HMS Dunoon

HMS Dunoon was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Aberdare sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not finished in time to participate in the First World War and was sunk by a mine in 1940.

Design and description

The Aberdare sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of and measured long overall. The Aberdares had a beam of and a draught of. The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.
The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of. They carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at.
The Aberdare sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.

HMS Dunoon was built by the Clyde Shipbuilding Company. In November 1939 she was sweeping for mines around Malta. The following month she was recalled to England, stopping at Gibraltar for fuel. She then worked in the North Sea as part of the 4th Minesweeping Flotilla, based at Great Yarmouth. In April 1940 she struck a mine at Smith's Knoll near Great Yarmouth and sank with the loss of 3 officers and 23 ratings.

HMS Dunoon is featured in the 1958 book The Dragon Tree by Victor Canning