Destroyer of the Royal Navy
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/HMS_Lookout_%28G32%29.jpg/300px-HMS_Lookout_%28G32%29.jpg) Lookout
at Greenock, 21 January 1942
|
History
|
United Kingdom
|
Name
| HMS
Lookout
|
Ordered
| 31 March 1938
|
Builder
| Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
,
Greenock
|
Laid down
| 23 November 1938
|
Launched
| 4 November 1940
|
Commissioned
| 30 January 1942
|
Identification
| Pennant number
: G32
|
Honours and
awards
| |
Fate
| Sold for scrapping, 6 January 1948
|
Badge
| On a Field per fess wavy White and Blue, a man in crow's nest of Whaler, all proper.
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| L-class
destroyer
|
Displacement
| 1,920 tons
|
Length
| 362.5 ft (110.5 m)
|
Beam
| 36.7 ft (11.2 m)
|
Draught
| 10 ft (3.0 m)
|
Propulsion
|
- Two shafts
- Two geared steam turbines
- Two drum type boilers
- 48000 shp (35.8 MW)
|
Speed
| 36
knots
(67 km/h)
|
Range
| 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
|
Complement
| 221
|
Armament
| |
HMS
Lookout
was an
L-class
destroyer of the
Royal Navy
. She was launched on 4 November 1940 and broken up in 1948. She was one of only two L-class destroyers to survive the
Second World War
, the other being
Loyal
.
Ordered under the 1937 Programme,
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
were awarded the contract to build her. She would be the second Royal Navy ship to bear the name
Lookout
. Build was completed on 30 January 1942 and the tender cost was £440,204 which excluded items such as weapons and communications equipment supplied by the Admiralty.
After a successful
Warship Week
National Savings
campaign in January 1942, HMS
Lookout
was adopted by the civil community of
Burnley
,
Lancashire
.
Operational history
[
edit
]
Sea Trials
[
edit
]
Lookout
'
s sea trials were generally satisfactory, but were rather protracted through no fault of the ship. On 18 January 1942
Lookout
underwent her gunnery trials which were entirely satisfactory. Gun mountings 'B' and 'X' lost two cartridge cases overboard when firing abeam, but this did not affect the outcome of the trial. The next day
Lookout
carried out her preliminary full power trial at a mean displacement of 2,320 tons. Her first attempt at a four-hour full-power trial was carried out on 21 January 1942 but was abandoned due to bad weather conditions. Her next attempt at the trial was a success. On 20 January
Lookout
finally carried out the trial in a Force 6 wind. Her mean displacement was 2,625 tons with a mean power of 48,442 SHP, giving a mean speed of 32.098 knots (59.445 km/h).
Arctic Convoys
[
edit
]
Lookout
was with the
Home Fleet
in March 1942 when the
German
battleship
Tirpitz
made ineffective attempts to intercept
Arctic convoys
(
Operation Sportpalast
). One of
Lookout
'
s first operations took place on 4?7 March, when she was part escort to a battle squadron which included
Renown
,
King George V
and
Duke of York
. The battle squadron sailed to cover against any move by
Tirpitz
to intercept
Russian
convoys QP8 and PQ12.
Tirpitz
was out at sea during this time but failed to locate the convoys due to bad weather conditions. A straggler from PQ12 was however sunk by
Friedrich Ihn
, a destroyer who was screening
Tirpitz
.
[1]
Operation Ironclad
[
edit
]
Lookout
participated in the allied
occupation
of
Madagascar
. She joined her sister ships
Lightning
and
Laforey
at
Durban
on 22 April 1942 and they departed on 28 April 1942, en route for
Diego Suarez
(now Antsiranana), with invasion transports and escort. On 7 May the three L-class destroyers escorted the battleship
Ramillies
to search for an enemy battleship and cruisers. None were found, but
Laforey
sank an enemy submarine.
[2]
Operation Pedestal
[
edit
]
In August 1942,
Lookout
was escorting the
aircraft carrier
Eagle
when Eagle was torpedoed on 11 August and sunk.
Lookout
carried out an unsuccessful counterattack with
Charybdis
and then helped rescue the 927 survivors.
Lookout
later transferred 500 of the survivors to
Venomous
. The next day
Lookout
joined
Tartar
in an attack on an enemy submarine which they had sighted on the surface, but no kill was made.
Lookout
was then detached with
Charybdis
,
Somali
and
Lightning
to assist the aircraft carrier
Indomitable
after she had been hit by dive bombers.
[3]
Shortly after Operation Pedestal, Lt.Cdr. Cecil Powis Frobisher Brown relinquished command of
Lookout
and was relieved by Lt.Cdr.
Archibald George Forman
. He was later promoted to commander while in command of
Lookout
.
During her second patrol after
Operation Pedestal
,
Lookout
encountered a merchant ship which was identified as
Luarana
, an Italian vessel of about 4,000 tons.
Lookout
went to action stations but the vessel was found to have been abandoned and so a
skeleton crew
was put on board to examine her. Eventually the stokers managed to raise steam on her and
Lookout
escorted
Luarana
to
Gibraltar
.
