HMS Middleton – L74
Index of Allied warships during Operation Neptune
History, technical sheet and photo
HMS Middleton history
This Hunt class escort destroyer was launched on 12 May 1941 and entered active service on 10 January 1942. Its first missions consisted of escorts and patrols in the English Channel and the North Sea. Subsequently, the Middleton is deployed in the Arctic with the same objectives.
In June 1942, it was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the protection of convoys sailing to Malta before returning to the Arctic Ocean. Renovated at the beginning of 1943, it continued to carry out its escort and patrol missions until May 1944, when the destroyer was integrated into Task Force D, which itself belonged to Task Force S, in preparation for Operation Overlord.
On the night of June 5-6, 1944, HMS Middleton escorted the convoys across the English Channel to Sword Beach and participated, on D-Day, in support of the landing troops. Following the Normandy landings, it patrolled in the Bay of Seine in search of possible German submarines and speedboats. In September 1944, the destroyer was caught under fire from the German battery of Cap Gris Nez and left the area. Thereafter, it made new escorts of convoys across the English Channel until the end of the Second World War.
Renovated in South Africa until December 1945, it returned to Great Britain and rolled into reserve. It was finally scrapped in February 1958.
HMS Middleton technical sheet
Creator/User: Great-Britain
Denomination: L 74 – H.M.S. Middleton
Class: Hunt Type II-class escort destroyer
Crew: 168 sailors
Armament (1944): 6x 101,6 mm guns, 4x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 2x 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, 110 anti-submarine grenades
Displacement: 1,600 tons
Speed: 27 knots
Length: 85,3 m
Beam: 9,6 m
Draught : 2,51 m
