HMS Acheron was an  destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War in Home waters and off the Norwegian coast, before becoming an early war loss when she sank after hitting a mine off the Isle of Wight on 17 December 1940. The wreck site is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Design
The 1927 construction programme for the Royal Navy included orders for a destroyer leader () and eight destroyers of the A-class, the first class of destroyers to be built for the Royal Navy since the end of the First World War, and a development of the prototype destroyers  and . John I. Thornycroft & Company's destroyer, Acheron, was to have experimental high pressure machinery.

Acheron was  long overall,  at the waterline and  between perpendiculars, with a beam of  and a mean draught of . Displacement was  standard and  full load. Three Thornycroft three-drum boiler fed steam at  and  to Parsons geared steam turbine, which drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of . 345 t of oil was carried, giving a range of  at .

As built, Acheron had a main gun armament of four QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns in single mounts, in two superfiring pairs in front of the bridge and aft of the superstructure. These guns could only elevate to 30 degrees and so were only useful for surface fire. Anti-aircraft armament consisted of two  QF 2-pounder Mk II 'pom-pom' autocannons, backed up by four .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns. The ship was fitted with two above-water quadruple mounts for  torpedoes. The A-class were fitted with the Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep minesweeping equipment to allow sweeping ahead of the fleet at high speeds, which meant that the anti-submarine outfit was reduced, with three depth charge racks and six depth charges,  The A-class destroyers were given space for an ASDIC system, but it was not initially fitted. The ship had a crew of 138 officers and other ranks.

Construction and commissioning
Acheron was ordered on 29 May 1928 from Thornycroft's Woolston, Hampshire yard under the 1927 Naval Estimates. Acheron was laid down on 29 October 1928 and was launched a year later on 18 March 1930, with Katharine, Lady Parsons as sponsor. The destroyer was commissioned on 12 October 1931 for trials and completed the next day. She was the fifth ship named Acheron to serve with the Royal Navy.

Service

Pre-war operations
Acheron suffered from a number of mechanical problems associated with her machinery, which persisted throughout the ship's career. These problems convinced the Admiralty not to continue with experiments with high boiler pressures, with later destroyer classes using conservative steam conditions. Trials of the ship and her machinery continued until June 1932, after which the destroyer underwent modifications. On 17 October 1932, five workmen were overcome by fumes when working in Acherons engine room when the ship was at Portsmouth dockyard. The men were taken to Royal Hospital Haslar for recovery. 

On 19 October 1932, Acheron recommissioned, joining the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla serving with the Mediterranean Fleet. The 3rd Flotilla returned to Britain in 1935, with Acheron undergoing defect repair at Portsmouth. Acherons crew transferred to the old destroyer  which replaced Acheron in the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla while the newer ship was being repaired. Acheron returned to the 3rd Flotilla to replace Wessex when her repairs were complete, again exchanging her crew with Wessex. Acherons stay in the Mediterranean was short, however, as she returned to British waters in June 1936, undergoing a further series of full power sea trials before undergoing a refit at Portsmouth that lasted from July 1936 to February 1937. 

On completion of the refit, Acheron was transferred to second-line duties, replacing Ambuscade as tender to HMS Vernon, the Royal Navy's torpedo school. From June to July 1937, Acheron was fitted with Asdic. On 1 November 1937, Acheron collided with a barge while leaving Portsmouth harbour. The destroyer received a  tear above the waterline on her starboard side, and was under repair until 6 December. After repair, Acheron replaced  as emergency destroyer at Portsmouth. In March 1938, Acheron again returned to Portsmouth Dockyard for another refit and repairs to her turbines, these lasting until December that year. In January 1939, she replaced  as a gunnery training destroyer with HMS Vernon. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, she was under repair at Portsmouth.

Second World War
On completion of repairs, Acheron joined the 18th Destroyer Flotilla, carrying out local duties around Portsmouth until December 1939 when she underwent further machinery repairs. On completion, she joined the 16th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on 23 March 1940. The flotilla was then deployed in the North Western Approaches and the North Sea. After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Acheron was deployed with the flotilla on convoy defence and fleet screening duties in support of the military landings in Norway. On 17 April, she and  were part of the escort for the cruisers , ,  and . The cruisers then landed troops at Åndalsnes and Molde. On arrival on at Åndalsnes on 18 April, Acheron was detached and deployed on patrol and escort duties. She then escorted the aircraft carrier  from Scapa Flow, before deploying with the destroyers  and  off Namsos.

On 31 May, Acheron, , ,  and  escorted the carriers Glorious and  to Norway to cover the final evacuation of British troops from Norway (Operation Alphabet). This was completed by 9 June, whereupon Acheron resumed her normal duties with the flotilla. She then operated in the English Channel to escort convoys and was in dock at Portsmouth on 21 June to have a  AA gun fitted to improve her anti-aircraft defence. Whilst sailing  south off St. Catherine's Point on 20 July, she was attacked by German dive bombers, and was damaged by nine near misses.

She began repairs at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 August, but on 24 August she was seriously damaged during an air raid which killed two of her crew and injured another three. One bomb hit her aft section and exploded, causing severe damage to her machinery, "Y" gun and superstructure. This caused her repairs to be extended until October, with her "Y" gun being replaced by a mounting from the destroyer , which had been damaged in June. In November, Acheron was nominated for service as gunnery training destroyer.

Sinking
Repairs were fully completed by 2 December, and she began post-refit trials. On 17 December, she was sailing off the Isle of Wight. The trial was being conducted at night, in heavy seas and with a strong north-east wind in complete darkness. She was conducting steaming exercises over a measured mile,  west-south-west of St. Catherine's Point. On one of the passes, she struck a mine. The explosion caused major structural damage forward, and her own speed drove her under. She sank within four minutes, taking 196 crewmen and yard workers, who were on board for the trials, to the bottom. There were only 19 survivors. The mine was probably one of those laid by the Luftwaffe along the Channel coast in no apparent pattern. 

Her sinking was not made public until 26 December 1940.

The wreck site was designated as a Protected Place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 in 2006.

Notes

References

External links
 HMS Acheron at Uboat.net
 HMS ACHERON - A-class Destroyer
 

 

A- and B-class destroyers
Ships built in Southampton
1930 ships
World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom
World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel
Protected Wrecks of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in December 1940
Ships sunk by mines
Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company