HMS Rocket (H92)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Rocket.

HMS Rocket (H92)
HMS Rocket circa. 1945
Career (United Kingdom)
Class and type:	R-class destroyer
Name:	HMS Rocket
Ordered:	May 1940
Builder:	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock
Laid down:	14 March 1941
Launched:	28 October 1942
Commissioned:	4 August 1943
Reclassified:	Type 15 frigate from 1951
Motto:	'Upward and Onward'
Fate:	Sold for scrapping in 1967
Badge:	On a Field Blue the ROCKET steam engine Gold on a mount green
General characteristics As R-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,705 tons (1,732 tonnes) 2,425 tons (2,464 tonnes) full load
Length:	358.25 ft (109.2 m) o/a
Beam:	35.75 ft (10.9 m)
Draught:	9.5 ft (2.9 m)
Propulsion:	2 x Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers, Parsons geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) on 2 shafts
Speed:	36 kn (67 km/h)
Range:	4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	176
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar Type 290 air warning Radar Type 285 ranging & bearing
Armament:	4 x QF 4.7-inch (120-mm) Mk.IX guns single mounts CP Mk.XVIII 4 x QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII (40 mm L/39), quad mount Mk.VII 6 x QF 20 mm Oerlikon, single mount P Mk.III 8 (2x4) tubes for 21-inch (530 mm) torpedoes Mk.IX 4 x throwers & 2 x racks, 70 depth charges
Notes:	Pennant number: H92
General characteristics As Type 15 frigate
Displacement:	2,300 tons (standard) 2,700 tons (full load)
Length:	358 ft o/a
Beam:	37.75 ft
Draught:	14.5 ft
Propulsion:	2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, steam turbines on 2 shafts, 40,000 shp
Speed:	31 kn (57 km/h) (full load)
Range:	4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	174
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar Type 293Q target indication (later Type 993) Type 277Q surface search Type 974 navigation Type 262 fire control on director CRBF Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF Sonar: Type 174 search Type 162 target classification Type 170 attack
Armament:	1 x twin 4 in gun Mark 19 1 x twin 40mm Bofors Mk.5; 2 x Limbo Mark 10 A/S mortar
Notes:	Pennant number: F191

HMS Rocket (H92) was an R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during Second World War. Built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock, Scotland, she was launched in October 1942 and commissioned in August 1943.

Service

Second World War

Rocket encountered German torpedo boats in the English Channel in October 1943, an action in which HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne were lost. The latter was sunk by Rocket after she became disabled, to avoid her falling into enemy hands. Arriving in the Indian Ocean in January 1944, Rocket participated in the shelling of Sabang (25 July 1944) and of the Andaman Islands (February and March 1945).

Post-War

After the war, Rocket was converted into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F193. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She was finally scrapped at Dalmuir in March 1967.

HMS Rocket (F193) after her conversion to a Type 15 frigate

Publications

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4. 
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.