HMS Ardent (H41)

HMS Ardent in 1930
History
United Kingdom
Name	Ardent
Ordered	6 March 1928
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock, Scotland
Laid down	30 July 1928
Launched	26 June 1929
Commissioned	14 April 1930
Identification	Pennant number: H41
Fate	Sunk, 8 June 1940
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	A-class destroyer
Displacement	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) (standard) 1,773 long tons (1,801 t) (deep load)
Length	323 ft (98.5 m) (o/a)
Beam	32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Draught	12 ft 3 in (3.73 m)
Installed power	34,000 shp (25,000 kW) 3 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	134; 143 (1940)
Armament	4 × single 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 2 × single 2-pdr (40 mm) AA guns 2 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charges, 3 chutes

HMS Ardent was one of eight A-class 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, Ardent 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 escorted aircraft carriers before she was transferred to the Western Approaches for convoy escort duties that last until April 1940 when the Germans invaded Norway. That month Ardent was transferred to the Home Fleet and supported Allied operations in Norway. Whilst escorting the carrier Glorious, she was sunk by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on 8 June 1940.