HMS Tynedale (L96)

HMS Tynedale (L96) was a Hunt class destroyer of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. In service from its commissioning in 1940 until 1943, Tynedale was sunk by German U-boat U-593 on 12 December 1943.

Commissioning and trials
After being commissioned before the start of the war, Tynedale was built in Govan, Glasgow and launched in June 1940. She was trialled at Scapa Flow in December 1941, during which she visited Aberdeen and Tyneside, forming a link with the community of Hexham in Northumberland. On 5 January, 1942, she was based at Portsmouth as a defender of the English Channel.

1941
Among the ship's duties were escorting minelayers such as HMS Icarus and battleships travelling to Gibraltar, such as HMS Resolution. On 11 March, Tynedale sustained damage from an air raid of Portsmouth's docks by the Luftwaffe. For the rest of the year she guarded convoy ships in the Southwest Approaches. On 15 December, she was transferred to the 15th Flotilla based at Plymouth.

1942
Tynedale was selected to take part in the St. Nazaire Raid on 27 March, as one of the seventeen small craft which escorted HMS Campbeltown to her target. Upon attempting to return to the English Channel, she sighted the U-boat U-593 (coincidentally the one that would later sink Tynedale) and opened fire with a deck gun. She damaged the submarine and U-593 keeled over, but escaped. On her way back from St. Nazaire, Tynedale and another destroyer, HMS Atherstone, engaged five German warships and took two structural hits. She laid a smokescreen and fled.

Tynedale returned to Plymouth on 29 March, along with the rest of the convoy that had survived. She underwent repairs and resumed duties on 18 April, continuing with convoy escorts in the Southwest Approaches. On 14 May, she encountered the German auxiliary cruiser Stier, and was part of the task force that sank it, albeit only as a support vessel. She also participated in a support role in the sinking of the German auxiliary cruiser Komet in October.

1943
Tynedale was nominated for service in the Mediterranean, and as part of Destroyer Division 59 (which she joined on 8 March 1943) she guarded convoys between Gibraltar and Algeria. She acted as an interceptor during the Allied invasion of Sicily, and aided in the rescuing of 218 passengers from the Dutch freighter Felix Jan Van Manix which was torpedoed and sank in October.

During convoy escorts with convoy KMS34 on 12 December 1943, Tynedale was torpedoed off Jijel, Algeria, by U-593 commanded by Kptlt. Gerd Kelbling, the same boat which it had damaged at St. Nazaire. The ship broke in two, and despite rescue efforts by other ships, 73 crewmen died (seven officers and 63 men). U-593 later sank another Hunt class destroyer, HMS Holcombe before surfacing and surrendering on 13 December.