RAN · DD

Waterhen

Sunk

W-class destroyer of the Scrap Iron Flotilla. First RAN ship lost to enemy action in the war. Dive bombers disabled her off Sollum and she sank under tow. Not credited to one plane.

Class	V/W (Scrap Iron Flotilla) class
Type	Destroyer (DD)
Hull	D22
Fate	Sunk. 30 June 1941 off Sollum, on the Tobruk run. Dive bombers holed her the evening before. HMS Defender took the crew off. No one was killed. This loss was in the Mediterranean, not the Pacific.
Armament (class)	V and W destroyer. Four guns and two funnels.
Command	Arliss, Stephen H. T. Captain from 19 October 1929; Relieved on 29 July 1931 Swain In command when she was lost, 30 June 1941

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

photographer not identified. HMAS Waterhen (AWM 044789).jpg. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The pictures on this page are the originals.

Command

SAArliss, Stephen H. T.Captain from 19 October 1929Relieved on 29 July 1931 SWSwainIn command when she was lost, 30 June 1941