Grenville and the G class spent the bulk of their time before the start of World War II assigned to the
1st Destroyer Flotilla (DF) in the
Mediterranean Fleet, where they made a number of neutrality patrols during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. With the exception of
Garland which was under repair at
Malta after a premature explosion of her depth charges, they returned home in October–November after it became clear that the Italians would not enter the war.
Hardy and the H-class ships were assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla and joined the Gs in the Mediterranean after commissioning for similar duties. After a few weeks assigned to
Western Approaches Command, the 1st DF was assigned to the
Nore Command at
Harwich, although some of the ships were transferred to the
22nd Destroyer Flotilla, where they were tasked for escort and patrol duty.
Gipsy was sunk on 21 November after she struck a mine, as did
Grenville on 19 January 1940. Unlike the 1st DF, the Second was transferred to
Force K in
Freetown in West Africa, to help search for German commerce raiders. Some ships were later transferred to Bermuda and the West Indies for escort work and patrolling. They returned to the UK in January and spent several months refitting.
Garland,
Grafton,
Gallant,
Hasty and
Hereward were either under repair or refitting during the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign and did not participate in the
Battles of Narvik in April. The remaining ships were assigned to the Home Fleet by this time.
Glowworm was separated from the
battlecruiser in a heavy storm on 8 April and encountered the German
heavy cruiser and several destroyers. The British destroyer could not disengage and was sunk after
ramming Admiral Hipper.
Hardy,
Havock,
Hostile,
Hotspur and
Hunter participated in the First Battle of Narvik on 10 April. They sank two German destroyers in exchange for the loss of
Hardy and
Hunter, while
Hotspur was badly damaged. That same day,
Hero sank the off the Norwegian coast and was the only G- or H-class destroyer to participate in the Second Battle of Narvik three days later.
Griffin and
Hasty helped to cover the evacuation of Allied troops from
Namsos and
Åndalsnes at the end of the month.
Garland was loaned to the Polish Navy in May after her repairs were finished and she remained in the Mediterranean, escorting convoys between Malta and
Alexandria, Egypt, until she was transferred to the Western Approaches Command in September. In mid-May, the 2nd DF was transferred to the Mediterranean with
Hostile,
Hyperion,
Hero,
Hereward,
Havock, and
Hasty assigned. Most of the ships of the 2nd DF participated in the inconclusive
Battle of Calabria on 7–8 July. Almost two weeks later,
Hasty,
Hero,
Hyperion and
Havock were escorting the Australian
light cruiser when they encountered two Italian light cruisers, sinking one of them in the
Battle of Cape Spada. The ships escorted convoys and the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet for the rest of the year, although
Hostile was sunk when she struck an Italian mine on 23 August and
Hyperion was sunk by the on 22 December. The latter two ships escorted Force H during the
Battle of Dakar in September against the
Vichy French forces there.
Havock and
Hasty sank the on 2 October off the coast of
Cyrenica while
Gallant,
Griffin and
Hotspur sank the on 18 October.
Gallant,
Greyhound,
Griffin, now assigned to the
14th Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet, together with
Hero and
Hereward, participated in the inconclusive
Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November. The 9th DF returned to the Western Approaches Command (WAC) from July to September, before they were briefly transferred to
Portsmouth Command for several weeks, in response to the possible invasion (
Operation Sea Lion). They returned to the WAC before the end of the month and
Harvester and
Highlander sank on 30 October. In November 1940, the 9th DF was re-designated as the 9th Escort Group. The
Havants remained on escort duty until they began lengthy refits during 1941.
Gallant,
Greyhound and
Griffin were covering a convoy to Malta on 10 January when the former struck a mine that blew off her bow.
Griffin rescued her crew and the ship was towed to Malta. Repairs were estimated to take until June 1942, but she was declared a constructive total loss and stripped of equipment after she had to be
beached during an aerial attack on 5 April 1942. On 19 January,
Greyhound sank the after the latter torpedoed one of the ships in the convoy that
Greyhound was escorting. Two months later, she sank the on 6 March.
Greyhound,
Griffin,
Hotspur,
Hasty,
Havock and
Hereward participated in the
Battle of Cape Matapan on 27–28 March.
Greyhound was sunk by German
dive bombers two months later, on 22 May, off Crete;
Hotspur,
Havock,
Hero, and
Hasty also participated in the evacuations of Greece and Crete in May. The latter three ships then supported Allied forces during the
Syria–Lebanon Campaign in June. All four of the H-class ships, joined by
Griffin, began escorting convoys from Alexandria to
Tobruk in July, as well as occasional convoys to Malta, and continued to do so for most of the rest of the year.
