HMS Somali

Pennant numbers:
L 33 November 1938 - December 1938
F 33 January 1939 - Autumn 1940
G 33 Autumn 1940 - September 1942.
When HMS Somali was completed, she spent most of January 1939 around Portland England carrying out torpedo and harbour
exercises in severe weather. On 31st January, Somali and other British ships proceeded to Lisbon, Portugal where they
engaged in a public relations visit. About 5,000 people visited Somali and the submarines beside her. Next, the squadron
sailed for Gibraltar and arrived there 9th February 1939 to participate in the Home and Mediterranean Fleet exercises
scheduled for later in the month. During a storm on the 14th, Somali\'s port bow was damaged when the passenger liner
Sibajak dragged her anchor and ran into the destroyer.

On 3rd September, the 6th Destroyer Flotilla was screening British and French battlecruisers south of Iceland. Two hours
after war was declared, Somali sighted an unidentified vessel being camouflaged at sea. That ship was the 2,377 ton Hanna
Böge of Hamburg, Germany. She was captured to become the first prize in the war at sea. Later in 1939, Somali began a long
winter of sea patrols and convoy duty. She claimed a U-boat on 29/30th October while escorting a Norwegian convoy with HMS
Tartar and HMS Ashanti. But the u-boat was not sunk. Jointly, these Tribals screened capital ships in the Atlantic and
hunted the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. During the winter of 1939, Somali\'s engines ran smoothly
but she did not escape the turbine and feed-water troubles that afflicted the other Tribals. A short stay at Smith’s Dock
at Middlesbrough England rectified the problems with the machinery.

In April of 1940, Somali was with HMS Afridi and other Tribals when HMS Gurkha was lost in action. She was also one of the
ships that investigated Norwegian fiords as suitable landing spots for an Allied Expeditionary Force and later participated
in many of the assaults on German held positions. While coming to the aid of a sinking ship off the Norwegian coast, on 14
May 1940, Somali became the target of German bombers. Zigzagging at high speed, she avoided every bomb except the last.
That bomb hit Somali at the waterline under her starboard anchor. The bulkhead was shored up and she returned to the UK
for repairs only able to make 10 knots maximum. On 7 May 1941, she captured and sank the German trawler Munchen, a prize which yielded
valuable documents. Later in the month, she engaged in the pursuit of the Bismarck together with the Home Fleet.
Running low on fuel forced her to return to base.
 

From April 1942 onwards, Somali was assigned to convoy duty on the Murmansk run. By June 1942, HMS Somali, HMS Ashanti,
HMS Eskimo and HMS Tartar were the last Home Fleet Tribals left. In September 1942, while escorting convoy PQ-18, a pack
of U-boats located the convoy. Two merchantmen were sunk, and a short time later, HMS Ashanti sighted a u-boat running on
the surface. Ashanti gave chase, at full speed firing her 4.7 inch guns as the U-boat dived. The hunt went on for two
hours but the contact was lost. The Tribal was now 20 miles astern of the convoy so she steamed at full speed in
order to rejoin the other ships and in doing so, ran low on fuel oil. Ashanti then changed places with Somali on
the inner screen to await a favourable opportunity to refuel. At 1920hours, Somali took up Ashanti\'s position
and was immediately hit with a torpedo. The explosion blew the torpedo tubes over the side and cut all of the port
side main stringers so that the ship was only held together by the upper deck and starboard side as far as the keel
. The port engine fell through the bottom of the ship and the Engine and Gear Rooms filled with water.

The leaking

bulkheads on either side were promptly shored up and seemed to be holding but there was no light or power except
from an unreliable auxiliary diesel generator which powered the bilge pumps. The trawler, HMS Lord Middleton,
took most of Somali\'s crew and transferred them to other ships. Of the 80 men left aboard, all were forbidden
to go below except for any critical work. HMS Ashanti then took her crippled sister ship in tow, cruising at a
slow 7 knots. The flat, calm sea was ideal for towing and for revealing periscope wakes. The tow wire parted
company, but HMS Ashanti managed to rig up a new line and both ships continued to crawl to Akureyri. That evening,
Somali\'s dynamo seized up so hand pumps were used for the bilge. These could not cope with the inflow of water
so the Tribal\'s 17 degree list increased. With the donation of many electrical cables from other ships, an emergency
power umbilical was rigged up from HMS Ashanti to another destroyer and the bilge pumps started operating again.
Somali\'s list was reduced to 12 degrees. Power was now available for lighting and cooking as well. By the 23/24th
September, Ashanti had towed Somali for 420 miles and the weather was getting worse. Somali\'s plates were groaning
terribly. In the middle of a snow squall, observers on Ashanti\'s bridge saw a blue flash behind them. The towline and
the electric cable had snapped and a piece of the cable was hanging over Ashanti\'s stern. Quickly, a 20-inch searchlight
was brought to bear on the crippled ship. By now, Somali had folded in half like a hinge with bow and stern climbing
skywards. For a moment, she hung motionlessly; the deckplating then snapped and her bulkheads collapsed. Her stern
capsized and sank quickly and the bow went vertically and steadily. HMS Somali (Lt.Cdr. C. Maud, R.N.) was gone.