HMS Acasta was one of eight destroyers built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1920s. The ship spent most of the 1930s assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. During the early months of the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, Acasta spent considerable time in Spanish waters enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict.
At the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939, the ship was assigned convoy escort duties in the English Channel and the Western Approaches that lasted until April 1940 when the Germans invaded Norway. That month Acasta was transferred to the Home Fleet and supported Allied operations in Norway. Whilst escorting the aircraft carrier on 8 June 1940, she was sunk by the battleships and , but not before badly damaging the former ship.
Design and description
In the mid-1920s, the RN ordered two destroyers from two different builders, , built by Yarrow, and , built by Thornycroft, incorporating the lessons learned from World War I, as prototypes for future classes. The A-class destroyers were based on Amazon, slightly enlarged and carrying two more torpedo tubes. They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . Acasta was powered by a pair of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a speed of . During her sea trials, she reached a maximum speed of from . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . The complement of the A-class ships was 134 officers and ratings and increased to 143 by 1940.
Their main armament consisted of four QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns in single mounts, in two superfiring pairs in front of the bridge and aft of the superstructure. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two QF 2-pounder Mk II AA guns mounted on a platform between their funnels. The ships were fitted with two above-water quadruple mounts for torpedoes. Carrying the minesweeping paravanes on the quarterdeck limited depth charge chutes to three with two depth charges provided for each chute. The A-class destroyers were given space for an ASDIC system, but it was not initially fitted.
Construction and career
Acasta was ordered on 6 March 1928 from John Brown & Company under the 1929 Naval Programme. She was laid down at their Clydebank, Scotland, shipyard on 13 August 1928, and launched on 8 August 1929, as the fourth ship of the name to serve in the RN. The ship was completed on 11 February 1930 at a cost of £227,621 excluding items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns, ammunition and communications equipment. Acasta was commissioned at Clydebank three days later and was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (DF) of the Mediterranean Fleet after working up.
The ship remained with the 3rd DF until 1937 aside from refits in HM Dockyard, Devonport (30 August–29 October 1932 and 29 April–3 July 1935). She also had a refit in Gibraltar between 24 November and 20 December 1933. Acasta accidentally collided with her flotilla leader, off Malta during an exercise on 12 June 1934 and was under repair until 27 July. The ship spent of her time between September 1936 and April 1937 aiding refugees and making non-intervention patrols in Spanish waters. She returned home at the end of that month and began a long refit at Devonport on 1 May that lasted until 11 April 1938 and included the installation of ASDIC. Acasta was then assigned to the 7th DF and served in Irish waters until beginning a refit at Devonport between 3 November and 17 January 1939. The ship was then assigned as the emergency destroyer for Plymouth and aided Vickers-Armstrongs in testing ASDIC equipment for the Argentinian light cruiser La Argentina over the period 2–13 March.
Wartime service
When the Second World War began in September 1939, Acasta was assigned to the 18th DF at Plymouth and escorted convoys in the English Channel until she was refitted again at Devonport between 20 December and 5 January 1940. The ship was then transferred to the Western Approaches and escorted a total of 22 convoys through April 1940. On 31 January 1940, she helped to escort the light cruiser into Plymouth on her return from her battle with the heavy cruiser .