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HMS ''Hotspur'' was an H-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. During the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War, she fought in the First Battle of Narvik in April 1940 where she was badly damaged. After her repairs were completed, ''Hotspur'' was transferred to Gibraltar where she participated in the Battle of Dakar in September. A month later the ship was badly damaged when she rammed and sank an Italian submarine. She received permanent repairs in Malta and was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet when they were finished in early 1941. ''Hotspur'' participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March and evacuated British and Australian troops from both Greece and Crete in April–May. In June the ship participated in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign and was escorting convoys and the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet until she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March 1942. ''Hotspur'' did not see any action during the Japanese Indian Ocean raid in April, but she did escort an aircraft carrier in September during the later stages of the invasion of Madagascar. In June 1942 the ship returned to the Mediterranean to escort another convoy to Malta (Operation Vigorous). She was converted to an escort destroyer beginning in March 1943 in the United Kingdom and was assigned to escort convoys in the North Atlantic for most of the rest of the war. After a lengthy refit in late 1944, ''Hotspur'' escorted convoys in the Irish Sea until the end of the Second World War in May 1945. After the war the ship was used both as a training ship and on active duty until she was placed in reserve in early 1948. She was sold to the Dominican Republic late that year and renamed ''Trujillo''. After the death of Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, the ship was renamed ''Duarte'' in 1962, and finally was sold for scrap in 1972. ==Description== ''Hotspur'' 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. ''Hotspur'' 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,〔Whitley, p. 109〕 but this increased to 146 in wartime.〔English, pp. 89, 102〕 The ship mounted four 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, ''Hotspur'' 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 torpedoes.〔 One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.〔English, p. 141〕 Beginning in mid-1940, the ship's anti-aircraft armament was increased although when exactly the modifications were made is not known. The rear set of torpedo tubes was replaced by a AA gun and the quadruple .50-calibre Vickers mounts were replaced by autocannon. Two more Oerlikon guns were also added in the forward superstructure.〔 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 Hotspur (H01)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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