Having spent much of August and most of September 1942 operating out of Gibraltar,
Lookout
returned home as escort to the battleship
Malaya
, departing from Gibraltar on 30 September and arriving on the
Clyde
on 5 October before departing the next day for
Rosyth
where she arrived on 8 October. She then sailed north to
Scapa Flow
, arriving there on 9 October.
Lookout
then left Scapa Flow on 23 October for Gibraltar as part escort to battleship
Rodney
, arriving on 29 October at which time she rejoined the
19th Destroyer Flotilla
.
Operation Retribution
[
edit
]
In May 1943
Lookout
took part in
Operation Retribution
and sailed from
Bone
with
Eskimo
and the hunts of the 57 Division, departing on 9 May. On their way up the swept channel they were bombed by
Ju 88s
, but suffered no damage. The next morning the ships sighted the Italian hospital ship
Virgiglio
and
Lauderdale
was ordered to escort her to waters of Cape Carthage to examine her. The boarding party later reported that everything was as it should be and the Italian ship was released.
On 13 May
Lookout
sighted a small boat 10 miles north-east of
Plane Island
. Thirteen Germans and one Italian were captured. On 22 May
Lookout
made radar contact with Italian auxiliary transport
Stella Maris
.
Lookout
fired 24 rounds of 4.7 inch and along with
Laforey
, successfully sank the Italian vessel.
Lookout
then covered
Laforey
as she picked up survivors.
Operation Corkscrew
[
edit
]
On 8 and 9 June
Lookout
was involved in
Operation Corkscrew
. It was during this operation that
Lookout
achieved the distinction of probably being the most heavily bombed destroyer to survive the war. The 19 Destroyer Flotilla, which included
Lookout
, bombarded a shore position. But soon white flags could be seen hanging out of windows and troops eventually landed with no resistance.
As dusk approached, the other ships withdrew leaving
Lookout
patrolling the island as guard ship. When the other ships were about 10 miles away, the
Luftwaffe
appeared expecting to find an invasion fleet, but only found the destroyer
Lookout
.
Lookout
went to action stations and put up an anti aircraft barrage and took violent evasive action. By this time however her gunnery was impaired by the failing light. Despite many close misses from bombs,
Lookout
remained undamaged and after the bombers had moved on,
Lookout
continued to patrol.
Lookout
supported the allied landings at
Salerno
(
Operation
Avalanche
) in September 1943, shelling German gun positions in support of
56th (London) Infantry Division
.
[4]
A few days later she was nearly hit by a
glider bomb
but sustained little damage and was able to continue bombardments in support of the army until 15 September, when she sailed back to
Malta
for repairs.
Late war service
[
edit
]
After a major refit beginning on 13 November 1943,
Lookout
returned to service on 23 July 1944 under the command of Lt.Cdr.
Derick Hetherington
. She was assigned to the 14 Destroyer Flotilla. On 12 October
Loyal
was severely damaged by a mine.
Lookout
towed her home.
At the beginning of 1945,
Lookout
was transferred to the 3 Destroyer Flotilla. On 15 January she bombarded targets in San Remo. On the 18 and 19 she bombarded targets near the Franco-Italian border.
On 18 March 1945,
Lookout
participated in the
Battle of the Ligurian Sea
, sinking the
German torpedo boat
TA29
.
Lookout
remained on bombardment and escort duties of the west coast of Italy until
Victory Europe
day.
Reserve status and Demolition
[
edit
]
Lookout
took passage from
Gibraltar
to
Plymouth
on 19 October 1945 to be paid off and reduced to Reserve status. The ship was laid up in Reserve at
Devonport
and in October 1947 placed on the Disposal List. Sold to
BISCO
in January 1948, she was taken in tow to
Newport
,
Monmouthshire
for demolition by
John Cashmore
and arrived at the breaker's yard on 29 February that year.
Burnley Sea Cadets lounge is named the Lookout Lounge in memory of the ship and her crew. The
Greenock Museum
in
Scotland
has a model of
Lookout
(G32).
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Colledge, J. J.
; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].
Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy
(Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-86176-281-8
.
- English, John (2001).
Afridi to Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937?43
. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society.
ISBN
0-905617-64-9
.
- Friedman, Norman (2006).
British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-86176-137-6
.
- Lenton, H. T.
(1998).
British & Empire Warships of the Second World War
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-55750-048-7
.
- March, Edgar J. (1966).
British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892?1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans
. London: Seeley Service.
OCLC
164893555
.
- Brig C.J.C. Molony,
History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The Mediterranean and Middle East
, Vol V:
The Campaign in Sicily 1943 and the Campaign in Italy 3rd September 1943 to 31st March 1944
, London: HM Stationery Office, 1973/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2004, ISBN 1-845740-69-6.
- Rohwer, Jurgen (2005).
Chronology of the War at Sea 1939?1945: The Naval History of World War Two
(Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-59114-119-2
.
- Smith, Peter C. (2010).
Fighting Flotilla: RN Laforey Class Destroyers in WW2
(2nd ed.). Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Maritime.
ISBN
978-1-84884-273-1
.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988).
Destroyers of World War 2
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
0-87021-326-1
.
External links
[
edit
]