HMS Sikh (F 82)

Sikh underway after completion

HMS Sikh (F 82) was a Tribal class destroyer that entered service in 1938 and was sunk in September 1942 after Operation Agreement (the raid on Tobruk) during World War II.

HMS Sikh commenced service with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (1st D.F.). Her builders trials commenced in August 1938 and after being fitted with a gyro-compass and other equipment at Chatham, England she was completed on 2 November 1938 even though she had been commissioned a month earlier. She had a displacement of 1,870 tons with a speed of 36.5 knots, and carried eight 4.7-inch and smaller guns.

HMS Sikh, HMS Gurkha, HMS Afridi and HMS Mohawk were patrolling in the Red Sea when war broke out. The ships quickly returned back to the Mediterranean for convoy escort duty and blockades of Italy and ports of Libya.  

As part of 14th D.F., HMS Sikh, HMS Maori, HMS Legion, and HrMs Isaac Sweers, she took part in the sinking of the Italian cruisers Alberico di Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano off Cape Bon, Tunisia.

After a period of rest and refit at Malta, HMS Sikh and HMS Maori took part in the First Battle of Sirte, then operated from Alexandria, Egypt in December. Orders were then issued for HMS Sikh and HMS Maori to return to Malta,and join HMS Zulu and form the 22nd D.F. This force would operate against Axis supply convoys between Italy and North Africa.   

Operation Agreement

According to war correspondent Larry Allen aboard HMS Sikh, the destroyer was hit 80 times by shore batteries, starting a fire in the forward magazine, killing many aboard, then a heavy calibre shell hit in one of the engine rooms, reducing the ship's speed. The Italian and German gunners continued firing, rendering all of Sikh's guns except B turret out of action. Then came the coup de grâce, with the shore batteries hitting the steering gear. HMS Zulu lay a smokescreen, while a towline was attached, but a lucky shot snapped the cable in half and HMS Sikh was abandoned, with the B turret crew still firing as the destroyer slowly sank in position 32º05'N, 24º00'E . HMS Zulu, another Tribal class destroyer that entered service in 1938, was sunk after valiantly attempting to save HMS Sikh in a raid by fighter-bombers from 13° Gruppo.

The Italian Marines treated Sikh's surviving crew well and "the food was good". The crew were taken to the POW camp in Chiete (southern Italy) and liberated on 21 March 1943 at the Turkish city of Mersin in exchange for German and Italian POWs. According to the British survivors the destroyer was sunk by heavy guns:

The Sikh was sunk by cross fire from two batteries of six inch [152mm guns] which the freed prisoners said had been especially mounted in anticipation of the raid. Despite this gunfire and the subsequent bombardment of small boats after they had abandoned ship, the Sikh lost only 17 men, although many more of the marine landing party were lost.

The Italian coastal defences in the raid consisted of five batteries of Cannone da 90/53 90mm guns (the Italian equivalent of the German 88mm flak gun) astride the harbour and one battery of 5.9-inch guns, 1,000 yards north of the so-called Arab village.