HMS Defender ( H07 ) HMS " Defender " was a D - class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s . The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before she was transferred to the China Station in early 1935 . She was temporarily deployed in the Red Sea during late 1935 during the Abyssinia Crisis , before returning to her assigned station where she remained until mid - 1939 . " Defender " was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before World War II began in September 1939 . She briefly was assigned to West Africa for convoy escort duties in 1940 before returning to the Mediterranean . The ship participated in the Battles of Calabria , Cape Spartivento , and Cape Matapan over the next year without damage . " Defender " assisted in the evacuations from Greece and Crete in April – May 1941 , before she began running supply missions to Tobruk , Libya in June . The ship was badly damaged by a German bomber on one of those missions and had to be scuttled by her consort on 11 July 1941 . Description . " Defender " 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 . " Defender " carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship ' s complement was 145 officers and men . The ship mounted four 45 - calibre 4 . 7 - inch Mark IX guns in single mounts . For anti - aircraft ( AA ) defence , " Diamond " had a single 12 - pounder ( 3 - inch ( 76 . 2 mm ) ) gun between her funnels and two QF 2 - pounder Mark II guns mounted on the side of her bridge . She was fitted with two above - water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21 - inch torpedoe s . One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted ; 20 depth charges were originally carried , but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began . Career . Ordered on 2 February 1932 under the 1930 Naval Programme , " Defender " was laid down at the Vickers Armstrongs yard in Barrow as Yard Number 674 on 22 June 1931 , and launched on 7 April 1932 . She was completed on 31 October 1932 having cost a total of £223 , 979 , excluding the Admiralty supplied equipment such as guns , ammunition and wireless outfits . The ship was initially assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean and made a brief deployment to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea in September – November 1933 . " Defender " was refitted at Devonport Dockyard between 3 September and 23 October 1934 for service on the China Station with the 8th ( later the 21st ) Destroyer Flotilla and arrived at Hong Kong in January 1935 . The ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from November 1935 to June 1936 during the Abyssinian Crisis and then visited ports in East Africa for a month before returning to the China Station . Her boilers had to be retubed at Singapore between 5 November 1938 and 26 January 1939 and her superheater s were repaired at Hong Kong from 31 January to 14 March . With the outbreak of war , " Defender " was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and arrived in Alexandria on 19 September . She was assigned to contraband control duties until she was transferred to Gibraltar in January 1940 . The ship patrolled the Portuguese coast until she was transferred to Freetown in mid - February to escort convoys off the West African coast . " Defender " was transferred back to Gibraltar in April , escorting the light cruiser en route , and arrived there on 23 April 1940 . The next month , she joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet and escorted Convoy US - 2 carrying Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East through the Red Sea from 12 to 17 May . On 27 June , together with the destroyers and , she sank the south east of Crete . " Defender " participated in the Battle of Calabria on 9 July as an escort for the heavy ships of Force C and unsuccessfully engaged Italian destroyers without suffering any damage . Together with her sisters " Dainty " and , the Australian destroyer , and the light cruiser s and , she escorted Convoy AN . 2 from Egypt to various ports in the Aegean Sea in late July . On 6 November , " Defender " , together with the destroyers , , , , , , " Ilex " , , , , and screened the capital ship s of the Mediterranean Fleet , which provided distant cover for the passage of Convoy MW3 from Egypt to Malta and Convoy ME3 from Malta as part of Operation MB8 . During Operation Collar in late November , " Defender " , the anti - aircraft cruiser and four other destroyers sailed from Alexandria to rendezvous with a convoy coming from Gibraltar . After reaching Malta on 26 November , the destroyers joined the battleship , and the light cruisers and of Force D and sailed to rendezvous with Force H , also coming from Gibraltar . The next day , after the British forces had combined , they were spotted by the Italians and the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento was fought . On 7 January 1941 , " Defender " escorted Convoy MW . 5 with her sister and the anti - aircraft cruiser from Alexandria to Malta during Operation Excess . The ship was refitted in Malta from 4 February to 19 March and participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan on 27 – 29 March . During Operation Demon , the evacuation of Allied troops from Greece , she escorted Convoy GA15 on 29 – 30 April from Souda Bay , Crete , to Alexandria . An Italian destroyer and two torpedo boat s attacked the convoy at night as it was transiting Kaso Strait east of Crete , but were rebuffed by the defenders without inflicting any damage . The following month " Defender " assisted in the evacuation of troops from Crete to Egypt after the Germans invaded on 22 May ( Operation Merkur ) . On 10 June , " Defender " , and the other three ships of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla , arrived off the Lebanese coast to reinforce Royal Navy forces supporting Operation Exporter , the invasion of Vichy French - controlled Syria and Lebanon , but the ship was not engaged during her time off Lebanon and Syria . Later that month , she began escorting convoys to and from Tobruk and on 29 June the Australian destroyer was badly damaged by Italian Junkers Ju 87 " Stuka " dive bomber s off Tobruk . " Defender " took " Waterhen " in tow , but the next day she capsized and sank . Loss . On 11 July 1941 , " Defender " was returning from Tobruk in company with the Australian destroyer . They were attacked by a single Junkers Ju 88 bomber of I . / Lehrgeschwader 1 piloted by Gerhard Stamp on a reconnaissance flight along the coast before dawn . The bomber scored a near - miss on " Defender " which detonated under the ship , just forward of the engine room . The shock broke the ship ' s back and flooded the engine room , although there were no casualties among her crew or passengers . " Vendetta " took " Defender " in tow , leaving a skeleton crew aboard the damaged ship , but she started to break up and " Vendetta " was forced to scuttle her with a torpedo and gunfire off Sidi Barrani about five hours later .