Allied Warships

HMS Whitley (L 23)

Destroyer of the Admiralty V & W class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Admiralty V & W
Pennant	L 23
Mod	Fast escort
Built by	Doxford Shipyard (Sunderland, U.K.)
Ordered	9 Dec 1916
Laid down	Jun 1917
Launched	13 Apr 1918
Commissioned	14 Oct 1918
Lost	19 May 1940
Loss position	51° 09'N, 2° 39'E

History	Reconstruction to Fast Escort at Chatham Dockyard was completed in October 1938. On 19 May 1940 HMS Whitley (Lt.Cdr. Guy Neville Rolfe, RN) was badly damaged by German aircraft and beached between Nieuport and Ostend. She was later sunk by HMS Keith in position 51º09'04"N, 02º39'34"E. The wreck lies in only 5 meter of water.

Commands listed for HMS Whitley (L 23)

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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. Eric Hart Dyke, RN	24 Jun 1939	11 Dec 1939
2	Lt.Cdr. Guy Neville Rolfe, RN	11 Dec 1939	19 May 1940

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Notable events involving Whitley include:

20 Feb 1940
Convoy MT 15 (26 ships) departed Methil for the Tyne where it arrived later today. It was escorted by AA destroyer HMS Whitley (Lt.Cdr. G.N. Rolfe, RN) and the sloop HMS Egret (Cdr. D.P. Evans, RN). Additionally the destroyer HMS Jaguar (Lt.Cdr. J.F.W. Hine, RN) was also part of the escort.

The same escort departed the Tyne later the same day with convoy FS 101 (22 ships) from the Tyne to Southend where it arrived on 22

22 Mar 1940
HMS Tribune (Lt.Cdr. G.P.S. Davies, RN) conducted D/G trials off Rosyth.

These were followed by exercises which included A/S exercises with HMS Whitley (Lt.Cdr. G.N. Rolfe, RN) and HMS Westminster (Lt.Cdr. A.A.C. Ouvry, RN). (1)

15 May 1940
HMS Valentine (Cdr. H.J. Buchanan, RAN), HMS Whitley (Lt.Cdr. G.N. Rolfe, RN) and HMS Winchester (Lt.Cdr. S.E. Crewe-Read, RN) were operating off Flushing during the night of 14/15 May 1940.

Early in the afternoon of the 15th, HMS Valentine and HMS Whitley were ordered to give AA protection to the Terneuzen - Hoedekenskerke ferry but they came under air attack and HMS Valentine was badly damaged and had to be beached near Terneuzen after which her wreck was scuttled by HMS Whitley. HMS Whitley then returned to Flushing.