HMAS Vampire was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was lent to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II. Reactivated for war service, the destroyer served in the Mediterranean as part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla, and was escorting the British warships and during their loss to Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea in December 1941. Vampire was sunk on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft while sailing with the aircraft carrier from Trincomalee.

Construction

The destroyer was one of five Admiralty V-class flotilla leaders ordered by the RN in the 1916–17 construction program. Originally, there were to be differences in design between the V class leaders and the rest of the V-class destroyers, but in order to save time in designing the destroyers, changes were limited to the layout of the bridge and accommodation areas.

Operational history

RN service

On entering service, Vampire was initially assigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. After the end of World War I, the destroyer saw service in British waters and the Mediterranean. as they were deployed to the Mediterranean Theatre. She was then deployed back to the Western Desert Campaign, operating as part of the "Tobruk Ferry Service"; ships transporting supplies and reinforcements to the Allied-controlled, besieged town of Tobruk.

World War II – British Eastern Fleet

thumb|Vampire on convoy escort in the Indian Ocean, 4 March 1942

In December 1941, she joined to the British Eastern Fleet at Colombo, Ceylon. In the first week of December, the battlecruiser started on a trip to Australia with Vampire and as escorts, but the force was recalled. Early in the morning of 8 December (Singapore time), Singapore came under attack by Japanese aircraft. Repulse and the British battleship , which were in the harbor at the time, shot back with anti-aircraft fire; no planes were shot down, and the ships sustained no damage. After receiving the reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor and invasions of Siam by the Japanese, Force Z (consisting of Prince of Wales and Repulse, escorted by Vampire, , , and Tenedos) put to sea at 17:30 hours on 8 December.

At 20:55 hours, Admiral Philips cancelled the operation, and ordered the force to return to Singapore. On the way back, they were spotted and reported by . The next morning, 10 December, they received a report of Japanese landings at Kuantan, and Express was sent to investigate the area, finding nothing. That afternoon, Prince of Wales and Repulse were attacked and sunk by 85 Japanese aircraft off Kuantan by aircraft from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. Vampire rescued 225 of the ships' 2,081 survivors from the sea, and transported them to Singapore.

Hermes was attacked by 45 bombers and sustained 40 hits or very near misses and was lost within twenty minutes. Vampire came under attack by 16 Vals and claimed to have shot down at least one aircraft but was hit or near missed by all sixteen 250 kg bombs, breaking in half and sinking 10 minutes after Hermes, her ensign the last to submerge.

Citations

References

Further reading

  • Royal Australian Navy webpage for HMAS Vampire (I)