| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Escort destroyer |
| Class | Hunt (Type I) |
| Pennant | L 48 |
| Built by | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. (Wallsend-on-Tyne, U.K.): Wallsend |
| Ordered | 21 Mar 1939 |
| Laid down | 29 Jun 1939 |
| Launched | 8 Feb 1940 |
| Commissioned | 10 Aug 1940 |
| End service | |
| History | Scrapped at Preston on 20 November 1956. |
Commands listed for HMS Holderness (L 48)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | ||
| George Pepys Huddart, RN | 30 Jan 1941 | |||
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. Douglas Eric Holland-Martin, DSC, RN | 15 May 1940 | 30 Jan 1941 | |
| 2 | Cdr. Frederick John Crosby Halahan, DSC, RN | 30 Jan 1941 | 13 Jan 1942 | |
| 3 | Lt. Archibald John Ramsay White, RN | 13 Jan 1942 | 24 Aug 1943 | |
| 4 | Lt. Richard George Ralph Clay, RN | 24 Aug 1943 | early 1944 | |
| 5 | Lt. Philip Frederick Cole, DSC, RN | 2 Apr 1944 | 8 Sep 1945 | |
| 6 | Lt. Derek George Smeeton, RN | 8 Sep 1945 | early 1946 | |
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Notable events involving Holderness include:
4 Sep 1940
Around 1230/4, HMS Birmingham (Capt. A.C.G. Madden, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral G.F.B. Edward-Collins, CB, KCVO, RN) and HMS Southampton (Capt. B.C.B. Brooke, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral M.L. Clarke, DSC, RN) and HMS Manchester (Capt. H.A. Packer, RN) departed Rosyth for Sheerness. They were escorted by the escort destroyer HMS Holderness (Lt.Cdr. D.E. Holland-Martin, DSC, RN).
The escort was reinforced around 2000/4 by the destroyers HMS Jupiter (Cdr. D.B. Wyburd, RN) and HMS Kelvin (Cdr. J.H. Allison, DSO, RN) which had come from Immingham to rendez-vous with the cruisers and escort them in.
All ships, minus HMS Holderness which was detached shortly before arriving, arrived at Immingham, where they had been diverted to, shortly before midnight.
The cruisers were sent to Immingham for anti-invasion duty. (1)
12 Dec 1940
After a delay of 24 hours due to a reported enemy submarine the British battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth (Capt. C.B. Barry, DSO, RN) departed Portsmouth for Rosyth where she was to complete her refit.
She was escorted by the destroyers HMS Kashmir (Cdr. H.A. King, RN), HMS Kipling (Cdr. A. St. Clair-Ford, RN), HMS Jupiter (Lt.Cdr. N.V.J.T. Thew, RN) and HMS Punjabi (Cdr. J.T. Lean, DSO, RN) and the escort destroyers HMS Cattistock (Lt.Cdr R.A. Ewing, RN), HMS Cleveland (Lt.Cdr. W.S. Clouston, RN), HMS Fernie (Lt.Cdr. R.McC.P. Jonas, RN) and HMS Holderness (Lt.Cdr. D.E. Holland-Martin, DSC, RN).
Around 1600/13 the original escort was relieved by the destroyer HMS Brilliant (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Brodrick, RN) and the escort destroyers HMS Exmoor (Lt.Cdr. R.T. Lampard, RN), HMS Pytchley (Lt.Cdr. H. Unwin, DSC, RN) and HMS Southdown (Cdr. E.R. Condor, DSO, DSC, RN).
At 1630/14 the light cruiser HMS Nigeria (Capt. J.G.L. Dundas, RN) and the AA cruiser HMS Curacoa (Capt. C.C. Hughes-Hallett, RN) joined the escort.
The battleship and her escort arrived at Rosyth around 1330/15.
13 Nov 1941
HMS Sunfish departed Sheerness for Portsmouth still in tow of HMS Stalwart. They were escorted by HMS Holderness (Cdr. F.J.C. Halahan, DSC, RN). (2)
Sources
- ADM 53/112668
- ADM 199/400
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.