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Allied Warships

HMS Opportune (G 80)

Destroyer of the O class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassO 
PennantG 80 
Built byThornycroft (Southampton, U.K.) 
Ordered3 Sep, 1939 
Laid down28 Mar, 1940 
Launched21 Feb, 1942 
Commissioned14 Aug, 1942 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistoryScrapped at Milford Haven on 25 November 1955.

Commanding Officers:
Cdr. Manley Laurence Power, OBE, RN
9 June 1942 – 26 September 1942

Cdr. John Lee-Barber, DSO, RN
26 September 1942 – 14 August 1944

Cdr. Robert Edward Dudley Ryder, VC, RN
14 August 1944 – 4 September 1945

Cdr. Colin William McMullen, DSC, RN
4 September 1945 – still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List 


Noteable events involving Opportune include:

12 May, 1943
The German submarine U-456 was almost certainly sunk in an diving accident on 12 May, 1943 in the North Atlantic, in position 46º39'N, 26º54'W, while facing the British destroyer HMS Opportune (Cdr. J. Lee-Barber, DSO, RN) after being badly damaged by a Fido homing torpedo from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 86/B). (see map)


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