page_title: HMS Badsworth
section_title: Escort and patrol duties in the Mediterranean
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Badsworth / Career / Escort and patrol duties in the Mediterranean
caption_attribution_description: English: HMS Badsworth on April 14, 1943 escorting a Liberty-ship en route to North Africa.
context_page_description: HMS Badsworth was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Badsworth's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Cammell Laird laid down her keel at their Birkenhead yard on 15 May 1940, as Admiralty Job No. J3260. After a successful Warship Week national savings campaign in March 1942, Badsworth was adopted by the civil community of Batley, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The ship was named after a fox-hunt in Yorkshire.
  Badsworth began her career on convoy duty in the North Western Approaches. However, in June 1942 she took up the role of close escort in Convoy Harpoon, aiming to deliver vital supplies to the beleaguered island of Malta. The convoy met fierce attacks from the besieging Italian and German forces with only two out of the initial six merchant ships reaching Malta. Whilst entering the Grand Harbour Badsworth struck a mine, sustaining heavy damage. She was towed back for temporary repairs, afterwards leaving the island and heading towards Tyne for further repairs. In November 1942 Badsworth rejoined the Londonderry Escort Force by escorting a convoy headed to Murmansk.
context_section_description: On 29 May, Badsworth was chosen for far escort duties of supply convoy to Malta, as part of Operation Harpoon. After preparing for the Mediterranean duties at Derry, on 6 June the destroyer joined Convoy WS-19S in the north west approaches as part of Ocean Escort for passage to Gibraltar. On 12 June, Badsworth joined the cruiser Cairo, with a covering destroyer flotilla made up of the destroyers Bedouin, Marne, Matchless, Partridge, Ithuriel, Blankney, Middleton  and ORP Kujawiak. Also part of Force X charged with leading the convoy to Malta were the minesweepers Hebe, Speedy, Hythe and Rye. The ships set out of Gibraltar escorting the convoy through the Sicilian narrows.
  On 14 June, Badsworth was under heavy air attack, which damaged  Liverpool forcing her return to Gibraltar. The day after found the convoy in action with Italian warships in their attempt to intercept and sink the convoy. On 16 June, Badsworth suffered major structural damage after she detonated a mine whilst entering Grand Harbour, Malta. The destroyer entered the harbour with the two merchantmen that survived the convoy. The ships’ night time arrival, along with errors in the signals received for a mine-swept path caused the convoy to pass through a minefield. ORP Kujawiak was sunk after detonating a mine, while  Matchless, the minesweeper Hebe and the merchantman Orari were also damaged.
  Badsworth had twelve by fifteen foot gash torn in her forward structure below the waterline. Among the fourteen casualties were some survivors from the merchant ships sunk during the passage to Malta. The day after the arrival, the destroyer was docked and taken for repairs at HM Dockyard, Malta. Temporary repairs to allow a return to Great Britain took until 11 August, when Badsworth left Malta, along with the Matchless  as escorts for two merchantmen to Gibraltar. The ships were tagged as Force Y, as part of Operation Ascendant. These ships were the only remaining survivors of the Harpoon convoy. Their passage back to Gibraltar was deliberately planned to coincide with that of the next Malta relief convoy, Operation Pedestal.  During the passage close to the North African coast, Italian recognition marks were painted on Badsworth’s forecastle. The ships arrived at Gibraltar on 15 August, with Badsworth leaving harbour three days later, heading for the United Kingdom for repairs. On 25 August, Badsworth entered the North Shields commercial shipyard for repairs. 
  Repairs continued until November, with post refit trails and the preparations for operational service ending in December. Badsworth  rejoined the Londonderry Escort Force for convoy defence in the North Atlantic. On 18 December, the destroyer joined the military convoy WS25 with the destroyers Haydon and Wolverine as escort for the convoy’s route to Freetown. Badsworth detached from WS-25 along with the other destroyers and returned to the Clyde on 24 December.
  From January to February 1943, Badsworth continued to provide defence for Atlantic convoys. However, she was transferred to the Mediterranean for escort and support duties with the 60th Destroyer Division.  On 16 March, as Badsworth  was prepared for foreign service, she joined the joint military convoy WS-28/KMF-11 in the Clyde with the Polish destroyer Krakowiak, and the Royal Navy destroyers Douglas, Eggesford, Goathland, Whaddon and the sloops Woodpecker and Wren as escorts during the convoy’s Atlantic passage. Badsworth then detached from the joint convoy with other ships bound for Gibraltar, as part of KMF11.
  Badsworth  was thence deployed in the Western Mediterranean for convoy defence and patrol. On 22 April, she was mined at Bone, Algeria, sustaining major structural damage in her aft section. Badsworth’s starboard engine was immobilised, with both shafts distorted. The ship was beached, and had to be refloated and towed back into harbour by the minesweeper Clacton. Temporary repairs were made in Malta during May, upon completion Badsworth was towed back to the United Kingdom by the tug Frisky as part of Convoy MKS-15. The destroyer was taken
caption: Badsworth on 14 April 1943 escorting a Liberty-ship en route to North Africa.
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