HMS Volage was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy, commissioned on 26 May 1944, that served in the Arctic and the Indian Oceans during World War II.
She was the fifth Royal Naval ship to bear the name (a sixth was planned during World War I as a modified V-class destroyer but the order was cancelled in 1918).
[3]) On 10 August, 26DF escorted other warships[note 2] for air attacks on shipping and shore targets between the islands of Lepsøya and Haramsøya in Norway.
[note 4][2] On 14 March, Volage, and the destroyers Saumarez and Rapid formed Force 70 for a reconnaissance of Langkawi Sound and sailed for the Malacca Straits (Operation Transport).
The British ships bombarded the railway works at Sigli, on Sumatra, on 17 March and resuming their anti-shipping sweep, without success, off the Nicobar islands.
Volage had developed engine defects which limited her to the use of only one propeller shaft and consequentially she remained offshore, firing air bursts over the shore batteries.
Rapid was hit by 6 inch fire from shore batteries shortly after entered the harbour, disabled and unable to make headway.
[2] On 25 March, Force 70, now consisting of Saumarez, Virago, Vigilant and Volage sailed on an anti-shipping sweep between the Andamans and the Malayan coast (Operation On Board).
Next day, Force 70 located and attacked an enemy convoy[note 5] of four transports escorted by two Japanese anti-submarine vessels that were en route from Singapore to Port Blair with supplies, troops and "comfort women".
[2][5] During April, Volage was used in convoy protection and the interception of the supply ships for the force of German u-boats operating in the Indian Ocean.
[2] According to a crew member, John Mills, Volage was the first Allied ship into Penang and the local Japanese surrender was made on the dockside nearby.
[6] Volage stayed at Penang into September as radio ship until shore facilities had been established and then supported the landings at Port Dickson.
[2] Volage returned to Trincomalee for local duties and subsequently departed for service in the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, with the Mediterranean Fleet in Malta.
[2] She underwent major conversion work at the Chatham Dockyard during 1952–1953 to become a Type 15 anti-submarine frigate, rejoined the Fleet in 1954 (with a new pennant number, F41) and served in the Dartmouth Training Squadron for two years.
The EMC was a spherical weapon 44 in (1.12 m) in diameter with seven Hertz horns (a German-invented chemical detonator that closed the circuit for firing) with a charge of 661 lbs (300 kg) (Campbell 1985:270).
Volage reportedly hit the mine head on; "In a split second forty feet of the destroyer, from the fore peak to just in front of 'A' gun turret, had vanished.
The inaugural season, conducted from the R/V Hercules, involved a multibeam sonar survey with remotely operated vehicle (ROV) assessment of targets to the 120 m contour.
During the 2009 field season the sonar target in this area was re-examined by James P. Delgado of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Auron Tare of The Albanian Center for Marine Research ROV specialist Kim Wilson, and George Robb, Jr., President and founder of the RPM Nautical Foundation, who immediately assessed the potential of the 2007 "wreck" as the possible bow of Volage in response to Delgado’s question of whether the surveys of 2007–09 had encountered any traces of the Corfu Channel Incident.