History of HMS Zulu G18Authorized as one of seven Tribal-class destroyers under the 1935 Naval Estimates, Zulu was the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was ordered on 10 March 1936 from Alexander Stephen and Sons and was laid down on 27 August at the company's Linthouse shipyard. Launched on 23 September 1937, Zulu was commissioned on 6 September 1938 at a cost of £351,135 which excluded weapons and communications equipment that would be furnished by the Admiralty.
During 1940 she developed engine trouble and was dry docked for repairs and degaussing. She returned to service in early March when she was employed escorting convoys around the Western Approaches. In June 1941, she sailed to Falmouth for a refit. Following this, she was attached to Force H at Gibraltar. On 4 August 1942, Zulu with Sikh, Croome and Tetcott attacked and sank U-372 off Haifa and Zulu's commanding officer, Commander R.T. White, DSO was Mentioned in Despatches for his leadership. On the 14 September Zulu, Sikh and the light cruiser, Coventry landed and covered Operation Agreement, a commando raid on Tobruk. Sikh was hit and sunk by 152 mm Italian coastal artillery, German 88 mm guns and a bomb dropped by a Macchi C.200. 115 men were killed but Zulu was able to save lives of several of her crew. Later the same day, Coventry was heavily damaged by Junkers Ju 88s of Lehrgeschwader 1. Dead in the water, on fire and with 63 killed she was scuttled by gunfire and torpedoes from Zulu. Aircraft continued to attack Zulu and she was badly damaged and left without engine power an hour later. According to her commanding officer, the attack was carried out by a combination of Ju 88s and Ju 87s. The type II Hunt-class destroyer, HMS Croome came alongside to take off the surviving personnel, save for a towing party and Zulu was taken under tow by HMS Hursley. By 19:00 hours and a hundred miles from Alexandria, it was clear she was sinking and the towing party was recovered after a strafing pass by an enemy aircraft. Soon after, Zulu rolled to starboard and sank in position 32°00′N 28°56′E. Across both attacks, twelve men were killed, twenty-seven were missing and one was wounded. |
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