HMS Inglefield

HMS Inglefield was an I-class destroyer leader built for the Royal Navy that served during World War II.

The turbines developed a total of 38,000 shaft horsepower (28,000 kW) and were intended to give a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).

[2] The ship carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, Inglefield was fitted with two quadruple mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun.

A few days after that last attack, the ship was required to tow the submarine HMS Triad back to Stavanger, after she was damaged while on patrol in the North Sea.

Things were not helped by a violent storm which lasted for half of the journey time, during which, an ammunition locker on Electra's forecastle broke loose and started sliding around the deck.

It was believed that she was the heavy cruiser Deutschland, and a massive naval effort by the Royal Navy failed to stop her from returning to a German port.

She was one of 18 British, Greek and Polish destroyers which, along with four Royal Navy cruisers, made up the escort for the battleships Nelson, Rodney, Warspite and Valiant, the aircraft carriers Indomitable and Formidable in the Ionian Sea.

During Operation Shingle in early 1944, Inglefield carried out a diversionary bombardment of Civitavecchia to draw Axis forces away from Anzio.

The ship operated out of Naples, ferrying supplies and troops to the battle, as well as continuing to provide covering fire and bombardment of coastal roads.

She was in this capacity for ten days before sustaining a direct hit by a Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb launched by II./KG 100 during a dusk attack and was sunk with the loss of 35 lives.

The Bismarck ' s last action
Inglefield supported the landings at Anzio by bombarding reinforcement and supply routes and by supplying covering fire for the ground troops