HMS Nubian (F36)

HMS Nubian ( F36/L36/G36 ) was a destroyer of the Tribal class of the Royal Navy. It was the second ship, which was given the name HMS Nubian.

The ship was on August 10, 1936 ( Woolston, Hampshire ) is placed at John I. Thornycroft & Co. in Kiel and launched on December 21, 1937. Originally scheduled for October 1938 pending acquisition by the Navy was delayed due to planned load tests but were eventually canceled and it was put into service on December 6, 1938.

Then the Nubian 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet was assigned and transferred to Gibraltar, where she arrived on 29 January 1939. In the following years, she completed practice runs and port visits until she was transferred in August to Alexandria. From there, she oversaw trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean in search of some of Germany contraband.

In October she returned to repair the machinery to Portsmouth, from where it was towed on the 20th of the month to the manufacturer yard in Southampton to replace the turbine blades. After repairs are completed, it was the beginning of December the Home Fleet assumed and held various protection and monitoring tasks in the North Sea and the North Atlantic. January 1940, she spent mostly in the repair yard after it had collided on January 7 at Greenock with a merchant ship. On the 24th they took their service again and was, along with the tribal destroyers Cossack, Sikh and Zulu, to search for the German tanker Altmark used, which British prisoners of war had on board. The triggered in the course of this action Altmark incident was the cause of the trigger for the German occupation of Norway.

On 16 May 1940, the Nubian left Devonport bound for Alexandria, to accept as part of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla monitoring tasks in the eastern Mediterranean. On June 21, she took over with other ships the backing of the British and French forces during the bombardment of coastal defenses at Bardia.

Awards

The Nubian received thirteen awards for participating in battles, making it one of the most decorated ships of the Royal Navy. It was in only surpassed by the HMS Warspite.