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Allied Warships

HMS Vidette (D 48)

Destroyer of the Admiralty V & W class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassAdmiralty V & W 
PennantD 48 
Built byA. Stephen & Sons Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland) 
Ordered 
Laid down1 Feb, 1917 
Launched28 Feb, 1918 
Commissioned27 Apr, 1918 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistoryReconstruction to Long Range Escort finished in January 1943.

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 4 March 1947.

Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. D.R. Brocklebank, RN (retired)
15 June 1939 – June 1940

Lt.Cdr. Eric Norman Walmsley, RN
June 1940 – ???
Promoted to Lt.Cdr. on 28 April 1941
DSC awarded on 11 June 1942

HMS Vidette was in Dockyard Control during conversion / refit

Lt. Raymond Hart, DSC, RN
Promoted to Lt.Cdr. on 24 June 1941
Bar to DSC awarded on 19 October 1943
21 December 1942 – 6 November 1943

Cdr. Peter William Gretton, OBE, DSO and Bar, DSC, RN
6 November 1943 – 1 December 1943

Lt.Cdr. Raymond Hart, DSC and Bar, RN
1 December 1943 – March 1944

Lt. Percival John Stoner, RN
March 1944 – 14 April 1944

T/A/Lt.Cdr. G.S. Wooley, RNVR
14 April 1944 – still in command in April 1945 according to the Navy List

HMS Vidette is not listed as active unit in the July 1945 Navy list 


Noteable events involving Vidette include:

6 May, 1943
The German submarine U-531 was sunk in the North Atlantic north-east of Newfoundland, in position 52º48'N, 45º18'W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Vidette (Lt. R. Hart, DSC, RN). (see map)

6 May, 1943
The German submarine U-630 was sunk in the North Atlantic north-east of Newfoundland, in position 52º31'N, 44º50'W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Vidette (Lt. R. Hart, DSC, RN). (see map)

23 Oct, 1943
The German submarine U-274 was sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Iceland in position 57º14'N, 27º50'W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Duncan (Cdr. P.W. Gretton, OBE, DSO, DSC, RN) and HMS Vidette (Lt.Cdr. R. Hart, DSC and Bar, RN), and by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 224/Z). (see map)

29 Oct, 1943
The German submarine U-282 was sunk south-east of Greenland, in position 55º28'N, 31º57'W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Vidette (Lt.Cdr. R. Hart, DSC and Bar, RN) and HMS Duncan (Cdr. P.W. Gretton, OBE, DSO, DSC, RN) and the British corvette HMS Sunflower (Lt.Cdr. J. Plomer, DSC, RCNVR). (see map)

20 Aug, 1944
The German submarine U-413 was sunk in the English Channel south of Brighton, in position 50º21'N, 00º01'W, by depth charges from the British escort destroyer HMS Wensleydale (A/Lt.Cdr. W.P. Goodfellow, RNVR) and the British destroyers HMS Forester (Lt. D.C. Beatty, RN) and HMS Vidette (T/A/Lt.Cdr. G.S. Wooley, RNVR). (see map)


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