| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Destroyer |
| Class | K |
| Pennant | F 45 |
| Built by | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.): Wallsend |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 27 Oct 1937 |
| Launched | 6 Feb 1939 |
| Commissioned | 6 Nov 1939 |
| Lost | 23 Jun 1940 |
| Loss position | 12.38N, 43.24E (See a map) |
| History | On 23 June 1940 HMS Khartoum (Cdr. Donald Thorn Dowler, RN) was heavily damaged by fire and beached in the Red Sea off Perim in position 12º38'N, 43º24'E after a gunfire action with the Italian submarine Torricelli. Declared a constructive total loss. The fire aboard Khartoum broke out 5 and a half hours after the sinking of the Torcelli. Toricelli was sunk at 0624 local time by RN destroyers HMS Kingston, HMS Kandahar and Khartoum as well as the sloop HMS Shoreham. The fire aboard Khartoum started at 1150. A torpedo air flask exploded propelling the warhead through the deck house of number 3 4.7" mount. A ruptured oil tank for the mount started the fire which led eventually to the loss of the ship. Her loss seems more due to inexperienced damage control. The Admiralty inquest ruled out damage from enemy action and sabotage but captured members of the Toricelli's crew were housed aboard. (Primary source are Admiralty records used in the book, "The Kelly's" by Christopher Langtree on page 106.) Commanding Officer: |
Commands listed for HMS Khartoum (F 45)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Cdr. Donald Thorn Dowler, RN | 15 Sep 1939 | 23 Jun 1940 |
You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.
Noteable events involving Khartoum include:
23 Jun 1940
The Italian submarine Torricelli was forced to the surface and sunk off Perim in gun-battle by the British destroyers HMS Kandahar (Cdr. W.G.A. Robson, RN), HMS Kingston (Lt.Cdr. P. Somerville, RN), HMS Khartoum (Cdr. D.T. Dowler, RN) and the British sloop HMS Shoreham (Lt.Cdr. F.D. Miller, RN).