Home waters, 1940 Upon commissioning,
Hambledon immediately began
acceptance trials, which she completed successfully later in June 1940. She then proceeded to
Portland for work-ups, during which she deployed with the British destroyers , , , and to escort the
minelayers , , , and of the 1st Minelaying
Squadron as they laid the first section of the
Northern Barrage north of
North Rona in Operation SN1. On 12 July 1940, increased German activity in the
English Channel prompted the Royal Navy to transfer her work-ups north to
Scapa Flow in the
Orkney Islands, and she completed them there later in July 1940 and was assigned to a
flotilla based at
Sheerness, charged with patrol and
convoy defence duties in the English Channel and along the east coast of
Great Britain. On 31 August 1940 she and her
sister ship rendered assistance to Royal Navy ships that had struck
mines in the
North Sea off the coast of the
Netherlands, rescuing the survivors of the sunken destroyer and standing by the badly damaged destroyer , which had lost her
bow in a mine explosion, until
tugs arrived to tow her to safety. When convoy traffic along the east coast of Great Britain was reduced to free escorts for use elsewhere,
Hambledon was selected for detached service in October 1942. Accordingly, in November 1942 she deployed to the
North Atlantic Ocean to escort convoys bringing troops and equipment to
Gibraltar for
Operation Torch, the
Allied amphibious invasion of
North Africa, that month, and suffered slight damage from a torpedo explosion on 12 November 1942. In December 1942 she returned to her escort and patrol duties at Harwich, which in 1943 began to include interception of German S-boat – known to the Allies as "
E-boat" –
motor torpedo boats in the North Sea to prevent them from attacking Allied convoys. While at Gibraltar,
Hambledon was transferred to Escort Group V, in which she joined
Blankney,
Blencathra,
Brecon, and
Brissenden. The escort group escorted
Convoy KMF 18, which departed Gibraltar on 7 July 1943 bound for the Sicily invasion, and, detaching temporarily on 9 July 1943 to refuel, brought the convoy to the BARK WEST assault area on 10 July 1943, the day of the initial landings.
Hambledon then operated on patrol and escort duty in support of Husky until being released from the operation on 31 July 1943 and reassigned to the 58th Destroyer Division based at
Malta for patrol and escort duty in the central
Mediterranean Sea. In August 1943,
Hambledon was selected to carry
Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham for
Operation Avalanche, the Allied landings at
Salerno on the mainland of
Italy planned for September 1943. On 9 September 1943, she embarked Cunningham and
United States Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower at
Bizerta,
Tunisia, to take them to Malta to observe the surrender of the
Italian Royal Navys battlefleet there, and was present when the surrender took place on 10 September 1943. She departed Malta later that day to take part in the Salerno landings, with Cunningham embarked. Released from Operation Avalanche in October 1943,
Hambledon next operated in the
Aegean Sea to assist in the unsuccessful Allied attempt to defend the Italian-held islands of
Leros and
Kos against invasion by German forces during the
Dodecanese Campaign. After the campaign ended in an Allied defeat,
Hambledon resumed patrol and convoy defence operations in the central Mediterranean in November 1943.
Mediterranean, 1944 Early in 1944,
Hambledon transferred to
Naples, Italy, from which she patrolled the west coast of Italy and supported Allied ground operations. On 29 March 1944,
Hambledon,
Blencathra, and their sister ship departed Naples to assist the destroyers , , and in hunting the German submarine , which they had detected with
asdic in the
Tyrrhenian Sea northeast of
Palermo, Sicily, near
Filicudi, 135
nautical miles (250 km) south of Naples. They attacked
U-223 with depth charges until
Laforey ordered them to halt, then continued to track
U-223 for several hours until she was forced to surface in the early hours of 30 March 1944 after 27 hours of attack by depth charges and
Hedgehog antisubmarine
mortars.
Hambledon joined the other ships in illuminating
U-223 with
searchlights and sinking her with gunfire at position with the loss of 23 of the submarines crew, leaving 27 survivors, but not before
U-223 sank
Laforey with an
acoustic torpedo with the loss of 182 lives, leaving 69 survivors.
Hambledon assisted in rescuing
Laforeys survivors, then took aboard 14 of
U-223s survivors, two of whom died before
Hambledon could reach port. In April 1944, the Royal Navy selected
Hambledon,
Blencathra, and
Mendip to participate in
Operation Neptune, the initial assault phase of the Allied
invasion of
Normandy scheduled for early June 1944. Accordingly,
Hambledon departed Naples in May 1944 bound for the United Kingdom.
Home waters, 1944–1945 Upon arrival in the United Kingdom in May 1944,
Hambledon was assigned to the 21st Destroyer Flotilla at Sheerness, designated to escort assault
Convoy G16 to the coast of Normandy for the initial landing and then to remain off the beachhead to defend it from German naval attack as part of Force G. In early June 1944, she joined the other forces allocated to Force G in the west
Solent. and Secretary of State
James F. Byrnes wave at HMS
Hambledon while on board on the
River Scheldt as they head to the
Potsdam Conference on 15 July 1945 After the landings were delayed from 5 June to 6 June due to bad weather,
Hambledon departed for the landings along with the escort destroyer on 5 June 1944 as escort for Convoy G16, which consisted of nine
infantry landing craft and two rescue craft. The convoy arrived off
Gold Beach on 6 June 1944 and put its troops ashore, with
Hambledon supporting the landing by bombarding German shore defences. Later in the day,
Hambledon steamed back to the Solent to escort
Convoy EBP 2 bringing reinforcements and supplies to the beachhead, fighting an action against German S-boats south of the
Isle of Wight along the way. On 7 June 1944, she joined the 112th Escort Group – made up of the
frigates and and the
sloop – to escort EBP 2 – five
troop transports carrying
United States Army troops for discharge on
Utah Beach, the headquarters ship for
Mulberry B, and three smaller
merchant ships – to Utah Beach, where the convoy arrived on 8 June 1944. Later that day, she was released from convoy escort duty and assigned to patrol and interception duties to defend the beachhead from German naval attack. In July 1944,
Hambledon was released from beachhead defence duties and reported to the 16th Destroyer Flotilla at Harwich for convoy defence operations in the North Sea and English Channel, which she conducted until March 1945. In March 1945, she was reassigned to escort convoys crossing the North Sea between the United Kingdom and ports in
Belgium and the Netherlands and to patrol duties in the
Nore Command and
Dover areas. In April 1945, her focus again shifted to convoy defence and patrol operations in the southern North Sea and English Channel, and on 12 April 1945 she and the frigate fought an action with German S-boats which were laying mines off
Flushing. After
Germany surrendered in early May 1945,
Hambledon was assigned to the Nore Local Flotilla. From June to August 1945 she operated on training duties and in support of re-occupation forces. She remained in the Nore Command until
decommissioned and placed in
reserve in December 1945. ==Reserve and disposal==