HMS Gurkha (F20)

HMS Gurkha ( F20/L20 ) was a destroyer of the Tribal class of the Royal Navy.

The keel-laying ceremony at the shipyard Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan was on 6 July 1936. Launching was followed on 7 July 1937, on 21 October 1938, the HMS Gurkha was provided as part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in service.

Until the outbreak of World War II completed the ship test drives and port visits in the Mediterranean. In September 1939, she took over with other ships to monitor the activities of the Italian Navy in the Red Sea. In October, the Gurkha to the Home Fleet was ordered back and went as part of the Humber Striking Force escort missions of Portland Harbour and from Scapa Flow. On 23 February, she sank west of the Orkney Islands, the German submarine U 53 by depth charges.

While the company Weserübung the Gurkha was attacked by Ju -88 and He-111 bombers of the Luftwaffe, as their battle group broke off the planned attack on mountains. When trying to create a better field of fire the ship left the protection of the fleet and thus became an easy target for the attacker. The Gurkha fell on 9 April 1940 south-west of Bergen. She was the first British destroyer that was sunk by an air attack. Your crew was rescued up to 15 men from the cruiser HMS Aurora.

Royal Navy ( HMS): Afridi | Ashanti | Bedouin | Cossack | Eskimo | Gurkha | Maori | Mashona | Matabele | Mohawk | Nubian | Punjabi | Sikh | Somali | Tartar | Zulu

Australian Navy ( HMAS ): Arunta | Bataan | Warramunga |

Canadian Navy ( HMCS ) Athabaskan (I) | Athabaskan ( II) | Cayuga | Haida | Huron | Iroquois | Micmac | Nootka |

• Tribal - class (1936 )
• Ship loss in World War II