HMS Maori
HMS Maori was one of the 16 tribal class built for the Royal Navy just before the breakout of the second world war (The Canadians built 8 and the Australians another 4). Throughout the war, 12 out of the 16 in class were lost; a loss rate of 75% is almost unheard of from large classes of ships. The class was only matched or exceeded by some Japanese classes who were annihilated at sea by the conclusion of the war. This loss rate, contrary to expectation, was due to how good the tribal class were – they were incredibly hard fought throughout the war, appearing in every theatre and almost every major British action of the war.
Design of the Tribals
The origin of the Tribals goes back to the interwar period and the naval treaties holding together the world order at the time. Most importantly for the tribals was the limitation on cruisers; initially, the Washington naval treaty of 1922 was only a qualitative limitation on cruisers, reinforced by a quantity limit in the London treaty of 1930. Cruisers for Britain were the lifeblood of the empire being a security presence, policing the seas, crisis response, and diplomatic intervention when needed. The calculations at the time indicated a force of 70 cruisers was needed to fulfil this role, yet this number was never reached, with the actual number hanging around the 50s due to the treaties, finances and maintenance requirements. This created a “cruiser gap” between the number needed to maintain the empire and the number of cruisers in service.
The London treaty also included limitations on destroyers of a displacement of 1,500 tons standard displacement, and the USN and RN limited to 150,000 tons total, and the IJN 105,500 tons. The treaty also provided 16% of destroyer tonnage to be used for oversized 1850 ton destroyer leaders. This is the origin of the tribal class – more designed as a scaled-down cruiser with a focus on gun armament than a conventional torpedo focused destroyer.
The tribal class were designed as a general-purpose destroyer, a rare thing in military construction. It is much easier to sell how good your unit is for a specific role and that the correct unit can be used for each role. However, in the reality of war, you fight with what is available. The tribal class were designed for the 1850-ton treaty limitation, although by the time they were launched those treaties were completely unravelling, so they came in slightly over with a length of 377 ft and a beam of 36 ft 6 in, and a draught of 11ft 3in. They were propelled by 3 admiralty three-drum boilers and 2 geared turbines producing 44,000 HP and 36 knots of speed. Their armament consisted of 8 quick firing 4.7-inch guns in 4 twin mounts. After the loss of Afrida and Gurkha early in the war, the ‘X’ mount turret was replaced with a twin 4in turret to supplement AA (anti-aircraft) fire. They carried a single 21in quad torpedo launcher and 20 depth charges, with a single rack for dropping, and two throwers for ASW (anti-submarine warfare) armament. The weak point of the tribals and the navy as a whole was a miscalculation on the air threat. The main guns had been designed to elevate to a maximum of 40 degrees – fine for shooting low-level bombers, but not high enough to deal with dive bomber attacks – and bombers were expected to focus on the bigger targets at the centre of squadrons (capital ships or cruisers), hence a lower angle could be used for support. The reality was different, with any ship being targeted by air attack, and dive bombing being very common, leading to the ‘X’ mount swap.
The tribal class were designed with plenty of spare space for the diplomatic role of a cruiser, where the ability to put up awnings and host extravagant parties was crucial for diplomacy. This also made them easy to modernise mid-war, with space for more radars and sensors, and the crew needed to operate them being easy to accommodate in comparison to most classes.
The tribal class was ordered in 2-batches in 1935 and 1936, with the 1935 batch commissioning mostly in 1938, and the 1936 batch commissioning before March 1939. The class was named the tribal class with consideration for the politics of empire and history. Most of the class were named after tribal groups of the empire who were key to winning support from, such as the lead ship Afridi being named after a tribe in what was then British India (now a region split between India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China). The Afridi were known as a warrior tribe, and before the war, a scenario being planned for was a soviet descent through central Asia onto British India where Afridi support would be crucial. Some of the names were more historic ship names of tribes such as Tartar, Mohawk, Cossack and Nubian. The names – probably against common thought – were mostly very well received by the groups they represented, with notably Ashanti the only tribal to visit the tribe she was named after (the Ashantis, who still constitute of modern day Ghana). Her name was seen as more influential than any of her wartime service in winning support in the region, and she was 1 of the only 4 to survive. HMS Maori received tiki artefacts from the Māori people as a good-luck charm.
The tribals were characterised by the esprit de corps of the crew – most destroyer crews in the royal navy considered themselves an elite in the navy. Destroyers took more skill and independent action to operate than a capital ship or cruiser, where the crews are larger and oversight higher. The tribals went even further and were considered an elite of the destroyer crews and they certainly proved this true in action.
Maori’s war
Commissioning and war begins
HMS Maori was laid down on the 6th of July 1936 at Fairfield’s yard in Govan on the Clyde. She commissioned on the 2nd of January 1939, displacing 2006 tons in normal displacement. Initially joining the 4th destroyer flotilla (DF) in the Mediterranean, earlier commissioned ships of this flotilla performed neutrality patrols during the Spanish civil war. At the outbreak of war, the 4th DF was stationed in the Red Sea as commerce protection principally against surface raiders, either disguised as merchant ships or the heavy cruisers of the Deutschland class. Submarines were also discussed, yet the Germans had no infrastructure to support them this far afield from home. A large part of this deployment was to deter the Italians making any moves with their submarines from their African colonies. And from this position, the force could easily be sent east against Japan or into the eastern Mediterranean against the Italians if needed. As the tension died, the flotilla was deployed back home to Scapa Flow.
