1115 HMS LANCE (1941)

HMS Lance (G87) was a British WWII destroyer. The keel for this unit was laid in 1939, and the launch took place in November 1940. The total length of the ship at the time of launching was 110.5 meters and a width of 11.2 meters. The displacement reached approx. 1,900 tons, and the maximum speed was approx. 36 knots. The armament at the time of the launch consisted of eight 102 mm guns in four twin turrets, one 40 mm gun and eight 533 mm torpedo tubes. HMS Lance was one of the eight L-class destroyers (often referred to as the L / M-class). However, along with two other destroyers, it was a peculiar subtype within that class. HMS Lance was relatively heavily armed with anti-aircraft artillery, and at the same time had relatively strong artillery armament. It had - in relation to other L-class destroyers - a changed shape of the fore superstructure and a part of the aft superstructure. HMS Lance had a short but turbulent combat trail. In May 1941, the ship participated in the tracking down and sinking of the battleship Bismarck. Later, he covered convoys on the route Great Britain - Gibraltar, and in October 1941 he was transferred to Malta and joined the so-called Force K, where he successfully takes part in numerous actions against the Italian Regia Marina. In January 1942, he sheltered one of the British convoys sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. The unit was seriously damaged as a result of Italian air raids on Malta in April 1942. The unit was later towed to Great Britain, but after learning about the damage on the ship, it was decided to dismantle it and from 1944 the ship was gradually scrapped.