HMS Melbreak
Destroyer of the Royal Navy
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HMS Melbreak was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the third subgroup of the class, and saw service in the Second World War. All the ships of this class were named after British fox hunts. She was the first Royal Navy warship with this name, after the Melbreak hunt in Cumbria.[1] In 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of Cockermouth in Cumberland, as part of Warship Week.
Melbreak underway in Plymouth Sound, 1943 (IWM) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Melbreak |
| Ordered | 28 July 1940 |
| Builder | J. Samuel White, East Cowes, Isle of Wight |
| Laid down | 23 June 1941 |
| Launched | 5 March 1942 |
| Commissioned | 10 October 1942 |
| Honours and awards |
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| Fate | Scrapped in 1956 |
| Badge | On a Field Red a sun in splendour Gold, pierced by a broken spear erect Block. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Hunt-class destroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a |
| Beam | 10.16 m (33 ft 4 in) |
| Draught | 3.51 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h) |
| Complement | 168 |
| Armament |
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Service history
On commissioning Melbreak served in the English Channel, but in 1943 she was deployed to the Mediterranean. In 1944 she served mostly in the English Channel and was part of the escort force for the assault and landings in Normandy, as part of the D-Day operations.
On 28 August 1944 she was attacked in the English Channel by an unknown aircraft, causing 20 casualties including five killed. She was subsequently repaired in Barry, South Wales.
On 7 May 1945 Melbreak suffered considerable damage on grounding and was repaired at Sheerness. She was subsequently placed in reserve at Chatham. She was in attendance at the Coronation Fleet Review in Portsmouth in 1953.[2]
She was subsequently sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward and arrived at their ship breaking yard in Grays on 22 November 1956.[3]