kner RN (1897-1962) as its CO, was given secret orders
to support the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch. Also aboard was Capt S.H.T. Arliss DSC RN, Commodore (D), Eastern Fleet Destroyer Flotilla.
"In October 1942 Hecla
was deemed to be operational again. We left Simonstown and proceeded
about 100 miles north to Saldanha Bay where we 'hid out' for a week. On
the way into the Bay our navigator missed the boom entrance and took
the boom with us. We sailed back to Cape Town to provision and after a
brief stop over proceeded north en route to Gibraltar to participate,
as a destroyer repair ship in the North African landing." Les Proctor.
George Male thought Hecla
was only sixty percent seaworthy and they were heading back home for
further repairs and the crew stocked up with bananas, unobtainable in
England, during a brief stop over in Freetown. They left Freetown on
the 4 November as part of Convoy CF.7A bound for Liverpool and the last
known photographs of Hecla were taken by Tom Davis, a young rating on the destroyer escort, HMS Active.
HMS Hecla left Freetown in west Africa as part of Convoy CF.7A and was photographed by Tom Davis. the ships writer on HMS Active
Courtesy of Steve Davis, the stepson of Tom Davis
The two destroyer depot ships, HMS Hecla and Vindictive, were joined by the destroyer escorts, HMS Venomous and HMS Marne,
near the Canaries on the 8 November and detached for Gibraltar to
support the ships taking the troops to the invasion beaches at Algiers as part of
At eleven minutes past
11pm on the 11 November the first torpedo hit Hecla ...
Caution - this web site only contains details received since publication of the old edition which is out of print You should read A Hard Fought Ship for the full account of the loss of HMS Hecla A new edition of A Hard Fought Ship will be published in 2016
Return to the"Home Page" for HMS Hecla
to find out more about its history and the stories of survivors
Holywell House Publishing
88 Holywell Hill, St
Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1DH, Britain
Telephone: +44 1727 838595 contact online