HMS Douglas

HMS Douglas was an Admiralty type flotilla leader (also known as the Scott-class) of the British Royal Navy.

[2] The ship's machinery consisted of four Yarrow boilers that fed steam at 250 pounds per square inch (1,700 kPa) to two sets of Parsons single-reduction geared-steam turbines, rated at 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW).

[14] On 16 September 1918, Douglas' boats helped to pick up survivors from the monitor Glatton, which was scuttled in Dover harbour following a magazine fire and explosion.

[15] On 25 October that year Douglas transferred to the Grand Fleet, joining the 11th Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow.

[15] Douglas was refitted at Sheerness dockyard in January to March 1928, and then commissioned as leader of the 1st Submarine Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet, based at Malta on 7 April 1928.

[15] Douglas was refitted at Malta in August 1935, and in September that year, as a result of the Abyssinia Crisis, reinforcing the 1st Destroyer Flotilla.

[22][25] On 24 October, Douglas, along with the leader Keppel and the destroyers Watchman and Vidette, set out to hunt the German submarine U-37, which had sunk three merchant ships.

[26] On 21 January 1940, Douglas was escorting the Gibraltar bound convoy OG.15F off the coast of Portugal when she spotted a German submarine U-44 and attacked.

[22][29][30] On 2 November, Douglas rescued twelve survivors from the naval trawler Wardour, which had been sunk by a mine on 31 October.

[31] In February 1941, Douglas was transferred from the Home Fleet to Western Approaches Command, joining the 2nd Escort Group.

[36][44] On 11 July 1943, Douglas, together with the destroyer HMCS Iroquois and the frigate Moyola, were escorting a convoy consisting of the troopships California and Duchess of York and the munitions ship Port Fairy, when the convoy was attacked by three Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors of Kampfgeschwader 40 300 miles (480 km) off Vigo.

Both California and Duchess of York were badly hit, with 46 killed aboard California and 27 aboard Duchess of York, and the blazing ships were sunk by the convoy's escorts early the next day after the survivors were rescued, in order to avoid the attentions of U-boats.

She was sold for scrap on 20 March 1945 to the British Iron & Steel Corporation (BISCO) who passed the ship on to TW Ward.

HMS Douglas (1918) before modifications
Douglas after conversion to a short range escort