~ HMS Griffin Bronze Tompion ~
A bronze tompion from the G-Class destroyer HMS Griffin.
This would have originally been fitted to a muzzle of one of the guns on board ship.
It is of circular form in bronze with a rope border and a raised image of a griffin to the centre.
The reverse has a protruding screw fitting for mounting.
~ Dimensions ~
The tompion has a diameter of 18.5cm (7 ¼ inches).
It weighs 1.56 Kg.
~ Condition ~
The piece is in a very nice condition with minimal wear and no damages.
~ HMS Griffin ~
HMS Griffin (H31) was a G-class destroyer, built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. In World War II she took part in the Norwegian Campaign
of April–May 1940 and the Battle of Dakar in September before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in November. She generally
escorted larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet as they protected convoys against attacks from the Italian Fleet. Griffin took part in the Battle of
Cape Matapan in March 1941 and the evacuations of Greece and Crete in April–May 1941. In June she took part in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign
and was escorting convoys and the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet until she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March 1942.
Griffin saw no action in the Japanese Indian Ocean raid in April, but was escorting convoys for most of her time in the Indian Ocean. In June she
returned to the Mediterranean to escort another convoy to Malta in Operation Vigorous. Beginning in November 1942, she was converted to an
escort destroyer in the United Kingdom and was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on 1 March 1943. The ship, now renamed HMCS
Ottawa, was assigned to escort convoys in the North Atlantic until she was transferred in May 1944 to protect the forces involved with the
Normandy Landings. Working with other destroyers, Ottawa sank three German submarines off the French coast before she returned to Canada
for a lengthy refit. After the end of the European war in May 1945 she was used to bring Canadian troops until she was paid off in October 1945.
Ottawa was sold for scrap in August 1946.
#6109