HMS Offa (G29)

HMS Offa was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy which entered service in 1941 and was scrapped in 1959.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Offa.

History
United Kingdom
Name: Offa
Ordered: 3 September 1939
Builder: Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
Laid down: 15 January 1940
Launched: 11 March 1941
Commissioned: 20 September 1941
Fate: Transferred to Pakistan, 30 November 1949
Pakistan
Name: Tariq
Acquired: 30 November 1949
Identification: pennant number: G29
Fate: Scrapped 1959
General characteristics
Class and type: O-class destroyer
Displacement: 1,610 long tons (1,640 t) (standard)
Length: 345 ft (105.2 m) (o/a)
Beam: 35 ft (10.7 m)
Draught: 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed: 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range: 3,850 nmi (7,130 km; 4,430 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 176+
Armament:

Service history

Second World War service

During November 1941 Offa was part of the escort of Convoy PQ 4, the fifth of the Arctic Convoys of the Second World War. The convoy sailed from Hvalfjord, Iceland on 17 November 1941 and arrived at Arkhangelsk on 28 November 1941.[1]

On 14 September 1942 Offa (Lt.Cdr. R.A. Ewing) picked up survivors from the British tanker Atheltemplar which had been damaged by a torpedo from the German submarine U-457 south west of Bear Island.

On 26 January 1944, under Lt.Cdr. R.F. Leonard Offa picked up survivors from the British merchant Fort Bellingham that was sunk by a torpedo from the German submarine U-957 in the Barents Sea north of North Cape.

She took part in the King's Birthday celebrations at Kiel on 2nd June 1945 together with HMS Obedient

Postwar service
For other ships with the same name, see PNS Tariq.

In 1946 Offa served as a target ship for submarines, until being placed in reserve at Devonport in February 1948.[2] In April 1948 she was refitted at Devonport and on 30 November 1949 she was transferred to Pakistan and renamed Tariq.

She was returned to the Royal Navy at Portsmouth in July 1959. She was then scrapped, arriving at Sunderland on 13 October 1959.[3]

Notes
  1. Woodman, Richard (1994). Arctic Convoys 1941–1945. ISBN 0-7195-5752-6.
  2. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. p. 14. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.
  3. "Pakistan Navy". battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2015.

References
  • 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.
  • Connell, G. G. (1982). Arctic Destroyers: The 17th Flotilla. London: William Kimber. ISBN 0-7183-0428-4.
  • English, John (2001). Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941–45. Windsor, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-9560769-0-8.
  • 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.
  • Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (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.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
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