HMS Greyhound was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. Greyhound participated in the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, the Dunkirk evacuation in May and the Battle of Dakar in September before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in November. The ship generally escorted the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet as they protected convoys against attacks from the Italian Fleet. She sank two Italian submarines while escorting convoys herself in early 1941. Greyhound was sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers north-west of Crete on 22 May 1941 as she escorted the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet attempting to intercept the German sea-borne invasion forces destined for Crete.
Description
Greyhound displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Greyhound carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime, but increased to 146 in wartime.
The ship mounted four 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft defence Greyhound had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for British 21 inch torpedo| torpedoes.
Service
Greyhound was laid down by Vickers Armstrong Naval Construction Works at Barrow-in-Furness on 20 September 1934, launched on 15 August 1935 and completed on 31 January 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £248,768. Aside from a brief period when she was assigned to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla after her commissioning, Greyhound spent the prewar period assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet. She was refitted at Portsmouth Dockyard between 7 June and 23 July 1938 and escorted the ocean liner between Malta and Alexandria during the Munich Crisis in September 1938. She then escorted the light cruiser on her voyage to Aden. The city would fall the next day.
Greyhound and her entire flotilla were transferred to the Western Approaches Command at Plymouth in October. On 12 November 1939 she collided with her sister ship, en route to Harwich, and her new assignment with the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, but she was only slightly damaged, and her repairs were completed two days later. The ship rescued survivors on 18 November from the passenger-cargo liner , which had been sunk by two magnetic mines in the North Sea, and from Torchbearer the following day. Greyhound began escorting coastal convoys on 5 December when she was transferred back to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla. On 14 January she captured the German blockade runner Phaedra in the North Sea. The ship was refitted between 16 February and 18 March 1940 and later reassigned to the Home Fleet. The ship was damaged by German bombers at Scapa Flow on 18 April and was repaired at Gravesend, Kent, between 22 April and 19 May. Greyhound herself was transferred to the 14th Destroyer Flotilla in Alexandria. She participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November during Operation Collar. The ship escorted the capital ships of the Mediterranean Fleet during the Battle of Cape Matapan on 28/29 March and initiated the night action when her searchlight illuminated an Italian cruiser. Greyhound and her sister, , attacked some of the Italian destroyers, but lost them when they passed through their own smokescreen. She sank the Italian sailing ship Romagna on 17 April off Apollonia, Cyrenaica as she was conducting an anti-shipping sweep off the North African coast with the Australian destroyer . During the invasion of Crete, Greyhound escorted the battleship west of Crete on 22 May as she covered the cruiser forces attempting to sink the German invasion convoys. The ships were en route to rendezvous with the cruisers in the Kythira Strait when she was struck by three bombs dropped by Stukas of StG 2 and sank a few minutes afterwards. Her survivors were rescued by the destroyers and , but six officers and 74 sailors were killed in the attack. The Germans later rescued four more sailors.