HMS Maori

HMS Maori was a destroyer named after the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. She served with the Mediterranean Fleet until she was bombed and sunk by German aircraft while at Malta in 1942. Her wreck was later raised and scuttled outside the Grand Harbour> The wreck is now a dive site.

Service history

Maori was laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Govan in Scotland on 6 June 1936 and launched on 2 September 1937 by Mrs. W. J. Jordan, the wife of the New Zealand High Commissioner William Jordan. The ship was commissioned on 2 January 1939.

Maori joined \'s division in January 1939 and joined the Mediterranean Fleet. She and the other Tribal-class destroyers did convoy escort duties, and Maori then returned to Britain in October. Until April 1940 she patrolled the North Sea and also took part in the Norwegian Campaign. In June she sailed to Iceland looking for German warships and also served briefly in the Faroe Islands.

In May 1941, she participated in the pursuit and destruction of the. While escorting Convoy WS-8B to the Middle East, Maori, along with the destroyers Cossack, and broke off on 26 May and headed towards the area where Bismarck had been reported. They found her that evening and made several torpedo attacks in the evening and into the next morning. No hits were scored but they kept her gunners from getting any sleep, making it easier for the battleships to attack her the next morning. Maori then rescued some of the survivors from Bismarck after the battleship sank.