HMS "Ledbury" was an escort destroyer of the Hunt class Type II. The Royal Navy ordered "Ledbury"s construction two days after the outbreak of the Second World War and J. I. Thornycroft Ltd laid down her keel at their Southampton yard on 24 January 1940. Air raid damage to the yard delayed her construction and she did not launch until 27 September 1941. Her initial assignment was to perform escort duties between Scapa Flow and Iceland. She remained in this theatre for the first part of the war, during which time she served with the ill-fated Arctic convoy PQ 17 in June 1942, from which twenty-four ships were lost.