Allied Warships

HMS Zodiac (R 54)

Destroyer of the Z class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Z
Pennant	R 54
Built by	Thornycroft (Southampton, U.K.)
Ordered	12 Feb 1942
Laid down	7 Nov 1942
Launched	11 Mar 1944
Commissioned	23 Oct 1944
End service
History	Was purchased by Israel in 1955 and served in the Israeli Navy as K-42 INS Yafo until 1969. In 1970 was used as a target ship and sunk after being hit by a Gabriel missile.

Commands listed for HMS Zodiac (R 54)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Henry Richard Rycroft, DSC, RN	28 Aug 1944	26 Oct 1945

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Notable events involving Zodiac include:

15 Nov 1944
During the morning, HMS Taciturn (Lt.Cdr. E.T. Stanley, DSO, DSC, RN), conducts A/S exercises with HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN). During the afternoon A/S exercises were carried out with HMS Bute (T/A/Lt.Cdr. R.L. Root, RNVR). (1)

17 Nov 1944
During the morning HMS Taciturn (Lt.Cdr. E.T. Stanley, DSO, DSC, RN) conducts A/S exercises with HMS Zealous (Cdr. R.F. Jessel, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN) and HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN). (1)

25 Nov 1944
HMS Vengeful (Lt. A.S. Melville-Ross, DSC, RN) conducted A/S exercises at/off Scapa Flow with HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN). (2)

13 Dec 1944
HrMs Dolfijn (Lt.Cdr. J.B.M.J. Maas, RNN) conducted exercises off Dundee together with HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN). (3)

9 Apr 1945
HMS Scorcher (Lt. K.S. Renshaw, DSC, RNR) conducted A/S exercises off Scapa Flow with HMCS Huron (Lt.Cdr. H.V.W. Groos, RCN) and HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN). (4)