HMS Lookout was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 November 1940 and broken up in 1948. She was one of only two L-class destroyers to survive the Second World War, the other being . Ordered under the 1937 Programme, Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company were awarded the contract to build her. She would be the second Royal Navy ship to bear the name Lookout. Build was completed on 30 January 1942 and the tender cost was £440,204 which excluded items such as weapons and communications equipment supplied by the Admiralty. After a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign in January 1942, HMS Lookout was adopted by the civil community of Burnley, Lancashire. Operational history Sea Trials Lookouts sea trials were generally satisfactory, but were rather protracted through no fault of the ship. On 18 January 1942 Lookout underwent her gunnery trials which were entirely satisfactory. Gun mountings 'B' and 'X' lost two cartridge cases overboard when firing abeam, but this did not affect the outcome of the trial. The next day Lookout carried out her preliminary full power trial at a mean displacement of 2,320 tons. Her first attempt at a four-hour full-power trial was carried out on 21 January 1942 but was abandoned due to bad weather conditions. Her next attempt at the trial was a success. On 20 January Lookout finally carried out the trial in a Force 6 wind. Her mean displacement was 2,625 tons with a mean power of 48,442 SHP, giving a mean speed of . Arctic Convoys Lookout was with the Home Fleet in March 1942 when the German battleship made ineffective attempts to intercept Arctic convoys (Operation Sportpalast). One of Lookouts first operations took place on 4–7 March, when she was part escort to a battle squadron which included , and . The battle squadron sailed to cover against any move by Tirpitz to intercept Russian convoys QP8 and PQ12. Tirpitz was out at sea during this time but failed to locate the convoys due to bad weather conditions. A straggler from PQ12 was however sunk by , a destroyer who was screening Tirpitz. Operation Ironclad Lookout participated in the allied occupation of Madagascar. She joined her sister ships and at Durban on 22 April 1942 and they departed on 28 April 1942, en route for Diego Suarez (now Antsiranana), with invasion transports and escort. On 7