HMS Hasty (H24)
HMS Hasty was an H-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the mid-1930s. She was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until the beginning of World War II. The ship transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in October 1939 to hunt for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic with Force K. Hasty returned to the British Isles in early 1940 and covered the evacuation of Allied troops from Namsos in early May 1940 during the Norwegian Campaign. She was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet shortly afterwards and participated in the Battle of Calabria and the Battle of Cape Spada in July 1940. The ship took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March and evacuated British and Australian troops from both Greece and Crete in April and May. In June, Hasty participated in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign and was escorting convoys and the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet for the next year. During the Second Battle of Sirte in March 1942 she defended a convoy from an Italian battleship and several cruisers. While covering another convoy from Alexandria to Malta in June 1942 during Operation Vigorous, Hasty was torpedoed by a German motor torpedo boat and was so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled. Description Hasty displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Hasty carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime, but this increased to 146 in wartime. The ship mounted four 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, Hasty had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes. One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began. Beginning in mid-1940, the ship's anti-aircraft armament was increased, although when exactly the modifications were made is not known. The rear set of torpedo tubes was replaced by a AA gun and the quadruple .50-calibre Vickers mounts were replaced by Oerlikon autocannon. Two more Oerlikon guns were also added in the forward superstructure. Service Hasty was laid down by William Denny and Brothers, of Dumbarton in Scotland on 15 April 1935, launched on 5 May 1936 and completed on 11 November 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £248,611. She was assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning. Hasty was refitted in Devonport Dockyard in June–July 1939 and she returned to the Mediterranean afterwards. Hasty escorted convoys between Port