HMS Quantock (L58)

HMS Quantock c.1941 (IWM)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Quantock
Ordered	11 April 1939
Builder	Scotts, Greenock
Laid down	26 July 1939
Launched	22 April 1940
Commissioned	6 February 1941
Identification	Pennant number:L58
Fate	Sold to Ecuadorian Navy
Badge	On a Field Green, in front of two antlers in saltire a bugle horn palewise Gold.
History
Ecuador
Name	Presidente Alfaro
Acquired	18 October 1954
Commissioned	16 August 1955
Decommissioned	1978
Identification	DD1
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Type I Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,070 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,450 t) full load
Length	85.3 m (279 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught	2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,170 kW)
Speed	27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h) 26 kn (29.9 mph; 48.2 km/h) full
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) 1,000 nmi (1,850 km) at 26 kn (48 km/h)
Complement	164
Armament	4 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX 4 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk. VIII AA guns on quad mount MK.VII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts P Mk. III 50 depth charges, 2 throwers, 1 rack

HMS Quantock was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy which served in World War II. She was sold to Ecuador in 1954 where she served as Presidente Alfaro.

Quantock was ordered on 11 April 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme. She was laid down as Job No. J112.^[1] She was commissioned in February 1941. She was adopted by the civil community of Ashton-under-Lyne in Lancashire as part of Warship Week in 1942.

She earned battle honours during the Second World War for North Sea 1941-1945, Atlantic 1943, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943 and Adriatic 1944.

Following the war she was used as an air target training ship, before being transferred to the Reserve Fleet. She remained there until 1954 when she was sold to Ecuador, along with another Hunt-Class destroyer Meynell.^[2]

Following sale Quantock underwent a refit by J. Samuel White and Company, on the Isle of Wight, which was completed in 1955.

She was commissioned as Presidente Alfaro in August 1955 when she was taken over by the Ecuadorian Navy at Portsmouth Dockyard.^[3]

She served until 1978, when she was struck from the active list, before being sold for scrapping.

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.