HMS Garland, also known by her Polish designation ORP Garland, was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Shortly after World War II began, she was badly damaged by the premature explosion of her own depth charges and required over six months of repairs. Before these were completed, Garland was loaned to the Polish Navy in May 1940. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet afterwards and escorted convoys there before being assigned to the Western Approaches Command in September for escort duties. She escorted a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta during Operation Halberd in September 1941 and escorted Convoy PQ 16 from Iceland to Murmansk in May 1942. She was badly damaged by a near miss from a German bomber during that operation and required three months of repairs.
Garland was then assigned to the Mid-Ocean Escort Force in the North Atlantic until December 1943, when she was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to escort convoys off West Africa. In April 1944, the ship was transferred to back to the Mediterranean Fleet where she escorted convoys. She sank one German submarine in September before returning to the UK for a lengthy refit that lasted until March 1945. Garland was then assigned to the Western Approaches Command, but carried emergency supplies to coastal towns in Belgium and the Netherlands immediately after the war ended in May. She was paid off and reclaimed from the Polish Navy in July 1946. A few months later, the ship was sold to the Royal Netherlands Navy for use as a school ship. Garland was refitted as an anti-submarine training ship in 1948 and renamed Marnix in 1950. Reclassified as a frigate in 1952, the ship was not decommissioned until 1964 and scrapped afterwards.
Description
Garland 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 boilers. Garland carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime, but in increased to 146 in wartime.
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, Garland had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mk III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21-inch torpedoes. 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. By mid-1940, this had increased to 44 depth charges.
Wartime modifications
Most ships of Garlands class had the rear torpedo tubes replaced by a 12-pounder AA gun after the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, but it is not known exactly when this modification was made. By 1942, the ship's short range AA armament had been augmented by two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons on her searchlight platform and another pair on the wings of the ship's bridge. 'Y' gun was also removed to allow her depth charge stowage to be increased. The .50-calibre machine gun mounts were replaced by a pair of Oerlikons later. The ship's director-control tower and rangefinder above the bridge were removed in exchange for a Type 271 target indication radar, after 1942, and 'B' gun was replaced by a Hedgehog anti-submarine spigot mortar. A Type 286 short-range surface search radar was probably also fitted mid-way through the war. The ship also received a HF/DF radio direction finder mounted on a pole mainmast.
History
HMS Garland, 1936–1940
Ordered on 5 March 1934 from Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering, Garland was laid down at Govan, Scotland, on 22 August 1934. She was launched on 24 October 1935 and completed on 3 March 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £250,664. She was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning. Garland patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War enforcing the edicts of the Non-Intervention Committee in 1937 and 1938. The ship was overhauled at Sheerness between 24 May and 5 July 1937 and 31 May to 28 July 1938 during which her low-pressure turbines were repaired. Garland patrolled off Cyprus in July 1939.