HMS destroyer Onslow

This destroyer was typical of many built for the Royal Navy in World War II, but her chief claim to fame is her part in the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942, when she and the rest of her flotilla held off a pocket battleship and a heavy cruiser, and saved a large convoy from certain destruction.

The Onslow was the leader of the 'O' class, or 1st Emergency Flotilla of destroyers laid down in 1940. She was completed in mid-1941 and joined the Home Fleet, with the remaining seven ships of her class. These destroyers were virtually repetitions of the Javelin class of 1937, but designed for a simplified armament of single guns. The chronic shortage of weapons affected destroyers as badly as any category of warship, and only four of the 'O' class received even their designed stopgap armament; the others were given an extemporised armament of even older guns.

Onslow spent most of the War with the Home Fleet, but also saw action during the invasion of North Africa and the Normandy landings, and served for awhile in the Mediterranean. After a particularly arduous career she served in the post war fleet before being refitted for transfer to Pakistan in 1951. She remains a unit of the Pakistan Navy to this day, but has undergone conversion to an antisubmarine frigate.

The drawing shows Onslow as completed. Note the four single 4.7-inch guns, which were the standard destroyer-weapon up to 1935. With only 400 elevation, they were known to be inadequate against aircraft, but nothing else was available. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of a single 4-inch gun in place of the after bank of torpedo-tubes (never installed) and a four-barrelled pom-pom abaft the funnel. This weapon, with its high rate of fire and maximum elevation was the only effective defence against dive-bombers in 1941, apart from the 20-mm. Oerlikon guns mounted in the bridge wings and on the searchlight platform.

The bridge-structure is typical of destroyers of the period. Note the Type 286 radar office immediately forward of the funnel, with the platform for the flag lockers above it. On the same level are the platforms for the 20-mm. guns in each wing of the bridge; note the limit rails, to prevent the Oerlikon gunner from firing into the superstructure or cutting wireless aerials.

Splinter mattresses protect the front of the bridge (they can also be seen around the 4-inch A.A. gun aft). The director (Mark V type) on top of the bridge has aerials for the Type 285 surface gunnery radar set. The tripod mast carries the only other radar, a Type 286 aerial at the masthead (non-rotating), and the two yardarms carry signal halyards and WIT aerials. The 1ower half of the fore leg of the tripod carries a double frame for the Variable Frequency Direction-finder.

The boats comprise a 27-foot whaler on the starboard side, and a 25-foot motor boat on the port side. In addition, two 16-foot dinghies are also carried.
Awning stanchions are shown for completeness, but these would be rigged only on rare occasions during wartime.

As Onslow was the flotilla-leader of the 'O' class, she required extra accommodation; the only outward sign of this was in the enlarged after-superstructure.
The anti-submarine weapons are carried on the quarterdeck, and comprise two depth-charge throwers. Note that very few spare depth-charges were carried at this time; the canisters stowed on the quarterdeck are smoke-floats, which were dropped to supplement funnel-smoke when laying smokescreens.

The Onslow's immortal action took place on 31 December 1942, when she and five other destroyers defended Convoy JW.51.B against a determined attack by the German Lutzow and Hipper, with a force of large destroyers. The convoy was bound for Russia, and while steaming through the Barents Sea, it seemed a tempting target to the German forces in Norway. But, a~r a series of frustrated passes at the merchant ships, the German units were driven off by the Onslow and her flotilla. Late in the action the Hipper hit the Onslow severely in the funnel and bridge, partially blinding Captain Sherbrooke. Nevertheless he continued to direct the action until the German cruiser turned away in a snowstorm, and for his heroic example he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The result of the battle was of immeasurable importance. Hitler was so angry at the poor performance of his he~vy surface units that he ordered all heavy warships to be disarmed. Although this fatuous order was later rescinded, Hitler's tantrum caused the resignation of Admiral Raeder from the command of the Kriegsmarine, and it left the German naval staff in profound gloom.
Conversely, the knowledge that six destroyers could drive off German heavy units gave British morale a boost, and helped to banish the spectre of the Po.17 disaster.