Description

HMS Thanet was an S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Built during, and commissioned shortly after the First World War, she went on to see service in the Second World War, being sunk early in 1942. Thanet had been one of the ships on the China Station on the outbreak of war. After briefly being converted to a minelayer she spent the early years of the war patrolling off Hong Kong. With the Japanese entry to the war Thanet evacuated Hong Kong with another destroyer, just hours after the Japanese began their attack on the city. She made her way to Singapore and briefly deployed there until being sent to intercept an enemy troop convoy, in company with the Australian destroyer Vampire. The allied ships ran into a heavy Japanese force, and after a short battle Thanet was sunk and Vampire was forced to withdraw.