Hasty and
Hotspur sank on 23 December while returning from Tobruk.
Garland and the five surviving
Havants spent most of the year on convoy escort duties in the Atlantic aside from brief diversions such as
Operation Tiger, a Mediterranean convoy in May that
Harvester,
Havelock, and
Hesperus escorted, and
Garlands participation in the
Spitzbergen Raid in July.
Garland was assigned to the escort force for
Convoy PQ 16 to
Murmansk in May, during which she was damaged by a German bomber. After repairs, she rejoined her half-sisters in the North Atlantic. On 26 December,
Hesperus sank by ramming.
Griffin and
Hotspur were transferred to the
Eastern Fleet in February 1942.
Havock,
Hasty, and
Hero participated in the
Second Battle of Sirte on 22 March during which the former was damaged. While under repair at Malta, she was further damaged and was then ordered to Gibraltar for repairs in a safer environment. Whilst in transit, she
ran aground off the Tunisian coast during the night of 5/6 April due to a navigational error and had to be destroyed to prevent her capture. Together with the destroyers and ,
Hero sank on 28 May. To reinforce the escorts for
Operation Vigorous, a convoy from Alexandria to Malta in June,
Griffin and
Hotspur were temporarily recalled to join their sisters. During the mission,
Hasty was torpedoed by a German
E-boat and had to be scuttled by
Hotspur on 15 June. On 30 October,
Hero shared the credit for sinking with five other destroyers and a
Vickers Wellesley bomber of
No. 42 Squadron RAF.
Griffin arrived home that same month to begin her conversion into an
escort destroyer.
Garland remained in the North Atlantic until December 1943 when she began escorting convoys between Freetown and Gibraltar.
Hotspur and
Hero were sent home and converted into escort destroyers in early 1943.
Griffin and
Hero were transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in March and November 1943 and renamed
Ottawa and
Chaudière, respectively.
Hotspur began escort duties in the WAC after her conversion was completed that lasted until October 1944. While escorting
Convoy HX 228,
Harvester rammed on 10 March, but was disabled in the process, so the
French corvette Aconit finished off the submarine. The following day,
Harvester was sunk by which was in turn sunk by
Aconit.
Hesperus sank on 23 April and on 12 May.
Hesperus continued to escort convoys in the North Atlantic until January 1945 when she was transferred to the UK.
Highlander and
Hurricane also remained on convoy duties, although the latter ship was torpedoed by on 24 December and had to be scuttled by the next day.
Garland was transferred to the Mediterranean in April 1944 and sank on 19 September. She began a lengthy refit in November and had barely finished
working up when the war ended.
Havelock,
Ottawa and
Chaudière were escorting convoys in the North Atlantic until they were transferred to the UK in preparation for Operation Overlord in May 1944.
Chaudière and the escorts of
Convoy HX 280 sank on 6 March.
Ottawa sank three German submarines in 1944, with the
corvette on 6 July, with
Chaudière on 16 August and , also with
Chaudière, two days later.
Ottawa,
Chaudière and
Hotspur also had lengthy overhauls that began in late 1944; the latter's was completed in March 1945 and she then patrolled the
Irish Sea until the end of the war while
Ottawa returned to the North Atlantic when her refit was finished in February.
Chaudières, however, was still not completed by the end of the war.
Highlander struck a small iceberg on 15 April that crushed the underwater portion of her bow and was under repair for the next three months.
Havelock and
Hesperus, assisted by aircraft from
No. 201 Squadron RAF, sank in the
Irish Channel on 30 April.
Postwar The surviving ships were essentially obsolete and worn-out when the war ended in May.
Ottawa made several voyages ferrying Canadian troops back home before she was paid off in October. The ship was sold for scrap in 1946, but was not actually broken up until 1950.
Chaudière was in the worst shape of any of the Canadian destroyers and was paid off in August, although she was not scrapped until 1950 like her sister.
Garland transported food and other supplies to Dutch and Belgian towns immediately after the end of the war and was part of the Home Fleet until she was reduced to reserve in August 1946. She was purchased by the Royal Netherlands Navy in November 1947, renamed
Marnix, and became a
training ship until 1964.
Hotspur remained in service until 1948 when she was sold to the
Dominican Republic and renamed
Trujillo. Renamed
Duarte in 1962, the ship was sold for scrap in 1972.
Havelock and
Hesperus escorted the Norwegian government-in-exile back to Norway in May and then served as a target ship before being broken up in late 1946 and 1947, respectively. Like her sisters,
Highlander served as a target ship after her repairs were completed and was scrapped beginning in May 1947. ==Notes==