History: Every
British Tribal was supposed to visit the people for whom the ship
was named. If this suggestion was carried out, it would have been
a very lengthy voyage for HMS MAORI, an impossible task for HMS
GURKHA and diplomatically impossible for HMS COSSACK and HMS TARTAR.
Luckily, ASHANTI was the only Tribal to make a special journey
to her namesakes, the country of Ghana in Africa and specifically
an area known as the Gold Coast. Her completion had been held
up by the delay of gun mountings. After workups were completed
at Portland, England ASHANTI departed to Gibraltar in company
with HMS ESKIMO. After Gibraltar, ASHANTI continued alone to Freetown,
Sierra Leone and then to Takoradi, Ghana where she arrived on
27th February 1939. There, the ship\'s company was presented with
a silver bell and a gold shield by the Asantehene (through Chief
Prempeh II) and the people of Ashanti. When the ship was open
for visitors, the local witchdoctors presented emblems of good
fortunes to her and placed symbols of valour and survival upon
the destroyer.
On 3rd May
1939, ASHANTI and her sister Tribals arrived at Cherbourg, France
for a good will visit. With war looming, it seemed likely that
British and French destroyers would be working together very closely.
It was important that they be friends, not just allies. As part
of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla (D.F.), ASHANTI was ordered to the
Irish Sea on 1st June when it was reported that the submarine
HMS THETIS had failed to surface during her sea trials. The submarine
was located with 18 feet of her stern sticking out of the water.
Four had escaped but ninety-nine men were still trapped inside.
A salvage attempt failed and the submarine disappeared beneath
the sea. When war began, the 6th D.F. was cruising with the Home
Fleet and French ships in the North Atlantic. Gradually the ships
saw less and less of each other as wartime patrols and new missions
developed. Over the next several months, ASHANTI\'S main responsibilities
were anti-submarine patrol followed by some brief escort duties
in December. ASHANTI began 1940 with more anti-submarine patrols,
convoy escort duties and supporting capital ships. Seawater began
seeping into her boiler feedwater tanks so she was dry-docked
for repairs at Cowes, England on 21 March . Later on 9th April,
she returned to the Home Fleet in time to participate in the Norwegian
campaign. She shared in the fruitless sweep of the North Sea and
the enemy air attacks which accompanied those missions. While
exploring a Norwegian fiord with HMS NUBIAN, she was attacked
by German bombers. One near miss bounced off ASHANTI\'s side and
exploded beneath her. The main turbo-generator was blown off its
bedplate by the resultant shock and naturally, the power failed.
Steering by hand from the tiller flat, ASHANTI zigzagged out of
the fiord at 26 knots for a successful escape. For most of June,
July, August and September, she took part in fleet escort duties
and anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic Ocean and the
North Sea. By 16th October, the new British battleship HMS King
George V was nearing completion at the Vickers-Armstrong yard
on the Tyne river. That ship would need a powerful escort of cruisers
and destroyers to take her up the coast to Scapa Flow, Scotland.
ASHANTI and five other destroyers were ordered to carry out a
high speed run through the channel leading to the Tyne river.
Collectively, it was hoped that these ships would produce enough
magnetic and acoustic disturbance to simulate a battleship’s passage
and detonate any mines which may have been sowed in the channel
by the enemy. Surrounded by secrecy and steaming at speed in a
murky drizzle, HMS FAME ran straight unto the beach at Whitburn
Rifle Range. ASHANTI, doing six knots and slightly behind her,
struck FAME a glancing blow. The shock shattered fuel oil pipes
in both ships and FAME caught fire. HMS MAORI also came too close
to shallow water and sheared off her ASDIC dome. The other ships
stopped in time and no further damage occurred. No one new why
they were there or the purpose of the entire exercise. When daylight
came, it became obvious that the destroyers were left high and
dry by the receding tide. As the tide rose, the bows of many of
the destroyers held fast. The swell lifted and swung their free
sterns dropping them unto the rocks and damaging the bottom plates.
ASHANTI, in particular, sustained such severe damage, that Vickers-Armstrong
sent a crew to her aid. They stripped off all armament and sealed
off what they could at low tide. On 9th of November, after two
weeks of effort, ASHANTI was re-floated and taken to Sunderland,
England for extensive repairs and hull stiffening. The winter
of 1940/41 proved to be a trying period for ASHANTI. A shortage
of armament and numerous new defects beset the ship and caused
the re-commissioning date to be continuously postponed. At last,
at the end of August 1941, she was ready for action again but
a propeller shaft that was found to be out of alignment caused
another delay. The autumn of 1941 consisted of patrols, sweeps
and constant exercises interspersed with boiler cleaning. Just
before Christmas 1941, the Tribals of the Home Fleet learned that
they were to take part in an Operation in the Lofoten Islands.
