Scapa Flow Matchless undertook
sea trials in the
Firth of Clyde and then joined the
Home Fleet at
Scapa Flow for crew training in gunnery and torpedo attacks. Her first active service was on an
Arctic convoy to
Murmansk and the
Kola Inlet. On 13 May 1942 she was one of four destroyers that sailed from Murmansk escorting the light cruiser , which had been damaged during a previous convoy and partially repaired for her homeward voyage. On 15 May 20
Ju 88 bombers attacked the flotilla and one bomb set
Trinidad on fire and crippled her.
Matchless rescued over 200 survivors and then
scuttled Trinidad by torpedoing her.
Malta In June 1942
Matchless took part in
Operation Harpoon: a heavily armed convoy to relieve the
besieged island of Malta. The convoy sailed from
Gibraltar on 12 June and
Matchless was damaged by a mine off Malta on 15 June. This forced her to remain in Malta for repairs, where she survived 265 air raids. In August she sailed from Malta disguised as an Italian warship. She reached Gibraltar just in time to join
Operation Pedestal, which was the next convoy to relieve Malta.
Arctic Convoys After Operation Pedestal,
Matchless escorted two successful Arctic convoys from
Loch Ewe to the Kola Inlet:
JW 51A in December 1942 and
JW 51B in December and January. In May and June 1943
Matchless escorted the ocean liner part-way across the North Atlantic while the liner was carrying
Winston Churchill to the United States. She then escorted further Arctic convoys:
JW 54B in November 1943 and
JW 55A in December 1943.
Sinking Scharnhorst On 24–25 December 1943
Matchless was returning from the Kola Inlet escorting
Convoy RA 55A when she and three other destroyers were ordered to detach from that convoy and join a JW convoy heading for Russia. It was believed the German battleship might be on the point of leaving her Norwegian fjord base to attack the convoys. On Christmas Day came a message that the 10th Cruiser Squadron consisting of , and (Vice Admiral
Robert Burnett) had been in action against
Scharnhorst. Her mission was to attack the convoys, but she had been ordered to avoid battle with heavy Allied units and she disengaged from the cruisers; with her superior speed was soon out of contact. Burnett believed she might be heading north to attack the convoys; he also headed north and on Boxing Day made contact again, exchanging fire, during which the
Norfolk was hit.
Scharnhorst disengaged again and headed south for the safety of her
Altafjord base. The cruisers and destroyers shadowed
Scharnhorst. Burnett was aware that a heavier Royal Navy force commanded by Admiral
Bruce Fraser aboard the battleship was steaming from the west to intercept her. Admiral
Erich Bey aboard
Scharnhorst was not aware of this. About 5.15 p.m. the black of the winter Arctic night was lit up as bright as day by starshell and the battle began. Outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded, her retreat cut off, there could be only one end. She was weakened first by shellfire from
Duke of York, then by torpedoes from the cruiser , British and Norwegian destroyers. The destroyer detachment from
Convoy JW 55A, including
Matchless, closed in and sank
Scharnhorst with a further 19 torpedoes, it going under around 7.15 p.m. Only 36 survivors were recovered;
Matchless picking up six of them.
Return to Home Fleet After the battle,
Matchless returned to Scapa Flow, resumed duties with the Home Fleet and performed escort duties including further Arctic convoys until August 1944. She was then paid off in
Hull, but after repairs and a re-fit she was recommissioned later the same month.
Matchless saw further service in the Mediterranean until 1945, and was then decommissioned in April 1946.
Laid Up Matchless was then laid up off
Portchester Castle in
Hampshire where she was held in reserve until at least 1957. Along with three other ships of the same class she was transferred to the
Turkish Navy as part of an agreement signed at Ankara on 16 August 1957. They underwent a refit which involved the removal of the after set of torpedo tubes and some secondary armament. They received a new deckhouse and
Squid anti-submarine weapons system. On 29 June 1959 they were handed over at Portsmouth.
Matchless, which was refitted at Harland & Wolff's shipyard at Govan, Glasgow, was commissioned as TCG
Kılıç Ali Paşa (D-350) after an Italian-born 16th century Turkish admiral,
Uluç Ali Reis (1519–87). She served in the
Turkish Navy until 1971, when she was struck from the list and scrapped. ==Heritage==