HMS Ivanhoe ( D16 ) HMS " Ivanhoe " was an 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 . Before the start of World War II , the ship was modified so that she could be used to lay mines by removing some of her armament . " Ivanhoe " was transferred to Western Approaches Command shortly after the war began and helped to sink one German submarine in October 1939 . She was converted to a minelayer while undergoing a refit in November – December and laid minefield s in German coastal waters as well as anti - submarine minefields off the British coast until she was reconverted back to her destroyer configuration in February 1940 . " Ivanhoe " reverted to her minelaying role during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940 and then laid a number of minefields off the Dutch coast during the Battle of the Netherlands in May . The ship participated in the Dunkirk evacuation until she was badly damaged by German aircraft on 1 June . On her first minelaying mission after her repairs were completed , she struck a German mine and had to be scuttled on 1 September 1940 during the Texel Disaster . Description . " Ivanhoe " displaced at standard load and at deep load . The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines , driving two shafts , which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3 - drum water - tube boilers . " Ivanhoe " carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship ' s complement was 145 officers and enlisted men in peacetime . The ship mounted four 45 - calibre 4 . 7 - inch Mk IX guns in single mounts , designated ' A ' , ' B ' , ' X ' , and ' Y ' from front to rear . For anti - aircraft ( AA ) defence , " Ivanhoe " had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0 . 5 inch Vickers Mk III machine gun . She was fitted with two above - water quintuple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes . One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted ; 30 depth charges were originally carried , but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began . She was one of the four I - class destroyers fitted with minelaying equipment in late 1938 – January 1939 at Malta . This consisted of mounts for rails on the deck on which to carry the mines and an electric winch to move the mines down the rails . A pair of sponsons were added to the stern to allow the mines to clear the propellers when dropped into the sea . ' A ' and ' Y ' guns and both sets of torpedo tubes were modified to allow them to be removed to compensate for the weight of the mines . The ship could carry a maximum of 72 mines . " Ivanhoe " was fitted with the ASDIC sound detection system to locate submarines underwater . Service history . The ship was ordered from Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun on 30 October 1935 under the 1935 Naval Programme . The ship was laid down on 12 February 1936 and launched on 11 February 1937 as the second Royal Navy warship to carry the name . " Ivanhoe " was completed on 24 August 1937 and cost £259 , 371 excluding items supplied by Admiralty such as guns and communications equipment . She was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning and participated in training exercises with the French Navy in December through January 1938 . The ship was forced to leave these exercises prematurely as she had problems with the tubes in her superheater s . These were replaced at Malta from 15 January – 19 March . Afterwards , " Ivanhoe " was transferred to Gibraltar where she patrolled Spanish waters enforcing the policies of the Non - Intervention Committee until the end of the war . She was in Cartagena in February – March 1939 to protect British citizens and interests as foreigners , Republican troops and their supporters evacuated the city . " Ivanhoe " was in transit between Alexandria and Malta when World War II began in September 1939 , but she was in Plymouth on 14 September as the entire 3rd Destroyer Flotilla had been transferred to the Western Approaches Command for escort duties . Together with her sisters , , , and , the ship sank the on 14 October . She was refitted at Sheerness Dockyard and converted to a minelayer from 14 November – 13 December . " Ivanhoe " was transferred to the specialist minelaying 20th Destroyer Flotilla on 12 December and laid her first minefield , along with the other three ships of the flotilla , at the mouth of the Ems estuary on the night of 17 / 18 December . Another minefield was laid on the night of 2 / 3 January 1940 by " Ivanhoe " and " Intrepid " and they then laid a series of anti - submarine minefields later in the month . The ship replaced her guns and torpedo tubes at Portland from 27 January – 3 February and resumed her former duties . In early April , " Ivanhoe " and three other destroyer minelayer s were escorted by the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla as they laid mines as part of Operation Wilfred , an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the shipment of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany . The mines were laid on the early morning of 8 April , before the Germans began their invasion , and the destroyers joined the battlecruiser and her escorts after they each successfully laid their 60 mines . The ship was present during , but played no significant part in , " Renown " s brief engagement off Lofoten with the German battleships and on 9 April . Later in the month , the ship carried troops of the 15th Infantry Brigade to Åndalsnes . " Ivanhoe " then loaded mines and laid a minefield in the approaches to Trondheim , together with " Icarus " and , on the night of 29 / 30 April . After a boiler cleaning from 7 – 15 May , " Ivanhoe " , , and , laid 164 mines off the Hook of Holland on the night of 15 / 16 May . Three German minesweepers were later sunk by this minefield on 26 July . Three nights later , the same three ships , reinforced by " Intrepid " , " Impulsive " , and the auxiliary minelayer laid a minefield off the Dutch coast . " Princess Victoria " struck a German mine on the voyage home and was sunk ; the destroyers rescued the ship ' s survivors . They laid five more minefields off the Dutch coast before the end of the month . On 29 May , the ship was transferred to the Dunkirk evacuation effort and ferried 930 troops to Dover that day . She also took aboard the crew of the badly damaged destroyer and then scuttled " Grafton " . She was withdrawn from the evacuation on 30 May as too valuable to risk , but this decision was reversed the following day and " Ivanhoe " evacuated 1 , 290 men to Dover . On the morning of 1 June , already having loaded troops , the ship was attacked off Dunkirk harbour by German aircraft . Two bombs missed to port and starboard , but the third detonated above the upper deck and flooded the two forward boiler rooms . The bomb killed 26 , including five soldiers , and wounded many others . Most of the troops and wounded were taken off by the minesweeper and the destroyer . No . 3 boiler room was still operable and the ship reached Dover under her own power . Repairs at Sheerness lasted until 28 August and she was converted back into a minelayer at Immingham from 28 – 31 August as she was transferred back to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla . That night , she sailed with " Intrepid " , " Icarus " , " Esk " and " Express " to lay a minefield off the Dutch coast , north of Texel . " Express " hit a mine in a newly - laid German field that night and had her bow blown off . " Ivanhoe " closed to assist her and struck another mine shortly afterwards . The explosion knocked out her power for several hours , but the ship was able to raise steam by 01 : 45 on 1 September . She reached a speed of while steaming backwards to lessen the stress on her damaged bow . However , about 04 : 00 , either her propellers fell off or her propeller shafts fractured , and she lost all speed . Around 08 : 00 , four motor torpedo boat s arrived ; three of these loaded all but 37 men of the ship ' s crew while the fourth stayed with the destroyer to recover the remaining crewmen . " Ivanhoe " continued to take on water and started to list . Early in the afternoon , she lost all power to her pumps and the captain ordered the ship abandoned after opening her valves to speed her sinking . Shortly afterwards , " Ivanhoe " was discovered and damaged by a German aircraft , but still did not sink . She had to be scuttled by a torpedo fired by the destroyer later in the afternoon . The ship quickly sank afterwards at position .