Force ‘Z’, as it was known, would clear the Germans out of the
village of Rheine and use it as a base for offensive operations
against German coastal shipping in Norwegian waters. Shore targets
were hit and small German boats were damaged. The presence of
Force ‘Z’ was reported back to Germany so a decision was made
to abandon the harbour on 28th December after some coaxing by
the German Luftwaffe. After a boiler clean on 10th January 1942,
ASHANTI arrived at Scapa Flow and spent January and February escorting
capital ships on exercises besides convoy escort on the Murmansk
run. By the beginning of August, she and the other ships of Force
‘Z’ set sail for Gibraltar. There, they would provide cover for
a massive convoy being assembled to support Malta. After the exhausting
heat of the Mediterranean, the Tribals were sent back to the bitter
cold of the Arctic for convoy duty. Later in the war, surviving
Tribals would be \'arcticised.\' Steam or electric heating was
supplied to the gun mountings and torpedo tubes and special insulation
was fitted to critical machinery to ensure it would not be affected
by the freezing temperatures. On 24th September, while providing
cover for convoy PQ14, a German submarine was detected. Depth
charging did not produce any results and the contact was lost.
ASHANTI, running low on fuel, interchanged positions with HMS
SOMALI on the inner screen and awaited a favourable opportunity
to refuel. SOMALI took up ASHANTI’S position and was immediately
hit amidships by a torpedo from U-703. The damage was very extensive.
Only the upper deck was holding the ship together. Most of SOMALI’s
crew was transferred to other ships except for 80 who remained
aboard for damage control. SOMALI was then taken in tow by ASHANTI.
After towing the crippled ship for nearly 420 miles, SOMALI’S
remaining plates buckled and she folded in half and sank. Only
a few men survived. By the end of October, ASHANTI, HMS ESKIMO,
HMS TARTAR, joined Force ‘H’ for Operation Torch, screening the
big ships en route to the invasion of North Africa. On 8th November,
the landings began and Force ‘H’ cruised off -shore to deal with
any interference from enemy ships. In January 1943, ASHANTI returned
to Gibraltar for repairs to her feedwater tanks. While berthing
along HMS RENOWN, the destroyer chipped one of her propellers
on the battlecruiser’s bilge keel. After repairs were completed,
more North African coastal patrols were assigned to the ship.
By March, ASHANTI, was pronounced unfit for operations and was
sent to Malta to have the defects rectified. Following that, she
sailed back to England for a major refit and more work on the
chronic problems with the feedwater tanks. On 15th October, she
arrived at Scapa Flow to begin workups and service with the Home
Fleet. By now, the lengthening Arctic nights afforded some protection
so she was back on convoy duty. From now on, ASHANTI would be
working closely with the Canadian Tribals. Eventually she became
a ‘chummy’ ship with HMCS HAIDA. Beginning in 1944, ASHANTI and
numerous other ships began a series of patrols in the Straits
of Dover and the mouth of the English Channel in preparation for
‘D’ Day. As part of the 10th D.F. now, she provided cover during
the invasion and patrolled the English Channel keeping it clear
of enemy ships. ASHANTI spent some time protecting convoys between
Plymouth, Falmouth and Milford Haven, England but on 16th September,
she arrived at Palmer’s Jarrow Yard for a refit. Her troubles
were very serious. All auxiliary machinery had to be restored.
The low pressure turbines were removed and partially rebladed.
Numerous other items had to be rectified. The Royal Navy spent
a quarter of a million pounds on repairs. When the refit was over,
more problems were discoverd and she was held up again. This time
ASHANTI was passed over and went into reserve at Rosyth, England
and was later laid up at Harwich. In 1948, she was used in damage
control tests in Loch Striven. ASHANTI had survived North Atlantic
gales, the Norwegian Campaign, running aground, Arctic convoys,
the invasion of North Africa, U-boats, aircraft, and some of the
toughest destroyer fighting of the Second World War. On 12th April
1949, she could no longer hold on and was destined to be broken
up at Troon. She was an absolute nightmare from a maintenance
and engineering viewpoint, yet she never let anyone down while
in action. What more could be asked of a warship? The old witchdoctors’
spells had proved stronger than the hazards of the sea and the
violence of the enemy.
アシャンティ.
H.M.S.
Ashanti class Frigate (F117) Ashanti.
