HMS Gipsy (H63)

HMS Gipsy was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. She spent most of the pre-war period as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. The ship was transferred to the British Isles to escort shipping in local waters shortly after the beginning of World War II. Less than a month after her arrival she struck a mine outside Harwich and sank with the loss of 30 of her crew. Her wreck was salvaged and slowly scrapped over the course of the war.

Description
Gipsy displaced 1350 LT at standard load and 1883 LT at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 323 ft, a beam of 33 ft and a draught of 12 ft. She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 34000 shp and gave a maximum speed of 36 kn. Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Gipsy carried a maximum of 470 LT of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5530 nmi at 15 kn. The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime.

The ship mounted four 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft defence Gipsy had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21 in torpedoes. One rail and two depth charge throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.

Service
Gipsy was laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at Govan, Scotland on 4 September 1934, launched on 7 November 1935 and completed on 22 February 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £250,364. Aside from a brief period assigned to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet after her commissioning, Gipsy spent the pre-war period assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet. She was refitted at Devonport Dockyard between 2 June and 30 July 1938.

On the outbreak of war in September 1939, Gipsy was deployed with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla for patrols and contraband control in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Alexandria. Gipsy and her entire flotilla were transferred to the Western Approaches Command at Plymouth in October. On 12 November she collided with her sister ship, HMS Greyhound (H05), en route to Harwich, and her new assignment with the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, but she was only slightly damaged. The ship rescued three German airmen outside of Harwich harbour on 21 November and returned to port to turn them over the army. Later that evening, Gipsy set out with HMS Griffin (H31), HMS Keith (H06) and HMS Boadicea (H65) to patrol in the North Sea. She struck a magnetic mine amidships outside of the harbour, possibly laid by the aircraft whose crew she had rescued earlier that day, and sank. Thirty of her crew, including the captain, were killed. The 115 survivors were rescued by the other destroyers.

The ship's wreck was upright on the seabed with only the bridge visible at high tide, but it blocked the channel. Only buckled plating amidships held the two main sections of the wreck together and they were cut by explosives when salvage began shortly after her sinking. The two halves were raised by pontoons, and were subsequently broken up. 750 LT of ferrous scrap and 38 LT of non-ferrous metals were recovered between June 1940 and February 1944.