A/B William Kendall, RNR, HMS Exmoor (L61)
PEACE
In sweet memory of
My devoted son
WILLIAM JOHN MAIDMENT KENDALL,
Killed in action on H.M.S. "Exmoor,"
Feb. 25th. 1941, aged 37 years.
Too soon it seemed God called him Home
and closed his bright and brief career
and all he had he gave
C/JX 225267 Able Seaman William John Maidment Kendall, Royal Naval Reserve, Hunt class destroyer HMS Exmoor (L61).
Born on 17th. February 1904 at Deritend, Birmingham the son of George Henry Dring and Marie E. Maidment.
Killed in action in the North Sea on February 25th, 1941, aged 37.
Buried in Sec. 15. Grave 230 at Normanston Drive Cemetery, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
HMS Exmoor (L61) was a Hunt class destroyer ordered on 21st. March 1939 under the 1939 Naval Building Programme from Parsons Marine Steam Turbines Company, with the hull building being subcontracted to the Vickers-Armstrong's yard on Tyneside. She was laid down as Job No. J4099 on 8th. June 1939 and launched on 25th. January 1940. She was commissioned into service on 18th. October 1940, and after working up, was assigned to the 16th. Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow.
On 6th November Exmoor was detached in company with HMS Pytchley (L92) to escort the merchant ship SS Adda to the Faeroe Islands. Exmoor returned on 11th. November and resumed her working up period. In December she escorted the armed merchant cruisers Chitral and Salopian on their way to begin patrols. Exmoor then sailed to Plymouth.
In January Exmoor was part of the escort for the battleship Queen Elizabeth as she sailed from Portsmouth to Rosyth. Exmoor then sailed to Harwich to begin escorting coastal convoys through the North Sea with the 16th. Destroyer Flotilla. She carried out these duties into February, and on 23rd. February, commanded by Lt. Cdr. Robert Tindle Lampard, was deployed with HMS Shearwater (L39) to escort convoy FN417 from the Thames estuary to Methil in Fife. The convoy was attacked by German E-boats as it passed off Lowestoft, Suffolk on 25th. February. Exmoor suffered an explosion aft, suffering major structural damage and rupturing a fuel supply line which ignited. Fire spread rapidly forward from after compartments and the ship capsized and sank in ten minutes about 12 nautical miles east-north-east of Lowestoft, in position 52º32'N 02º05'E with the loss of 4 officers, including her Commanding Officer and 100 men. The survivors were picked up by Shearwater and HM Trawler Commander Evans, and were taken to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy of WW2) claimed Exmoor had been hit by a torpedo fired by E-boat S30 commanded by Klaus Feldt. It is also recorded that her loss was more likely to have been due to hitting a British mine in the East Coast Barrier, as the Admiralty claimed.
The wreck is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. During a 2008 to 2011 marine biology survey of the area in which Exmoor sank, the fisheries research vessel Cefas Endeavour of Lowestoft discovered the wreck.
The name Exmoor was carried forward to another Hunt class destroyer then being built, previously planned as HMS Burton. She was launched by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on 12th. March 1941 as HMS Exmoor (L08)
Name: HMS Exmoor
Pennant number: L61
Complement: 146
Length: 280 ft. (85.3 m)
Beam: 29 ft. (8.8 m)
Draught: 10 ft. 9 in. (3.27 m)
Displacement, standard: 1,000 ton
Displacement, full load: 1,340 ton
Boilers: 2 x Admiralty 3 drum boilers
Turbines: Two shaft Parsons geared turbines
Turbines output: 19,000 hp (14,168 kW)
Speed, standard displacement: 27.5 knots
Speed, full displacement, 26 knots
Range at 15 knots: 3,500 nautical miles (4,025 miles - 6,480 km)
Range at 26 knots:1,080 nautical miles (1,245 miles - 2,000 km)
Armament
4 x QF 4 in. (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts
4 x QF 2 pounder (40 mm) Mk VIII AA guns on quad mount
2 x 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts
1 x rack of 40 x depth charges c/w 2 x throwers
A/B William Kendall, RNR, HMS Exmoor (L61)
PEACE
In sweet memory of
My devoted son
WILLIAM JOHN MAIDMENT KENDALL,
Killed in action on H.M.S. "Exmoor,"
Feb. 25th. 1941, aged 37 years.
