Allied Warships

HNoMS Bath (I 17)

Destroyer of the Town class

HNoMS Bath (I 17) under her former name USS Hopewell (DD 181)

Navy	The Royal Norwegian Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Town
Pennant	I 17
Built by	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	19 Jan 1918
Launched	8 Jun 1918
Commissioned	9 Jan 1941
Lost	19 Aug 1941
Loss position	49° 00'N, 17° 00'W

History	Transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Norwegian Navy on 9 January 1941. HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. Fredrik Melsom) was escorting convoy OG-71 as part of the 5th Escort Group about 400 miles southwest of Ireland. During combat, the destroyer fell behind the convoy and was sunk by two torpedoes from the German submarine U-204 at 02.05 hours on 19 August 1941 in position 49º00'N, 17º00'W. The commanding officer and 82 crew members were lost. Hit by U-boat Sunk on 19 Aug 1941 by U-204 (Kell).
U-boat Attack	See our U-boat attack entry for the HNoMS Bath
Former name	HMS Bath (I 17)

Commands listed for HNoMS Bath (I 17)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Kaptain Christian Fredrik Thestrup Melsom, RNON	18 Mar 1941	19 Aug 1941 (+)

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Notable events involving Bath include:

13 Jan 1941
HNoMS Bath was docked at Glasgow. (1)

20 Jan 1941
HNoMS Bath was undocked at Glasgow. (1)

2 Jun 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Lance (Lt.Cdr. R.W.F. Northcott, RN) and HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. C.F.T. Melsom). (2)

7 Jun 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Jupiter (Lt.Cdr. N.V.J.P. Thew, RN), HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. C.F.T. Melsom), HMS Black Swan (Cdr. T.A.C. Pakenham, RN) and HMS Stork (Lt. G.T.S. Gray, DSC, RN). (2)

8 Jun 1941

Convoy SL 77.

This convoy departed Freetown for the U.K. on 8 June 1941.

On departure from Freetown the convoy was made up of the following merchant vessels; Aliakmon (Greek, 4521 GRT, built 1913), Banfora (British, 9472 GRT, built 1914), Blackheath (British, 4637 GRT, built 1936), Boskoop (Dutch, 5620 GRT, built 1927), Chulmleigh (British, 5445 GRT, built 1938), Ile de Batz (British, 5755 GRT, built 1918), John Holt (British, 4975 GRT, built 1938), Kindat (British, 4358 GRT, built 1938), Macuba (Dutch (tanker), 8249 GRT, built 1931), Mahsud (British, 7540 GRT, built 1917), Peebles (British, 4982 GRT, built 1936), Spar (Dutch, 3616 GRT, built 1924) and Storaas (Norwegian (tanker), 7886 GRT, built 1929).

On departure from Freetown the convoy was escorted by armed merchant cruiser HMS Arawa (A/Capt. G.R. Deverell, RN) and the corvettes HMS Gardenia (Lt.Cdr. H. Hill, RD, RNR), HMS Marguerite (Lt.Cdr. A.N. Blundell, RNR) and the auxiliary A/S yacht HMS Surprise (Capt.(Retd.) E. Stubbs, RN).

The merchant vessels Aliakmon and Blackheath however soon returned to Freetown due to engine defects.

At 1015N/10, the convoy was joined by the corvette HMS Cyclamen (Lt. H.N. Lawson, RNR). She parted company around 0800N/11.

HMS Gardenia and HMS Marguerite and HMS Surprise parted company in the afternoon of 13 June.

Around 1130N/15, the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk (Capt. A.J.L. Phillips, RN) joined the convoy as did the merchant vessels Anglo-Indian (British, 5609 GRT, built 1938), Cordillera (British, 6865 GRT, built 1920), Gascony (British, 4716 GRT, built 1925), and Stornest (British, 4265 GRT, built 1921) which had been brought out from St. Vincent by the corvette HMS Cyclamen.

At 1810N/15, HMS Surprise parted company with the convoy.

Around noon on 21 June, the merchant vessel Peebles was detached to the Azores due to engine defects.

Around 1100Z/27, HMS Norfolk was detached to proceed to Scapa Flow.

Around 0700A/28, the armed boarding vessel HMS Hilary (Cdr. T.L. Owen, RD, RNR) joined the convoy.

Around 0100B/28, the armed boarding vessel Cavina (Cdr. C.B. Osborne, RD, RNR) joined the convoy.

Around 0800B/28, the corvette HMS Wallflower (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Tyson, RN) joined the convoy.

Around 1140B/28, the destroyer HMS Vanoc (Lt.Cdr. J.G.W. Deneys, DSO, RN) joined the convoy.

Around 1210B/28, the destroyers HMS Walker (Cdr. D.G.F.W. MacIntyre, DSO, RN), HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. C.F.T. Melsom) and the corvette HMS Hydrangea (Lt. J.E. Woolfenden, RNR) joined the convoy.

Around 1300B/28, the rescue ship Toward (British, 1571 GRT, built 1923) joined the convoy.

The convoy arrived in U.K. waters on 2 July 1941.

9 Jun 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow, first with HMS Nigeria (Capt. J.G.L. Dundas, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral H.M. Burrough, CB, RN) and then with HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. C.F.T. Melsom) and HMAS Nestor (Cdr. A.S. Rosenthal, RAN). (2)

17 Jun 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Charlestown (Lt.Cdr. T. Johnston, RN) and HNoMS Bath (Lt.Cdr. C.F.T. Melsom). (2)