HMS Termagant (R89): A Wolf Pack of One in the Aegean

The Build: Dumbarton

HMS Termagant was built by William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton, laid down on 25 November 1941, launched on 22 March 1943 and completed that October, a T-class destroyer armed with four 4.7-inch guns and two quadruple torpedo tube mounts, built for exactly the kind of hard, varied fighting she would go on to see.

The Arctic Convoys

After working up at Scapa Flow, Termagant formed part of the local escort for the Arctic convoy JW54A, covering the initial leg of the journey between 15 and 18 November 1943 before being relieved by ocean escorts, a brief but bitterly cold introduction to active service.

Forcing a U-Boat to the Surface

Arriving at Alexandria in January 1944 to join the 24th Destroyer Flotilla, Termagant took part in shelling operations against Vela Luka in Croatia and Bar in Montenegro, before helping hunt the German submarine U-453 after it attacked a convoy that May.

Making contact on 20 May, Termagant and two other destroyers forced the submarine to the surface the following morning and sank her by gunfire, a satisfying and hard-earned kill.

Four Ships Sunk in the Aegean

Termagant supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France, in August 1944, before turning her attention to the Aegean that autumn, where German forces were desperately trying to evacuate.

On 7 October, working with HMS Tuscan, she intercepted a German convoy in the Gulf of Salonica, sinking the torpedo boat TA37, the submarine chaser UJ210 and the patrol boat GK32 in a single decisive action, before sinking the torpedo boat TA18 off Volos on 19 October, an extraordinarily productive fortnight even by the standards of a hard-fighting war.

Okinawa, Truk, and Tokyo Bay

After a refit at Portsmouth, Termagant sailed for the Pacific under a new pennant, D47, supporting British Pacific Fleet carriers during the Okinawa operations of May 1945 and escorting HMS Implacable during the strike on Truk Atoll that June. She remained on station through July and was present at the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, a fitting close to an exceptionally active war.

A Second Career, and Scrapping

Converted to a Type 16 anti-submarine frigate in 1951 and recommissioned as F189, Termagant went on to serve as a target ship with the 3rd Submarine Flotilla and took part in the 1953 Coronation Fleet Review, before returning to reserve in 1957. She was finally sold for scrapping in 1965 to Arnott Young at Dalmuir, closing out the career of one of the more successful destroyers of the entire war.