Too soon it seemed God called him Home
and closed his bright and brief career
and all he had he gave
C/JX 225267 Able Seaman William John Maidment Kendall, Royal Naval Reserve, Hunt class destroyer HMS Exmoor (L61).
Born on 17th. February 1904 at Deritend, Birmingham the son of George Henry Dring and Marie E. Maidment.
Killed in action in the North Sea on February 25th, 1941, aged 37.
Buried in Sec. 15. Grave 230 at Normanston Drive Cemetery, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
HMS Exmoor (L61) was a Hunt class destroyer ordered on 21st. March 1939 under the 1939 Naval Building Programme from Parsons Marine Steam Turbines Company, with the hull building being subcontracted to the Vickers-Armstrong's yard on Tyneside. She was laid down as Job No. J4099 on 8th. June 1939 and launched on 25th. January 1940. She was commissioned into service on 18th. October 1940, and after working up, was assigned to the 16th. Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow.
On 6th November Exmoor was detached in company with HMS Pytchley (L92) to escort the merchant ship SS Adda to the Faeroe Islands. Exmoor returned on 11th. November and resumed her working up period. In December she escorted the armed merchant cruisers Chitral and Salopian on their way to begin patrols. Exmoor then sailed to Plymouth.
In January Exmoor was part of the escort for the battleship Queen Elizabeth as she sailed from Portsmouth to Rosyth. Exmoor then sailed to Harwich to begin escorting coastal convoys through the North Sea with the 16th. Destroyer Flotilla. She carried out these duties into February, and on 23rd. February, commanded by Lt. Cdr. Robert Tindle Lampard, was deployed with HMS Shearwater (L39) to escort convoy FN417 from the Thames estuary to Methil in Fife. The convoy was attacked by German E-boats as it passed off Lowestoft, Suffolk on 25th. February. Exmoor suffered an explosion aft, suffering major structural damage and rupturing a fuel supply line which ignited. Fire spread rapidly forward from after compartments and the ship capsized and sank in ten minutes about 12 nautical miles east-north-east of Lowestoft, in position 52º32'N 02º05'E with the loss of 4 officers, including her Commanding Officer and 100 men. The survivors were picked up by Shearwater and HM Trawler Commander Evans, and were taken to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy of WW2) claimed Exmoor had been hit by a torpedo fired by E-boat S30 commanded by Klaus Feldt. It is also recorded that her loss was more likely to have been due to hitting a British mine in the East Coast Barrier, as the Admiralty claimed.
The wreck is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. During a 2008 to 2011 marine biology survey of the area in which Exmoor sank, the fisheries research vessel Cefas Endeavour of Lowestoft discovered the wreck.
The name Exmoor was carried forward to another Hunt class destroyer then being built, previously planned as HMS Burton. She was launched by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on 12th. March 1941 as HMS Exmoor (L08)
Name: HMS Exmoor
Pennant number: L61
Complement: 146
Length: 280 ft. (85.3 m)
Beam: 29 ft. (8.8 m)
Draught: 10 ft. 9 in. (3.27 m)
Displacement, standard: 1,000 ton
Displacement, full load: 1,340 ton
Boilers: 2 x Admiralty 3 drum boilers
Turbines: Two shaft Parsons geared turbines
Turbines output: 19,000 hp (14,168 kW)
Speed, standard displacement: 27.5 knots
Speed, full displacement, 26 knots
Range at 15 knots: 3,500 nautical miles (4,025 miles - 6,480 km)
Range at 26 knots:1,080 nautical miles (1,245 miles - 2,000 km)
Armament
4 x QF 4 in. (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts
4 x QF 2 pounder (40 mm) Mk VIII AA guns on quad mount
2 x 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts
1 x rack of 40 x depth charges c/w 2 x throwers