The Australian destroyer Nizam (HMAS Nizam) enters the port of Alexandria with allied soldiers evacuated from Crete an island in the Mediterranean.
The Australian destroyer Nizam had board numbers G38 and D15 and belonged to class N destroyers.
The Nizam destroyer was under construction in Clydebank (Scotland).
Nizam destroyer construction began on July 27, 1939, launched on July 4, 1940, accepted into the Australian Navy on December 19, 1940.
The Nizam destroyer had an Australian crew and was considered a ship of the Royal Australian Navy, but was in the possession and subordination of the Royal Navy of Great Britain.
Nizam destroyer, main characteristics: displacement – 1760 tons (standard), 2550 tons (full). Length 108 m, width about 11 m, maximum draft about 5 m. Power plant – 3 boilers, Parsons turbines, power – 40 thousand hp. The maximum speed is 36 knots. The crew is 226 people.
Nizam destroyer, armament – six 120-mm cannons (4.7-inch QF Mk.XII) in three two-gun turrets (two at the bow, one at the stern), two 101.6-mm cannons (4-inch Mk.V) in the second aft turret, one quad anti-aircraft mount of 40-mm Pom-Pom automatic cannons (QF 2 pounder 1.6 ″ Pom Pom AA gun), four 12.7-mm Vickers anti-aircraft machine guns (Vickers .50), four 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft Oerlikon cannons, three 7.7-mm Lewis anti-aircraft machine guns (.303 Levis), two twin 533 mm torpedo tubes, three depth charges.
The destroyer Nizam participated in operations in the Mediterranean (1941-1942), including supply and evacuation from Crete (1941), Libya (1941), escorting Allied sea convoys to Malta (1941-1942); Indian Ocean (1942, 1944-1945); Pacific Ocean (1943); operations in Okinawa (1945).
On February 11, 1945, in the coastal waters of Australia in the evening in stormy weather, the Nizam destroyer was overturned by the shock of a wave (the roll reached 80 degrees); ten sailors were washed into the sea. The ship was damaged and was forced to return to Fremantle (Australia) for repairs.
The destroyer Nizam was withdrawn from the Australian Navy on October 17, 1945.
Source: Australian Department of Defense.
Photo source: www.nzetc.org
Location: Alexandria, Egypt
Photo time: May-June 1941