Editing Template:HMS Abdiel (M39)

{{short description|Royal Navy minelayer (1940)}}
{{other ships|HMS Abdiel}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Abdiel (M39).jpg
|Ship image_size=300px
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Abdiel''
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[J. Samuel White]], [[Cowes]]
|Ship laid down=29 March 1939
|Ship launched=23 April 1940
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=15 April 1941
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship captured=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]] M39
|Ship fate=Lost, 10 September 1943
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=BISCAY 1941, CRETE 1941, LIBYA 1941, SICILY 1943
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Abdiel|minelayer}}
|Ship displacement=* 2,650 tons (standard)
* 4,000 tons (full load)
|Ship length= {{Convert|127.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} (overall)
|Ship beam= {{Convert|12.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught= {{Convert|3.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft=
|Ship propulsion=* Two shafts
* Geared turbines
* Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers
* 72,000 shp
|Ship speed={{convert|40|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship range= {{convert|5800|mi|km|0|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship endurance=
|Ship boats=
|Ship capacity=
|Ship complement=244
|Ship time to activate=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*''As built'':
* 6 × [[QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI|QF {{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on|sigfig=1}} Mark XVI guns]] on twin mounts [[British ordnance terms|HA/LA]] Mk.XIX
* 4 × [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk.VIII]] on quadruple mount Mk.VII
* 8 × [[Vickers .50 machine gun|0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Vickers machine guns]] on quadruple mount Mk.I
* 156 [[Naval mine|mine]]s
|Ship armour=Magazine box protection, deck, side-plating, turrets and bulkheads, belt, internal boiler room sides (added 1936–1940).
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Abdiel''''' was an {{sclass|Abdiel|minelayer}} that served with the [[Royal Navy]] during [[World War II]]. She served with the [[Mediterranean Fleet (Royal Navy)|Mediterranean Fleet]] (1941), [[British Eastern Fleet|Eastern Fleet]] (1942), [[British Home Fleet|Home Fleet]] (1942–43), and the Mediterranean Fleet (1943). ''Abdiel'' was sunk by German mines in [[Italy]]'s [[Taranto]] harbour in 1943. Although designed as a fast minelayer her speed and capacity made her suitable for employment as a fast transport.

==Service==

===Channel===
On 22 March 1941, ''Abdiel'' (Captain Hon. Edward Pleydell-Bouverie) had acceptance trials interrupted and was ordered to lay mines with the objective of preventing the German battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} breaking out from [[Brest, France|Brest]]. In operation 'GV', 'GX' and 'GY', ''Abdiel'' with the destroyers {{HMS|Intrepid|D10|2}}, {{HMS|Impulsive|D11|2}} and {{HMS|Icarus|D03|2}} escorted by {{HMS|Kipling|F91|2}}, {{HMS|Kelly|F01|2}} and {{HMS|Jackal|F22|2}} on 23 and 28 March laid mines in the vicinity of [[Little Sole Bank]] and {{convert|40|mi|km|abbr=on}} WSW of [[Brest, France|Brest]].

From 17 to 30 April 1941 ''Abdiel'' attempted to complete her trials programme but this was again abandoned when the ship was ordered to join the cruiser {{HMS|Dido|37|2}} and the destroyers ''Kelly'', ''Kipling'', {{HMS|Kelvin|F37|2}}, ''Jackal'' and {{HMS|Jersey|F72|2}}. This group was then transferred from [[Plymouth]] to [[Gibraltar]], having loaded military stores destined for [[Malta]]. The ships subsequently joined the [[Mediterranean Fleet (United Kingdom)|Mediterranean Fleet]].

===Mediterranean===
On 24 to 28 April 1941 they formed part of "Operation Dunlop". ''Dido'', ''Abdiel'' and destroyers {{HMS|Janus|F53|2}}, {{HMS|Jervis|F00|2}} and {{HMS|Nubian|F36|2}}, having discharged naval stores at Malta, proceeded to [[Alexandria]].<ref>Source (i) Tom Brown 'No 38 Profile Warship. Abdiel Class Minelayers
(ii) Jurgen Rohwer 'Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945≠</ref>

On 21 May 1941 ''Abdiel'' laid a field of 150 mines off Akra Dhoukaton (Cape Dukato, southern tip of [[Lefkada]] island, [[Ionian Sea]]). On the field were later the same day lost the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Italian]] [[destroyer]] {{ship|Italian destroyer|Carlo Mirabello||2}} (1,840 tons), the gunboat ''Pellegrino Matteucci'' and the [[Nazi Germany|German]] transports ''Kybfels'' (7764 [[Gross Register Tonnage|GRT]]) and ''Marburg'' (7564 GRT) which were transporting a large contingent of the [[2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|2nd Panzer Division]] from [[Patras]] in Greece across the [[Adriatic Sea]] to the port of [[Taranto]] in Italy.