Altmark incident
A notable action Maori was involved in early in the war was the Altmark incident of February 1940. Altmark was a Kriegsmarine supply vessel and at the time was carrying 300 British merchant seamen prisoners captured by the Graf Spee on her raids. The incident is interesting, as both sides violated the 1908 Hague convention; the Altmark by performing an act of war (carrying prisoners of war) in neutral territory, since the whole incident occurred within a Norwegian fjord; the British by performing an act of search within the waters of a neutral power, after many negotiations with the Norwegian navy to no success. HMS Cossack, commanded by Captain Philip Vian, entered the fjord to perform a search while the rest of the flotilla stood outside with guns trained on the Norwegian vessel, ready to intercept if she tried to stop the search. The Altmark tried to ram Cossack, but tribals were very manoeuvrable and it narrowly avoided the Altmark. But with the ships brought close alongside, the Royal Navy commenced its last boarding action more akin to the age of sail than steam and steel. 4 Germans were killed in the action, 5 more wounded, and 299 prisoners of war were saved. This action, due to the general news at the time and the theatrics of a boarding action, greatly influenced the public mood and brought the tribals into the front of the navy in the public eye.
Bismarck action, 25-28th May 1941
KMS Bismarck is probably the second most famous ship after the Titanic. After the famous action where Bismarck sank the Hood and injured the Prince of Wales near the Denmark strait, large sections of the navy were mobilised to sink the surface raider who had sunk the pride of the Royal Navy. The 4th Destroyer flotilla (Cossack, Maori, Sikh, Zulu and the free polish ship Piorun) was escorting a convoy off the west coast of the island when they were ordered to join with HMS King George V, who had to send her destroyer escort home as they were running low on fuel. Based on a sighting report the Commander Vian decided to head straight for Bismarck to achieve the meet up. This was after Bismarck had taken the crippling torpedo hit from HMS Ark Royal’s Swordfish. And just as the 4th DF arrived was when contact was about to be lost. The radar of HMS Sheffield, a town class cruiser, had been malfunctioning, and contact would surely be lost at night. A tribal class would never just shadow an enemy, and Vian wanted to slow the enemy, although Bismarck was barely moving after the hit on her rudder. Not deterred by an opponent over 20 times heavier, the flotilla tried to slow the opponent by the only way a destroyer can – by launching tin fish (torpedoes) at her. Reports from Maori describe seeing a flash after one of the torpedoes she launched, indicating it struck the goliath. At dawn the next day, HMS Rodney and King George V drew near and finished off the German battleship, escorted by the 6th DF consisting of other tribals. After the sinking it was HMS Dorsetshire, a county class cruiser, and HMS Maori who stayed behind to fish survivors out of the sea. They left after picking up a small number, due to reports of German submarines closing in.
Battle of Cape Bon
The battle was performed as a surface sweep, an offensive mission to secure convoy routes on the 13th of December 1941. The battle resulted in the sinking of 2 Italian light cruisers with zero damage to the allied fleet. The allied force consisted of HMS Sikh and HMS Maori (tribals) HNMS Isaac Sweeps (Dutch) and HMS Legion (L-Class). Whilst on passage past Cape Bon, the force observed the 2 Italian cruisers ahead (Albercio Da Barbiano & Alberto Di Giussano). The Destroyers, due to their lower and smaller profile, stayed hidden against the land and slowed down to reduce wave height. As the cruisers drew into range, Sikh launched torpedoes against the lead ship, scoring 2 hits and putting her out of action, and performed such effective gunfire against the second in line to disable her before she could fire an effective salvo in return. This second ship was then finished off by torpedoes from Maori and Legion.
Demise & Diving
Maori was lost on the 12th February 1942 while moored in Grand Harbour. She was struck by a bomb in her engine room. From this point, all usable parts of the ship were salvaged, such as the guns. To clear Grand Harbour of the wreck (as the harbour was still needed) the wreck was floated and moved to Sliema Creek later in 1942, where the wreck is a dive site today. In May 1945 the aft of the ship was raised again and sank again deeper off Malta. The wreck that remains today at Sliema Creek is hardly recognisable to the clean cruiser lines and majesty of a tribal class of 1939. The most obvious landmarks are the 2 turret turntables still in situ, and the bow profile. Other notable features is a bilge pump near B turret, and a ladder on the wreckage that has fallen onto the seabed on the port side of the wreck.
Summary
HMS Maori obtained 5 battle hours (Norway 1940 – Bismarck Action – Cape Bon 1941 – Atlantic 1941 – Malta convoys 1941-1942). Although this may seem an impressive record, it is on the low end for a tribal, and she was not the fighter some of her sisters were. HMS Nubian, the most successful of the class, earned 13 battle honours – a record only beaten by HMS Warspite (who only is ahead due to participating in the battle of Jutland in the first world war). Nubian escorted 23 convoys and travelled over 300,000 miles during the war, lost most of her stern to a bomb, but still made it back to safety due to excellent damage control. Maori, I hope I have shown, still performed important work during the war. The link the class had to the Mediterranean and Malta specifically makes for a fitting end that the only British tribal in recreational diving depths sits beneath the walls of Valletta – a key home for this class. In almost every major action of the war, tribals were present. Tribals were not usually given the critical missions of the war – these would go to specialist ships – but the missions that were just on the edge of being possible, where the threat might be changing or unknown. A tribal could be relied upon to fight independently in any way, and to have the spirit to face a foe many times larger, just as HMS Sikh did when confronted by the Italian battleship Littorio. Of course, sometimes the missions were a step too far, leading to many of the 12 losses. In conclusion, although one of the more obscure ships of the second world war, Maori’s record is nothing to scoff at, certainly for anyone in the modern world, and her class is my favourite of all time and her wreck will always be beautiful to me.
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Written by Samuel Parker, with heavy influence from the sources below, especially the first.
Primary sources:
Tribals, Battles and Darings, Alexander Clark, 2021
British Destroyers: From earliest days to the Second World war, Norman Friedman, 2009
Warships after London, John Jordan, 2021
Edited by Teodora Varga to make it intelligible
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