HMS Brazen – H80 (1940)

HMS Brazen (H80) was a Royal Navy B-class destroyer, built by Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co. Ltd at Jarrow-on-Tyne, laid down in 1929, launched in 1930 and commissioned in 1931. She measured 98.5 metres in length, with a 9.8 metre beam and a draught of about 3.7 metres, a fast and purposeful warship built for the hard business of fleet screening, escort duty and attack. Before her loss she had already seen serious service, including operations off Norway and the sinking of the German submarine U-49 in April 1940, which gives this wreck an added weight for divers who like their steel with a proper story attached.

Her end came on 20 July 1940, when she was attacked by German aircraft off Dover while engaged on Channel convoy duties. Badly damaged in the air raid, HMS Brazen later sank in the English Channel, where her wreck now lies in about 30 metres of water at roughly 51°01’N, 1°17’E. Contemporary naval records note that one member of her ship’s company was killed. For divers, Brazen is a classic south-east coast war wreck: a sleek destroyer, a Battle of Britain era loss, and a site where the story of Britain’s desperate Channel defence still clings to the metal.