HMS Berkeley (L17)

HMS Berkeley was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the first subgroup of the Hunt class and saw service in World War II before being bombed at Dieppe and then scuttled by HMS Albrighton (L12).

Design
The Hunt-class wase meant to fill the Royal Navy's need for a large number of small destroyer-type vessels capable of both convoy escort and operations with the fleet, and were designed with a heavy anti-aircraft armament of six 4-inch anti-aircraft guns and a speed of 29 kn. An error during design, which was only discovered once the first ship of the class HMS Atherstone (L05) was built, meant that the ships as designed were dangerously unstable. To restore stability, the first 23 Hunts, including Berkeley, were modified by removing a twin 4-inch mount, cutting down the ships' superstructure and adding ballast. These ships were known as Type I Hunts. Later ships in the class had their beam increased, which allowed them to carry the originally intended armament, and were known as Type II Hunts.

Berkeley was 264 ft long between perpendiculars and 280 ft overall. The ship's beam was 29 ft and draught 7 ft. Displacement was 1000 LT standard and 1360 LT under full load. Two Admiralty boilers raising steam at 300 psi and 620 F fed Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines that drove two propeller shafts, generating 19000 shp at 380 rpm. This gave a speed of 27.5 kn.

The ship's main gun armament was four 4 inch (102 mm) QF Mk XVI dual purpose (anti-ship and anti-aircraft) guns in two twin mounts, with one mount forward and one aft. Additional close-in anti-aircraft armament was provided by a quadruple 2-pounder "pom-pom" mount. Type I Hunts were later modified by adding two single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon on the bridge wings. Up to 40 depth charges could be carried. The ship had a complement of 146 officers and men.

Construction
Berkeley was one of the first 10 Hunt-class destroyers ordered on 21 March 1939 as part of the 1939 Construction Programme. The ship was laid down on 8 June 1939 at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard as Admiralty Job No. J3302. She was launched on 29 January 1940 and completed on 6 June 1940, with the pennant number L17.Berkeley, named after one of two Gloucestershire Fox Hunts, was the first ship of that name to serve with the Royal Navy.

Career
Berkeley  interrupted her work up to take part in participated in Operation Aerial, the evacuation of the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force from ports in western France. Berkeley ferried senior naval officers to St Nazaire to help organise evacuations from there, and then sent to Bordeaux to act as a radio link to Paul Reynaud and the French government. After the Fall of France, she evacuated the remaining British embassy staff as well as Władysław Raczkiewicz and Polish and Czech troops.

Following completion of her work up, Berkeley joined the 1st Destroyer Flotilla based at Portsmouth, with duties of convoy escort in the English Channel and the North Sea. In August 1940, Berkeley escorted minelayers during minelaying Operation SN32. On the night of 8/9 September 1940, Berkeley, together with the destroyers HMS Atherstone (L05), HMS Beagle (H30), HMS Bulldog (H91) and HMS Fernie, carried out a sweep along the French coast between Le Touquet and Cap d'Antifer against reported concenttrations of German invasion shipping. No contact was made with the enemy. On 20 December 1940, she received minor damage when a mine exploded 30 yd off her port side when in the outer Medway. She was repaired at Chatham Dockyard.

After the repairs were completed, Berkeley resumed convoy escort duties in January 1941. On 22 February, she escorted HMS Icarus (D03) during the minelaying Operation JK off the French coast. For the rest of the year, Berkeley escorted convoys and patrolled the English Channel. On 15 February 1942, she participated in the unsuccessful attempt to intercept the German battleships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau during the Channel Dash. Six Hunt-class destroyers were at sea on 15 January, taking part in exercises with the six old fleet destroyers of the 15th and 21st Destroyer Flotillas. When the force was ordered to intercept the German ships, the Hunts were sent back to port as they carried no torpedoes, and so could not cause significant damage to the German heavy units.

Lieutenant James Yorke became her commander on 27 March 1942. Berkeley continued convoy escort duties until July 1942, when she was selected to be part of the naval force supporting Operation Jubilee. On 19 August 1942, Berkeley escorted the Dieppe raiding force, screening the landing forces. Berkeley then provided gunfire support, but the 4-inch guns of the destroyers proved to be of limited effectiveness. While the force was withdrawing, Berkeley was hit by two bombs dropped from Focke-Wulf Fw 190s of Jagdgeschwader 2, which broke the ship's back. Sixteen of Berkeley's crew, together with a number of Canadian troops who had been picked up from a landing craft shortly before, were killed. As the damage was beyond control, she was abandoned, and then scuttled by torpedoes from the escort destroyer HMS Albrighton (L12).