HMS Westcott (D47)

HMS Westcott (D47) was a Royal Navy Admiralty W class destroyer that served in the Second World War.

She was built by William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton, Scotland, who laid her down in 1917 and launched her on 14 February 1918. She was commissioned on 12 April. She was named after Captain George Blagdon Westcott, who was killed at the Battle of the Nile,

In the Second World War Westcott served in an anti-submarine role and escorted numerous Atlantic and Malta convoys. On 16 January 1941, along with the Royal Navy tugs HMS Superman and HMS Tenacity, she rescued 143 survivors from SS Oropesa, which GS U-96 (1940) had torpedoed and sunk in the Western Approaches.

In 1942 Westcott sank two submarines: GS U-581 and the Vichy French Actéon.

As a test platform, Westcott became the first vessel to be equipped with the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar. The navy had the destroyer converted into a long range escort in 1943. Withdrawn from service in June 1945, Westcott was sold to the British and Iron Steel Company (BISCO) to be scrapped the following year.