Allied Warships

HMS Zephyr (R 19)

Destroyer of the Z class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Z
Pennant	R 19
Built by	Vickers Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.) : Parsons
Ordered	12 Feb 1942
Laid down	13 Jul 1942
Launched	15 Jul 1943
Commissioned	6 Sep 1944
End service
History	Scrapped at Dunston on 2 July 1958.

Commands listed for HMS Zephyr (R 19)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. John Fitzroy Duyland Bush, DSC, RN	18 Jul 1944	15 Dec 1944
2	Capt. John Hamilton Allison, DSO, RN	15 Dec 1944	25 Jun 1945
3	Lt.Cdr. Cuthbert Richard Purse, DSC, RN	25 Jun 1945

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Notable events involving Zephyr include:

14 Sep 1944
HMS Trusty (Lt. E.T. Stanley, DSO, DSC, RN) conducts A/S exercises with HMS Verulam (Lt.Cdr. W.S. Thomas, DSC, RN), HMS Cassandra (Cdr. P.F. Powlett, DSO and Bar, DSC, RN) and later on the day with HMS Zephyr (Lt.Cdr. J.F.D. Bush, DSC and 2 Bars, RN). (1)

18 Nov 1944
During the morning HMS Taciturn (Lt.Cdr. E.T. Stanley, DSO, DSC, RN) conducts A/S exercises with HMS Vigilant (Lt.Cdr. L.W.L. Argles, RN) and HMS Vesper (Lt.Cdr. V.D. Ravenscroft, RN). During the afternoon A/S exercises were carried out with HMS Zephyr (Capt. J.H. Allison, DSO and Bar, RN). (2)

31 Dec 1944
On 31 Dec, 1944, the British destroyer HMS Zephyr (Lt.Cdr. J.F.D. Bush, DSC and 2 Bars, RN) was damaged by an explosion west of the Pentland Firth. According to British reports this was very likely caused by a floating mine and not by a torpedo. U-1020 was long believed to have hit the destroyer. (3)

6 May 1945

Operation Cleaver.

Entry of a naval surface force into the Skagerrak and Kattegat.

The following forces took part in this operation;
' Force 5 ' which was made up of the light cruisers HMS Birmingham (Capt. H.W. Williams, RN), HMS Dido (Capt. R.F. Elkins, OBE, RN) and the destroyers HMS Zephyr (Capt. J.H. Allison, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Zealous (Cdr. R.F. Jessel, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Zest (Lt.Cdr. R.B.N. Hicks, DSO, RN) and HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN).
This force departed Rosyth in the evening of the 6th.

' Force 6 ' which was made up of the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk (Capt. J.G.Y. Loveband, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral R.R. McGrigor, CB, DSO, RN), escort carriers HMS Queen (A/Capt. K.J. D'Arcy, DSO, RN), HMS Searcher (Capt. J.W. Grant, DSO, RN), HMS Trumpeter (A/Capt. K.S. Colquhoun, RN) and the destroyers HMS Scourge (Lt.Cdr. C.G.H. Brown, DSC, RN, with Capt. P.G.L. Cazalet, DSC, RN on board), HMS Savage (Lt.Cdr. C.W. Malins, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Obedient (Lt.Cdr. H. Kirkwood, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Offa (Lt.Cdr. E.M. Thorpe, DSO, RN), HMS Opportune (Cdr. R.E.D. Ryder, VC, RN), HMS Zambesi (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Palmer, RN) and HMS Carysfort (Lt.Cdr. L.St.G. Rich, DSO and Bar, RN). This force departed Scapa flow on the 6th.

And the 40th Minesweeping Flotilla made up of HMS Catharine (Cdr. Kenneth Hillam Fraser, RN), 6541 HMS Cynthia (T/A/Lt.Cdr. C.L. Chatwin, RNVR), HMS Elfreda (T/A/Lt.Cdr. L. Jolly, RNVR), HMS Grecian (T/A/Cdr. C.R. Fraser, DSC and Bar, RNR) and HMS Gazelle (Lt.Cdr. J.D. Sutcliffe, RN), HMS Maenad (Cdr. C.E. Duggan, RD, RNR), HMS Steadfast (T/A/Lt. A.H. Hall, RNVR) and HMS Tattoo (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) F.G. Rogers, RD, RNR). They departed Rosyth of the 6th.

Force 5 and the 40th M/S Flotilla arrived at Copenhagen, Denmark on 9 May. The 40th M/S Flotilla swept Force 5 through the minefields.

Force 6 returned to Scapa Flow on 10 May. (4)

20 May 1945
HMS Birmingham (Capt. H.W. Williams, RN), HMS Zephyr (Capt. J.H. Allison, DSO and Bar, RN) and HMS Zest (Lt.Cdr. R.B.N. Hicks, DSO, RN) departed Copenhagen for Rosyth. (5)

21 May 1945
HMS Birmingham (Capt. H.W. Williams, RN), HMS Zephyr (Capt. J.H. Allison, DSO and Bar, RN) and HMS Zest (Lt.Cdr. R.B.N. Hicks, DSO, RN) arrived at Rosyth from Copenhagen. (5)

14 Jul 1945
The light cruiser HMS Birmingham (Capt. H.W. Williams, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral A.E.M.B. Cunninghame-Graham, CBE, RN) and the destroyers HMS Serapis (Lt.Cdr. E.L. Jones, DSC, RN), HMS Obdurate (Lt.Cdr. R.D. Franks, DSO, DSC, OBE, RN), HMS Obedient (Lt.Cdr. H. Kirkwood, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Zealous (Cdr. R.F. Jessel, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Zephyr (Lt.Cdr. C.R. Purse, DSC and Bar, RN) and HMS Zodiac (Lt.Cdr. H.R. Rycroft, DSC, RN) departed Plymouth to make rendezvous with the US Heavy cruiser USS Augusta (T/Capt. J.H. Foskett, USN) and the light cruiser USS Philadelphia (T/Capt. R.L. Boller, USN). On board the USS Augusta was President Truman which was en-route to Antwerp, Belgium.

Rendezvous was made in the morning and the ships then proceeded in company westwards through the English Channel.

In the early evening the British ships parted company near the North Goodwin Buoy. Shortly aftewards the escort destroyers HMS Garth (Capt. W.G. Davis, DSC, RN), HMS Hambledon (Lt. C.G.deL. Bush, RN) and HMS Holderness (A/Lt.Cdr. P.F. Cole, DSC, RN) joined the US ships to escort them to Antwerp where they arrived in the morning of the 15th. (6)