were saved when the ship sank with the remaining 99 trapped within. Second World War On 3 September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Ashanti and the 6th Flotilla was escorting an Anglo-French squadron of battlecruisers, but Ashanti spent the rest of the month having damage to her turbine blades repaired. The 6th Flotilla combined operations with the Home Fleet with convoy escort duties, escorting Convoy HX 1, consisting of the troopships Aquitania, Empress of Britain , Empress of Australia, Duchess of Richmond and Monarch of Bermuda, carrying troops of the 1st Canadian Division to Britain. She was forced back to port in March 1940 after seawater leaked in and mixed with the boiler feedwater. In April, after repairs were completed, she was deployed in the North Sea to support operations in Norway. She achieved little in this capacity, apart from being the target for numerous air attacks by German planes. One attack knocked out her main turbo-generator and the ship's power failed. She managed to zigzag her way out of the fjord and escape the attackers, and by June she was again in her role of escort and anti-submarine duties. On 10 August, she helped other naval vessels and trawlers rescue more than 300 survivors from the armed merchant cruiser which had been sunk earlier that day by the German submarine some 40 miles to the north of the Ulster coast. When the new battleship was completed, Ashanti formed part of her escort to Scapa Flow. The main threat was mines and Ashanti, together with four other destroyers, took the lead in a secret, suicidal attempt to detonate any mines that might be in the area. In the darkness, ran aground while at high speed in a murky drizzle. Ashanti was right behind her and although only doing six knots, struck her, damaging fuel lines on both ships and then Fame caught fire. The Tribal-class destroyer also ran aground, destroying her ASDIC dome. Feelings were running high on board as no-one knew the objective of the operation. Matters were compounded as the tide was receding and the destroyers were left beached waiting for high-tide. When high-tide came, the destroyers were swung round onto rocks and damaged even more; Ashanti was so badly damaged by the rocks, that Vickers-Armstrongs sent out a repair crew. It took two weeks to refloat Ashanti and move it to Newcastle for