HMS Hunter (H35)

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HMS Hunter pictured before the war showing the original design of the class with flat-fronted bridge.

HMS Hunter (H35) was one of nine H-class destroyers of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne on 26 March 1935, launched on 25 February 1936 and commissioned on 20 September 1936.

The boats of this class were equipped with new 4.7 inch gun mountings of the CP Mark XIX type, which were 13 inches taller than the previous single-mount CP Mark XVIII type, and this made it necessary to raise the wheelhouse to give the helmsman an adequate forward field of view. Accordingly, the armoured wheelhouse was raised and placed forward of, rather than below, the bridge. This resulted in a characteristic "wedge" shape, with a sloping roof to give the bridge a view of the fo'c'sle.

Hunter was torpedoed and badly damaged, probably by an Italian submarine, in 1937 while serving on non-intervention patrol off Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

During the First Battle of Narvik on 10 April 1940, Hunter and five other H-class boats of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla attacked the German destroyers that had transported German land forces to occupy Narvik in northern Norway the previous day. The flotilla was engaged by German destroyers in the Ofotfjord at the entrance to the harbour and sank the destroyers Z 21 Wilhelm Heidkamp and Z 22 Anton Schmidt, heavily damaged Z 17 Diether von Roeder and inflicted lesser damage on two others. Seven German or German-seized transport ships were also sunk. As the British flotilla turned to leave, it was engaged by three German destroyers emerging from the Herjangsfjord and then by two more coming from Ballangen Bay. In the ensuing battle, the British flotilla leader HMS Hardy was badly mauled and had to be beached in flames, while Hunter sank after receiving heavy fire and colliding with HMS Hotspur.