Humble fellow that I am, I do not wear my "Hero" cap except on very special occasions. (Currently, I am hoping to be able to don it on the occasion of Rob Ford's arrest.)
HMS Hero was an
H-class destroyer built for the
Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the
Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship enforced the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides as part of the
Mediterranean Fleet. During the first few months of
World War II,
Hero searched for German
commerce raiders in the
Atlantic Ocean and participated in the
Second Battle of Narvik during the
Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in May where she escorted a number of
convoys to Malta. The ship took part in the
Battle of Cape Spada in July 1940,
Operation Abstention in February 1941, and the
evacuations of Greece and
Crete in April–May 1941.
The ship covered an
amphibious landing during the
Syria–Lebanon Campaign of June 1941 and began escorting supply convoys in June to
Tobruk,
Libya shortly afterwards. She was damaged by German
dive bombers while rescuing survivors from the
minelayer Latona in October 1941 and resumed escorting convoys to Malta.
Hero participated in the
Second Battle of Sirte in March 1942 and in
Operation Vigorous in June. She sank two German submarines whilst stationed in the Mediterranean in 1942, and was transferred back home late in the year to begin converting to an
escort destroyer. The ship was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1943 and renamed HMCS
Chaudière. She became part of the
Mid-Ocean Escort Force in early 1944 until her transfer back to British coastal waters in May to protect the build-up for
Operation Overlord. Together with other ships, she sank three more German submarines during the year.
Chaudière was refitting when the war ended in May 1945 and was in poor shape. The ship was
paid off in August and later sold for
scrap. The process of breaking her up, however, was not completed until 1950.
