HMS Stronghold was an destroyer, which served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. The ship was one of the first vehicles to deploy an unmanned aircraft. Launched on 6 May 1919, the destroyer was fitted with a simple catapult in 1924, which used a bag of sand as a weight, and launched the RAE 1921 Target, an early form of unmanned aircraft. A more sophisticated cordite catapult was fitted in 1927 and used to launch the more advanced RAE Larynx. In total, more than twenty test flights were undertaken before the catapult was removed. The destroyer was subsequently fitted out as a minelayer. At the start of the Second World War, the destroyer was based in Singapore. Stronghold helped to rescue the Supermarine Walrus from the battlecruiser , which had been sunk by the Japanese, in 1941 and, the following year, towed the destroyer on the first part of the Royal Australian Navy vessel's journey to Fremantle. On 2 March 1942, the vessel was spotted by a Japanese reconnaissance seaplane and attacked by the heavy cruiser , along with the two escorting destroyers and . Heavily outgunned, the destroyer was sunk with the loss of nine officers and sixty-one ratings.
Design and development
Stronghold was one of thirty-three Admiralty destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty in June 1917 as part of the Twelfth War Construction Programme. The design was a development of the introduced as a cheaper and faster alternative to the . Differences with the R class were minor, such as having the searchlight moved aft.
Stronghold had a overall length of and a length of between perpendiculars. Beam was and draught . Displacement was normal and deep load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of at normal loading and at deep load. Two funnels were fitted. The ship carried of oil, which gave a design range of at . The ship had a complement of 90 officers and ratings.
Armament consisted of three QF Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline. One was mounted raised on the forecastle, one between the funnels and one aft. The ship also mounted a single 2-pounder pom-pom anti-aircraft gun for air defence. Four tubes were fitted in two twin rotating mounts aft. The ship was designed to mount two tubes either side of the superstructure but this addition required the forecastle plating to be cut away, making the vessel very wet, so they were not fitted. The weight saved enabled the heavier Mark V 21-inch torpedo to be carried.
Construction and career
Interwar service
Laid down in March 1918 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock with the yard number 494, Stronghold was launched on 6 May 1919. The vessel was the first, and only, of the name. Completed on 2 July 1919, the ship served in active duty for only a few days, being reduced to the Reserve Fleet at Portsmouth on 10 July. The vessel was recommissioned in Reserve at Portsmouth on 16 August 1920.
Unlike many of the class which suffered deterioration over the ensuing years, Stronghold was drafted into service as part of Naval experiments with the Royal Navy's first experiments with guided missiles. In 1924, the destroyer was equipped with a simple catapult to launch the RAE 1921 Target unmanned vehicle. First used on 3 September, 1924, despite the flight lasting only twelve minutes, this was the first Remote Piloted Vehicle (RPV) flown. The Target was successfully launched twelve times in the following two years. The aircraft was initially accelerated to launch by the simple process of dropping a large bag of water off the side of the ship. This was replaced by a more sophisticated catapult powered by cordite in 1927. The new catapult was used to test the more capable RAE Larynx, the first success launch taking place in the Bristol Channel on 20 July 1927. At the second launch, on 1 September, the aircraft is believed to have flown , while the third and final flight, on 15 October, struck the ground from its target after travelling . The catapult was subsequently removed. In July 1931, Stronghold, in reserve at Portsmouth was recommissioned to replace as tender to the Torpedo School, with Taras crew transferring to Stronghold. In 1938, Stronghold was equipped as a minelayer, capable of carrying thirty-eight mines as an alternative to the aft guns and torpedo tubes.