HMS Mashona

Mashona, 27 April 1939
History
United Kingdom
Name	Mashona
Namesake	Shona people
Ordered	19 June 1936
Builder	Vickers Armstrongs
Cost	£341,108
Laid down	5 August 1936
Launched	3 September 1937
Completed	30 March 1939
Identification	Pennant numbers: L59, later F59[1]
Fate	Sunk by aircraft, 28 May 1941
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Tribal-class destroyer
Displacement	1,891 long tons (1,921 t) (standard) 2,519 long tons (2,559 t) (deep load)
Length	377 ft (114.9 m) (o/a)
Beam	36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught	11 ft 3 in (3.43 m)
Installed power	3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 44,000 shp (33,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	190
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC
Armament	4 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × quadruple 2-pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA guns 2 × quadruple 0.5 in (12.7 mm) anti-aircraft machineguns 1 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers

HMS Mashona was one of 16 Tribal-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy shortly before the beginning of Second World War in 1939. Completed in that year, she was assigned to the Home Fleet. During the first year of the war, the ship was on convoy escort duties. Mashona played an active role in the Norwegian Campaign of April–May 1940, escorting convoys to and from Norway. The ship helped to briefly seize four Swedish warships en route from Italy to Sweden in June 1940 in what became known as the Psilander affair and resumed her role of convoy escort after their release in July. She accidentally collided with one of her sister ships in early 1941 and spent several months under repair.

Mashona was escorting the battleship HMS Rodney in May when they were diverted to search for the German battleship Bismarck. The destroyer was forced to abandon the search for a lack of fuel shortly before the German ship was sunk on 27 May 1941. As Mashona was headed home, she was attacked and sunk by Luftwaffe bombers the following day, although nearby ships were able to rescue 184 of her crew.