Navy | The Royal Navy |
Type | Escort destroyer |
Class | Hunt (Type II) |
Pennant | L 31 |
Built by | Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland) |
Ordered | 4 Sep 1939 |
Laid down | 1 Mar 1940 |
Launched | 10 Mar 1941 |
Commissioned | 16 Oct 1941 |
End service | |
History | Lent to the Royal Indian Navy 18 June 1954 and renamed Ganga. |
Commands listed for HMS Chiddingfold (L 31)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
Commander | From | To | |
1 | Lt. Lionel William Lendon Argles, RN | 12 Aug 1941 | Apr 1943 |
2 | Lt. Thomas Mervyn Dorrien-Smith, RN | Apr 1943 | 31 Aug 1944 |
3 | Lt. Frederick Greville Woods, DSC, RN | 31 Aug 1944 | late 1945 |
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Notable events involving Chiddingfold include:
30 Oct 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Lowestoft (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) F.B. Proudfoot, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (1)
31 Oct 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Lowestoft (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) F.B. Proudfoot, RN), HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN), HMS Montrose (Lt.Cdr. W.J. Phipps, OBE, RN) and HMS Antelope (Lt.Cdr. E.N. Sinclair, RN). (1)
1 Nov 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN), HMS Hurworth (Lt.Cdr. J.T.B. Birch, RN), HMS Lowestoft (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) F.B. Proudfoot, RN) and HMS Southwold (Cdr. C.T. Jellicoe, DSC, RN). (1)
5 Nov 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Maori (Cdr. R.E. Courage, DSO, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Lowestoft (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) F.B. Proudfoot, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (1)
15 Nov 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Beaufort (Lt.Cdr. S.O’G Roche, RN), HMAS Norman (Cdr. H.M. Burrell, RAN), HMS Wheatland (Lt. R.deL. Brooke, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (1)
24 Nov 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Montrose (Lt.Cdr. W.J. Phipps, OBE, RN), HMS Wheatland (Lt. R.deL. Brooke, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (1)
28 Nov 1941
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. G. Quint, RNN(R)) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Wheatland (Lt. R.deL. Brooke, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (1)
23 Dec 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departed Scapa Flow for her 11th war patrol. She was part of Operation Archery, a commando raid on Vågsøy, Norway. Tuna was to act as navigational beacon for the surface ships involved in this operation.
The raid on Vågsøy was carried out by the British Light cruiser HMS Kenya (Capt. M.M. Denny, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Burrough, RN), the British destroyers HMS Onslow (Capt. H.T. Armstrong, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Oribi (Lt.Cdr. J.E.H. McBeath, DSO, RN), HMS Offa (Lt.Cdr. R.A. Ewing, RN), HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. L.W.L. Argles, RN) and the landing ships Prince Charles (A/Cdr. W.R. Fell, DSC, OBE, RN) and Prince Leopold (Lt.Cdr. W.S. Byles, RD, RNR). (2)
15 May 1942
HrMs O 14 (Lt.Cdr. H.A.W. Goossens, RNN) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Ashanti (Cdr. R.G. Onslow, RN), HMS Derwent (Cdr. R.H. Wright, DSC, RN), HMS Bleasdale (Lt. P.B.N. Lewis, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt.Cdr. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (3)
25 Feb 1943
HMS P 31 (Lt. L.E. Herrick, DSC, RN) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Chiddingfold (Lt.Cdr. L.W.L. Argles, RN). (4)
12 May 1943
HMS Ultimatum (Lt. W.H. Kett, RNR) conducted A/S exercises off Scapa Flow with HMS Tumult (Lt.Cdr. N. Lanyon, RN), ORP Slazak (Lt.Cdr. R. Nalecz-Tyminski, ORP), HMS Charlestown (Lt. W.F.B. Webb, DSC, RN) and HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. T.M. Dorrien-Smith, RN). (5)
14 May 1943
At 0340 hours, HrMs O 10 (Lt.Cdr. Baron D.T. Mackay, RNN), was spotted by a Catalina that was sent out to search for her. Around 0600 hours HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. T.M. Dorrien-Smith, RN) came in sight. Late in the morning they were joined by HMS Brecon (Lt.Cdr. T.D. Herrick, DSC and Bar, RN), HMS Brissenden (Lt. D.C. Beatty, RN) and HMS Celia (T/Lt. L.B. Merrick, RNR). HMS Brecon then took O 10 in tow. Around 1600 hours HMS Halcyon (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Corbet-Singleton, RN) arrived which took over the tow. (6)
30 Aug 1943
HrMs O 15 (Lt.Cdr. A.J. Schouwenaar, RNN) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Bicester (Lt.Cdr. S.W.F. Bennetts, DSO, RN), HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. T.M. Dorrien-Smith, RN), HMS Meteor (Lt.Cdr. D.J.B. Jewitt, RN) and HMS Rocket (Lt.Cdr. H.B. Acworth, OBE, RN). (7)
1 Sep 1943
HrMs O 15 (Lt.Cdr. A.J. Schouwenaar, RNN) conducted A/S exercises at / off Scapa Flow with HMS Bicester (Lt.Cdr. S.W.F. Bennetts, DSO, RN), HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. T.M. Dorrien-Smith, RN), HMS Kingston Agate (Lt. J. Simms, RNR) and HMS Cape Palliser (Lt. B.T. Wortley, RNR). (7)
Sources
- File 2.12.03.6388 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
- ADM 199/1844
- File 2.12.03.6389 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
- ADM 173/17897
- ADM 173/18316
- ADM 199/1856
- File 2.12.03.6398 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.