Without question, HMS Cossack was the most famous Destroyer of the Second World War. The story of HMS Cossack could easily have come out of the pages of 'Boys Own'. Joining the Mediterranean Fleet in July 1938, one of the Cossack's first voyages was to rescue the British Consul from the besieged city of Barcelona, Spain. The elderly gentleman unfortunately broke his leg as he boarded Cossack's cutter, requiring a rapid diversion to get him to hospital at Marseilles, France.
By the outbreak of war, Cossack was back in England with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla based at Rosyth. During the Phony War she was mostly employed in escorting coastal convoys, but soon was heavily involved in mine-laying duties and intercepting German Iron ore ships in the Skaggerat. On the 15th February 1940, Captain Philip Vian received information that the 13,580 ton German supply vessel Altmark had been sighted off Trondheim, Norway. It was further reported that the Altmark was carrying 300 British prisoners (captured by the Admiral Graf Spee during her rampage across the South Atlantic in 1939). On the next day the Altmark was sighted by Arethusa, Intrepid and Ivanhoe. A warning shot fired across her bows only resulted in the German vessel turning into the neutral Norwegian Jøssingfjord, with the RN warships being hindered from following by the Norwegian torpedo boats Trygg and Kjell and their patrol boat Firern.
Cossack arrived at dusk. Captain Vian conferred with the Norwegians who assured him that the Altmark had been searched with no prisoners or contraband found. Unconvinced, Vian signaled to the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, who replied that if an offer to help the Norwegians to escort the German vessel to Bergen for another search was refused, then the Altmark should be boarded by force. At 2200 hrs, having received no satisfactory response from the Norwegians, Vian took Cossack into the fjord. A boarding party of three officers, led by Lieut.-Commander Bradwell Talbot Turner, and thirty ratings leapt across and after a brisk action, in which four German were killed and five wounded, the Altmark was secured with 299 of her captives successfully released.
On the 13th April 1940, Cossack took part in the heroic 2nd battle of Narvik, but suffered serious damage in this engagement and ran aground. She did not get underway again until the following dawn, making a slow return to Portsmouth, arriving there on the 30th April. During the repairs X turret was replaced by twin 4 in AA guns; the Norwegian campaign having revealed the vulnerability of British Destroyers to air attack.
By the 15th June Cossack was back in the war again, with some dockyard repair men still on board, on a very important mission. She had to escort the cruiser Emerald which was transporting £130 billion of gold and securities across the Atlantic Ocean. Bad weather however soon caused the little Destroyers of 4th Destroyer Flotilla to turn back to Scapa leaving the faster Emerald to make the voyage unsupported. On the way back they were relentlessly attacked by German bombers. For much of the rest of the year the 4th Destroyer Flotilla were routinely involved in searching for German convoys off Norway, U-boats off Ireland, and capital ships off Iceland.
On the 26th of May 1941, the Cossack leading the 4th Destroyer Flotilla was ordered to join with the Home Fleet battleships searching for the Bismarck. The Fleet's own Destroyers were running short of fuel and needed to be relieved as a matter of urgent priority. That night the HMS Piorum sighted the Bismarck and at 2200 hrs Vian ordered his Destroyer flotilla into the attack. Despite being seriously outgunned Cossack managed to launch three torpedoes from 6,000 yards at 0140 hrs. Two hits on the mighty German battleship being recorded. The other Destroyers made similar attacks and kept the Bismarck engaged until the Royal Navy battleships arrived at dawn to finally finish off the job.
Cossack and her sisters next joined Force H at Gibraltar seeing much activity on defending convoys to Malta from U-boat and E-boat attack, as well as escorting the capital ships Ark Royal, Nelson and Renown.
Sadly on the 23rd Octiober 1941, HMS Cossack received a hit from a torpedo fired by the U-boat U-563. This killed Captain Berthon and 158 officers and men, with another 29 injured. Remarkably Cossack did not sink immediately and soon the fires went out. Seeing that Cossack was still very buoyant, she was reboarded , the engine started and, going astern, tried to make the long voyage back to Gibraltar. For a night and a day they kept the Cossack moving, but ultimately all was in vain, and the gallant little Cossack finally slipped beneath the waves on the following day.
Bibliography
Collins-Jane's Warships of World War II
Jane's Fighting ships of World War II
Narvik
The Tribals
The War at Sea.
