Built by the famous John Brown & Company on the Clyde, HMS Fernie was only the second Hunt class ship to enter service, being completed in time to assist the final evacuations from France in June 1940. This photograph, likely taken around that time, provides a good impression of the ‘cut-down’ nature of the original Type I Hunts, which lost one of their twin 4in mountings to assist stability. Fernie’s subsequent career was focused on the North Sea and English Channel, where she participated in both the Dieppe and D-Day operations. Removed from frontline duties at the end of the European war, the destroyer served briefly as an air target ship before being reduced to reserve. She was finally scrapped in 1956.
ADMIRALTYThe years running up to the outbreak of World War II saw the Royal Navy scrambling to make good a significant deficit in warship numbers. As conflict became more and more likely, it was increasingly clear that existing strength was insufficient to meet the likely challenges ahead. Nowhere was this deficiency more apparent than with respect to destroyers, the traditional ‘maids of all work’ of navies around the world.
Against this backdrop, the British Admiralty looked for new ways to expand its destroyer flotillas. One potential solution wasfrontline fleets. These new escort destroyers would release their ‘fleet’ counterparts for their primary role, undertaking the wide range of convoy protection and other duties that also typically fell within the destroyer’s remit. The Hunt class was the result.