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HMS ''Aldenham'' (pennant number L22) was an escort destroyer of the Type III . The Royal Navy ordered its construction in July 1940. Upon completion in February 1942, she was deployed to convoy escort duty. ''Aldenham'' is one of the ships credited with the sinking of the on 27 March 1942. After circumnavigating Africa, she joined the Mediterranean Fleet, escorting convoys between Alexandria, Malta and Tobruk. She took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily, landings at Salerno and Anzio, the Dodecanese Campaign and Operation Dragoon before being assigned to the Adriatic Campaign. On 14 December 1944, ''Aldenham'' was sunk by a naval mine in the Adriatic Sea off Pag Island after she led a Royal Navy force in a bombardment mission against targets on the island of Pag and near the town of Karlobag in support of the Yugoslav Partisans. Although the rest of the force came to pick up survivors, cold weather and severe damage to ''Aldenham'' permitted the rescue of only 63 of her crew. Her wreck, broken in two by the explosion, was discovered in 1999–2000. It is a war grave, where 126 crew members and two Yugoslav Partisans aboard ''Aldenham'' at the time of the mining died. She was the last Royal Navy destroyer lost in World War II. ==Design and construction== ''Aldenham'' was a Royal Navy Type III ''Hunt''-class destroyer. She had an overall length of , a beam of and a maximum draught of . ''Aldenham'' had a standard displacement of , and a full load of . Her two Parsons geared steam turbines drove two propeller shaft. Steam was supplied by two Admiralty three-drum water-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at and gave ''Aldenham'' a speed of during sea trials, but she achieved up to on deployments. ''Aldenham'' was armed with four quick-firing Mk XVI naval guns on twin mounts, four anti-aircraft QF 2 pounder naval guns and three Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. She also had two torpedo tubes, and 70–100 depth charges deployed by four throwers and two chutes.〔 The ship was ordered on 4 July 1940. She was laid down by Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead on 22 August 1940 as construction project J 3766. ''Aldenham'' was launched on 27 August 1941 and completed on 5 February 1942.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Aldenham (L22)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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