HMS Rocket (H92)

HMS Rocket was an R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during Second World War. Built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock, Scotland, she was launched in October 1942 and commissioned in August 1943.

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

HMS Rocket circa. 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Rocket
Ordered: May 1940
Builder: Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock
Laid down: 14 March 1941
Launched: 28 October 1942
Commissioned: 4 August 1943
Reclassified: Type 15 frigate from 1951
Identification: pennant number H92/F191
Motto: 'Upward and Onward'
Fate: Sold for scrapping in 1967
Badge:
General characteristics As R-class destroyer
Class and type: R-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 1,705 tons (1,732 tonnes)
  • 2,425 tons (2,464 tonnes) full load
Length: 358.25 ft (109.19 m) o/a
Beam: 35.75 ft (10.90 m)
Draught: 9.5 ft (2.9 m)
Propulsion: 2 x Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) on 2 shafts
Speed: 36 kn (67 km/h)
Range: 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 176
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar Type 290 air warning
  • Radar Type 285 ranging & bearing
Armament:
General characteristics As Type 15 frigate
Displacement:
  • 2,300 tons (standard)
  • 2,700 tons (full load)
Length: 358 ft (109 m) o/a
Beam: 37.75 ft (11.51 m)
Draught: 14.5 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers,
  • steam turbines on 2 shafts,
  • 40,000 shp
Speed: 31 kn (57 km/h) (full load)
Range: 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 174
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar
  • Type 293Q target indication.
  • Type 277Q surface search
  • Type 974 navigation
  • Type 262 fire control on director CRBF
  • Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
  • Sonar:
  • Type 174 search
  • Type 162 target classification
  • Type 170 attack
Armament:

Service

Second World War

During the Battle of Sept-Îles, Rocket encountered German torpedo boats in the English Channel in October 1943, an action in which the cruiser Charybdis and destroyer Limbourne were lost. The latter was sunk by Rocket after she became disabled, to avoid her falling into enemy hands. On 29 November 1943 HMS Rocket and HMS Tumult, sank U-86 east of the Azores, in position 40°52'N, 18°54'W, by depth charges.[2] Arriving in the Indian Ocean in January 1944, Rocket participated in the shelling of Sabang (25 July 1944) and of the Andaman Islands (February and March 1945).

Post-War
Rocket after her conversion to a Type 15 frigate

In 1946 Rocket was at Chatham and between 1946 and 1948 she was used as an air target ship at Rosyth. In 1949 she was placed into reserve at Portsmouth. Between July 1949 and 1951 she was converted at Devonport Dockyard into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F193.

On 18 May 1951 she was re-commissioned for the 3rd Training Squadron, based in Derry.[3] In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[4] In 1954 she returned to reserve at Rosyth, before being re-commissioned the following year. In November 1956 she returned to reserve at Chatham, then transferred to the reserve at Portsmouth the following year. On 28 October 1960 she was re-commissioned at Portsmouth and sailed to the Far East to join the 6th Frigate Squadron.

Decommissioning and disposal

Rocket returned to Portsmouth on 11 May 1962 and de-commissioned. She was finally scrapped at Dalmuir in March 1967.

References
  1. Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. p. 47.
  2. "Allied Warships HMS Rocket (H92)". uboat.net.
  3. Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2, page 54
  4. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

Publications
  • 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). 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.
  • Marriott, Leo, Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945. Ian Allan, 1989. ISBN 0-7110-1817-0
  • 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 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.


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