HMS Berkeley (L17)

( Casualty List )
Navy: Royal Navy
Type: Escort destroyer
Class: Hunt (Type I) 
Pennant: L 17 
Built by: Cammell Laird Shipyard (Birkenhead, U.K.) 904 tons;
Laid down: 8 June, 1939 
Launched: 29 Jan, 1940 
Commissioned: 6 Jun, 1940 
Complement: 146
Lost: 19 Aug, 1942  Western Europe, off Dieppe, northern France in position (49.59.71N- 01.02.42E)  by German fighter-bombers. Covering British/Canadian operations raid on Dieppe,15 Ratings were killed, survivors rescued   by HMS Albrighton. Salvage was out of the question her keel was broken and she was finally sunk (see photo above)
History Lt. J.J.S. Yorke, took part in the Dieppe Raid on August 19th, 1942. At about 4.50am, the landing on six beaches in Dieppe began, the Navy covered the troops with gun fire, and the air force providing air cover. The raid had for its objectives: 1)   testing of what was known as a heavily defended section of the coast on a large scale, 2) destruction of German batteries and important radio-location station, 3) destruction of German military personnel and equipment and the capture of prisoners for interrogation. The troops employed were entirely Canadian, and the fighting was extremely fierce, the Canadians running their tanks ashore from landing craft and forcing their way into the centre of the town, followed by their infantry. The Canadian losses amounted to 170 killed, 633 wounded and 2547 missing, from a military force of about 5.000.A British force destroyed a 6 in. Howitzer battery 4 1/2 miles W from Dieppe, but a second force was driven back by German E-boats. At approximately 12.50pm, Berkeley received a direct hit by a heavy bomb which broke her back and flooded the engine room.

Battle Honours

NORTH SEA 1942 - ENGLISH  CHANNEL 1942 - DIEPPE 1942

 L17 Berkley

British Navy destroyer; 1939; Cammell Laird;  272x28x8; 19.000shp; 27.5 knots; turbine engines; 3 drum boilers; four 4 in. Guns, eight smaller. The destroyer Berkeley, Lt. J.J.S. Yorke, took part in the Dieppe Raid on August 19th, 1942. At about 4.50am, the landing on six beaches in Dieppe began, the Navy covering the troops with gun fire, and the air force providing air cover. The raid had for its objectives: 1) testing of what was known as a heavily defended section of the coast on a large scale, 2) destruction of German batteries and important radio-location station, 3) destruction of German military personnel and equipment and the capture of prisoners for interrogation. The troops employed were entirely Canadian, and the fighting was extremely fierce, the Canadians running their tanks ashore from landing craft and forcing their way into the centre of the town, followed by their infantry. A British force destroyed a 6 in. Howitzer battery 4 1/2 miles W from Dieppe, but a second force was driven back by German E-boats. At approximately 12.50pm, Berkeley received a direct hit by a heavy bomb which broke her back and flooded the engine room. She sank with the loss of 15 ratings.