text: hms daring ( ) hms daring was a d - class destroyer built for the royal navy in the early 1930s . the ship spent the bulk of her career on the china station . she was briefly commanded by louis mountbatten before world war ii . daring escorted convoys in the red sea in october – november 1939 and then returned to the uk in january 1940 for the first time in five years . while escorting a convoy from norway , she was sunk by the german submarine u - 23 in february 1940 . description daring displaced 1 , 375 long tons ( 1 , 397 t ) at standard load and 1 , 890 long tons ( 1 , 920 t ) at deep load . the ship had an overall length of 329 feet ( 100 . 3 m ) , a beam of 33 feet ( 10 . 1 m ) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches ( 3 . 8 m ) . she was powered by parsons geared steam turbines , driving two shafts , which developed a total of 36 , 000 shaft horsepower ( 27 , 000 kw ) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots ( 67 km / h ; 41 mph ) . steam for the turbines was provided by three admiralty 3 - drum water - tube boilers . daring carried a maximum of 473 long tons ( 481 t ) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5 , 870 nautical miles ( 10 , 870 km ; 6 , 760 mi ) at 15 knots ( 28 km / h ; 17 mph ) . the ship 's complement was 145 officers and men . the ship mounted four 45 - calibre 4 . 7 - inch mk ix guns in single mounts . for anti - aircraft ( aa ) defence , daring had a single 3 - inch ( 76 . 2 mm ) qf gun between her funnels and two 40 - millimetre ( 1 . 6 in ) qf 2 - pounder mk ii guns mounted on the side of her bridge . she was fitted with two above - water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21 - inch torpedoes . one depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted ; 20 depth charges were originally carried , but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began . career daring was ordered on 2 february 1931 under the 1930 naval estimates , and was laid down at john i thornycroft 's yard at woolston , southampton on 18 june 1931 . she was launched on 7 april 1932 and completed on 25 november 1932 , at a total cost of £ 225 , 536 , excluding equipment supplied by the admiralty , such as weapons , ammunition and wireless equipment . the ship was initially assigned to the 1st destroyer flotilla in the mediterranean and made a brief deployment to the persian gulf and red sea in september – october 1933 . lord louis mountbatten assumed command on 29 april 1934 , and daring was given a refit at sheerness dockyard from 3 september to 24 october to prepare the ship for service on the china station . in december 1934 she sailed to join the 8th destroyer flotilla in the far east and served there until the outbreak of war . upon the ship 's arrival at singapore , lord mountbatten was transferred to command hms wishart and commander geoffrey barnard assumed command . the ship and her sisters duncan , diana , and dainty were transferred to the mediterranean fleet shortly before world war ii began in september 1939 . daring was kept in the red sea for escort and patrol work until november 1939 . she was overhauled in malta from 25 november to 20 december . the ship escorted the union - castle line ocean liner ss dunnottar castle to belfast in early 1940 and was under repair at portsmouth until 25 january . daring joined the 3rd destroyer flotilla in scapa flow on 10 february 1940 for escort duties . while escorting convoy from norway , she was torpedoed on 18 february in position 58 ° 39 ′ n 01 ° 40 ′ w by u - 23 , under the command of otto kretschmer . daring capsized and sank very quickly after having her stern blown off ; 157 of the ship 's company were lost . the five survivors were rescued by the submarine hms thistle , which had witnessed the attack . acclaimed model a model of hms daring by renowned marine model maker norman a. ough is held by the national maritime museum .