On the night of 26–27 May, ''Abdiel'', escorted by the destroyer {{HMS|Hero|H99|2}} and the [[Royal Australian Navy|Australian]] destroyer {{HMAS|Nizam|G38|2}}, landed 800 [[British Commandos|Commandos]] at [[Suda Bay]].

On 31 May 1941, ''Abdiel'' sailed from [[Alexandria]] for [[Sfakia]], [[Crete]] with the light cruiser {{HMS|Phoebe|43|2}} and three destroyers. During the following night these ships removed 4,000 troops from Crete.

Between December 1942 and April 1943 ''Abdiel'', in cooperation with the minelaying submarine {{HMS|Rorqual|N74|2}} and ''Abdiel''{{'}}s [[sister ship]] {{HMS|Welshman|M84|2}}, laid several minefields with about 2,000 mines in the [[Strait of Sicily]].

On 9 January 1943, after ''Abdiel'' laid a minefield across the Axis evacuation route from [[Tunisia]], the escort of an Italian convoy ran into it and the destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Corsaro||2}} (1,645&nbsp;tons) was sunk, while the destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Maestrale||2}} (1,440&nbsp;tons) was severely damaged. On 3 February 1943 another Italian convoy's escort fouled another of her minefields south of [[Marettimo]] island, off the western tip of Sicily, losing the destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Saetta||2}} (1,225&nbsp;tons) and the torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Uragano||2}} (910&nbsp;tons).

On 8 March 1943, ''Abdiel'' again laid a minefield on the Axis evacuation route, {{convert|30|nmi|lk=in}} north of [[Cap Bon]], Tunisia. On 24 March a convoy entered the field, and the Italian destroyers {{ship|Italian destroyer|Ascari||2}} (1,645&nbsp;tons) and {{ship|Italian destroyer|Lanzerotto Malocello||2}} (2,125&nbsp;tons) were lost. On 3 April 1943 ''Abdiel'' laid a minefield between the Italian fields X-2 and X-3, whose location was known to the Allies through [[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra]] intercepts and captured documents. On 7 March a convoy ran afoul the field, losing one of their escorts, the {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Ciclone}} (910 tons).

==Sinking==
''Abdiel'', was sunk by mines in [[Taranto]] harbour, Italy on 10 September 1943, during [[Operation Slapstick]]. The mines had been laid just a few hours earlier by two German torpedo boats (''S-54'' and ''S-61''), as they left the harbour. ''Abdiel'', carrying troops of the [[1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|British 1st Airborne Division]] ([[6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion]] and [[1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers#204 (Oban) Anti-Tank Battery|204 (Oban) Anti-Tank Battery]], [[Royal Artillery]]<ref>[https://www.paradata.org.uk/unit/2nd-airlanding-anti-tank-battery-ra 204L A/T Bty at Paradata website.]</ref>), took the berth which had been declined earlier by the captain of the US cruiser {{USS|Boise|CL-47|6}}. Shortly after midnight, two mines detonated beneath ''Abdiel'' and the minelayer sank in three minutes, with great loss of life among both sailors and soldiers. The 1st Airborne Division lost 58 dead and around 150 injured, the Derbyshire Yeomanry lost 1 member of Popskis private army Lt.McGillavray and 48 crew were lost. There is a rumour that the ship's [[degaussing]] equipment had been turned off to reduce noise and to allow troops to sleep better.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3953.html | work=Uboat.net | title = HMS ''Abdiel'' (M 39)|access-date=2007-07-16}}</ref> Commander F Ashe Lincoln QC RNVR gives a different cause in his book "Secret Naval Investigator" (Wm Kimber London 1961, and pp132–3 of the 2017 reprint). A naval mine clearance expert, he found in the Germans' Taranto magazine a number of large wooden wheels fitted with depth charges, with a timing clock and explosive charge in the centre. He says that one of these devices had been sunk next to the mooring buoy Abdiel used when the Germans evacuated the previous night.

{{Portal|United Kingdom}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal|last1=Caruana|first1=Joseph|year=2012 |title=Emergency Victualling of Malta During WWII|journal=Warship International|volume=LXIX |issue=4 |pages=357–364 |issn=0043-0374}}
* {{Cite book|last=Nicholson|first=Arthur|title=Very Special Ships: ''Abdiel''-Class Fast Minelayers of World War Two|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|year=2015|isbn=978-1-84832-235-6}}
*Warlow, Ben, Lt. Cdr., Royal Navy (2004) ''Battle Honours of the Royal Navy'', Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK {{ISBN|1-904459-05-6}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-07ML-Abdiel.htm |title=HMS ''Abdiel'', British minelayer, WW2 |publisher=naval-history.net |access-date=2009-12-05}}
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{{Abdiel class minelayer}}
{{September 1943 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdiel (M39)}}
[[Category:Abdiel-class minelayers]]
[[Category:Ships built on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:1940 ships]]
[[Category:World War II minelayers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by mines]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1943]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]]