied Warships

HMS Wessex (i) (D 43)

Destroyer of the Admiralty V & W class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Admiralty V & W
Pennant	D 43
Built by	Hawthorn Leslie & Co. (Hebburn-on-Tyne, U.K.)
Ordered	9 Dec 1916
Laid down	23 May 1917
Launched	12 Mar 1918
Commissioned	11 May 1918
Lost	24 May 1940
Loss position	51° 01'N, 1° 45'E

History	On 24 May 1940 HMS Wessex (Lt.Cdr. William Archibald Rosebery Cartwright, RN) was bombed and sunk off Calais by German aircraft. The wreck lies in 35 meters of water in position 51º00'54"N, 01º45'50"E.

Commands listed for HMS Wessex (i) (D 43)

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and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. William Archibald Rosebery Cartwright, RN	31 Jul 1939	24 May 1940

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Notable events involving Wessex (i) include:

1 Sep 1939
Around 1830A/1, HMS Ramillies (Capt. H.T. Baillie-Grohman, OBE, DSO, RN) departed Scapa Flow for Portland.

Around 2030A/2, in the North Channel she was joined by the destroyers HMS Witherington (Lt.Cdr. G.C. Fryer, RN) and HMS Verity (Lt.Cdr. A.R.M. Black, RN).

Around 0850A/2, near Milford Haven, these two destroyers were relieved by HMS Venetia (Cdr. J.W.M. Eaton, RN) and HMS Wessex (Lt.Cdr. W.A.R. Cartwright, RN). HMS Witherington and HMS Verity then entered Milford Haven arriving there around 1045A/3

HMS Ramillies arrived at Portland around 0115A/4.

Having completed escorting HMS Ramillies to Portland, HMS Venetia and HMS Wessex proceeded to Plymouth where they arrived around 0730A/4. (1)

17 Oct 1939

Convoy HX 5.

This convoy departed Halifax on 17 October 1939 and the bulk of the convoy arrived at Liverpool on 29 October 1939.

The convoy was made up of the following ships; Cairnglen (British, 5019 GRT, built 1926), Cairnmona (British, 4666 GRT, built 1918), Cairnvalona (British, 4929 GRT, built 1918), Dunaff Head (British, 5258 GRT, built 1918), Floride (French, 7030 GRT, built 1921), Gracia (British, 5642 GRT, built 1921), Hindpool (British, 4897 GRT, built 1928), Malabar (British, 7976 GRT, built 1938), Manchester Commerce (British, 5343 GRT, built 1925), New Westminster City (British, 4747 GRT, built 1929), Norwegian (British, 6366 GRT, built 1921), Penrose (British, 4393 GRT, built 1928), Rancher (British, 5882 GRT, built 1927), San Ernesto (British (tanker), 8078 GRT, built 1939), Trelissick (British, 5265 GRT, built 1919) and Vaclite (British (tanker), 5026 GRT, built 1928).

On departure from Halifax the convoy was escorted by heavy cruiser HMS York (Capt. R.H. Portal, DSC, RN) and the destroyers HMCS Fraser (Cdr. W.B. Creery, RCN) and HMCS St. Laurent (Lt.Cdr. H.G. de Wolf, RCN).

Around 0930Q/19 the convoy was joined by the light cruiser HMS Emerald (Capt. A.W.S. Agar, VC, DSO, RN).

At 1000Q/19, HMS York parted company with the convoy after which she proceeded on patrol. The destroyers also parted company with the convoy around this time to return to Halifax.

Around 0600Z/28, the destroyers HMS Grafton (Cdr. M.S. Thomas, RN) and HMS Gallant (Lt.Cdr. C.P.F. Brown, RN) joined the convoy followed around 1600A/28 by the destroyer HMS Wessex (Lt.Cdr. W.A.R. Cartwright, RN). At 1700/28, HMS Emerald parted company with the convoy and set course for Plymouth.

In the early hours of 29 October the German submarine U-34 attacked the convoy and the merchant vessel Malabar was torpedoed and sunk. The survivors were picked up by HMS Grafton.

On 30 October the merchant vessel Cairnmona which had split off from the convoy was torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of the U.K. by the German submarine U-13.

HMS Grafton and HMS Gallant arrived at Plymouth on 30 October 1939.

HMS Wessex arrived at Milford Haven on 31 October 1939.

24 May 1940
The Polish destroyer Burza was ordered to join the British destroyers HMS Vimiera and HMS Wessex and shell German positions in Calais area. At 16.20 the Allied vessels opened fire on enemy armoured column at Sangatte Hill, west of Calais. 10 minutes later they were attacked by 27 German airplanes which hit and sank HMS Wessex. HMS Vimiera managed to escape. Then the entire enemy air group concentrated on the Polish destroyer. The AA guns (2 40 mm) jammed due to shrapnel hits, three bombs exploded in the water. They caused boiler damage and loss of speed. The commander (Lt.Cdr. Francki) ordered to emergency launch the torpedoes and drop all depth charges, trying to avoid additional explosions. Shortly after this, two bombs hit the Burza and badly damaged her. However the airplanes had dropped all of their bombs and broke off the attack. The crew managed to stop the leakage and return to Dover. One German airplane was shot down during the action. (2)