operator hms quentin 
The English Channel (" the Sleeve " [ hence ] " Sea of Brittany " " British Sea "), also called simply the Channel , is the body of water that separates ___MASK77___ England from northern ___MASK47___ , and joins the ___MASK77___ part of the North Sea to the rest of the Atlantic Ocean . The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest and second - most populous island in England . It is located in the English Channel , about 4 miles ( 6 km ) off the coast of Hampshire , separated by the Solent . The island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times , and is known for its mild climate , coastal scenery , and verdant landscape of fields , downland and chines . In naval terminology , a destroyer is a fast , maneuverable long - endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet , convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller powerful short - range attackers . They were originally developed in the late 19th century as a defence against torpedo boats , and by the time of the Russo - Japanese War in 1904 , these " torpedo boat destroyers " ( TBD ) were " large , swift , and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats ." Although the term " destroyer " had been used interchangeably with " TBD " and " torpedo boat destroyer " by navies since 1892 , the term " torpedo boat destroyer " had been generally shortened to simply " destroyer " by nearly all navies by the First World War . Western Sahara ("") is a disputed territory in the Maghreb region of North Africa , bordered by ___MASK43___ to the north , ___MASK53___ to the northeast , Mauritania to the east and south , and the Atlantic Ocean to the west . Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world , mainly consisting of desert flatlands . The population is estimated at just over 500 , 000 , of which nearly 40 % live in Laayoune , the largest city in Western Sahara . ___MASK53___ (' " Dzayer "), officially the People ' s Democratic Republic of ___MASK53___ , is a sovereign state in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast . Its capital and most populous city is Algiers , located in the country ' s far north . With an area of , ___MASK53___ is the tenth - largest country in the world , and the largest in Africa . ___MASK53___ is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia , to the east by Libya , to the west by Morocco , to the southwest by the Western Saharan territory , Mauritania , and Mali , to the southeast by Niger , and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea . The country is a semi - presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1 , 541 communes ( counties ). Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been President since 1999 . HMS Quentin was a Q - class destroyer laid down by J . Samuel White and Company , Limited , at Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 25 September 1940 , launched on 5 November 1941 and commissioned on 15 April 1942 . She saw service during the Second World War before being sunk in 1942 by German aircraft off North Africa . A shire is a traditional term for a division of land , found in the ___MASK9___ and ___MASK2___ . It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo - Saxon settlement , and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century . North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa . The United Nations definition of " North Africa " includes seven countries and territories ; ___MASK53___ , Egypt , Libya , Mauritania , Morocco , Sudan , Tunisia , and Western Sahara . The countries of ___MASK53___ , Morocco , Tunisia , and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb , which is the Arabic word for " sunset ". Egypt lies to the northeast and encompasses part of West Asia , while Sudan is situated on the edge of the Sahel , to the south of Egypt . The United Nations ( UN ) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co - operation . A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations , the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after ___MASK81___ in order to prevent another such conflict . At its founding , the UN had 51 member states ; there are now 193 . The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan , New York City , and experiences extraterritoriality . Further main offices are situated in ___MASK36___ , Nairobi , and Vienna . The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states . Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security , promoting human rights , fostering social and economic development , protecting the environment , and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine , natural disaster , and armed conflict . The Russo - Japanese War ( 8 February 1904  5 September 1905 ) was fought between the ___MASK83___ and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea . The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea , Japan and the Yellow Sea . A downland is an area of open chalk hills . This term is especially used to describe the chalk countryside in ___MASK77___ England . Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs , deriving from a Celtic word for " hills ". Libya ("") is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa , bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north , ___MASK37___ to the east , Sudan to the southeast , Chad and Niger to the south , and ___MASK53___ and Tunisia to the west . The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania , Fezzan and Cyrenaica . With an area of almost , Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa , and is the 16th largest country in the world . Libya has the 10th - largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world . Tunisia ('; ), officially the Republic of Tunisia (') is the northernmost country in Africa , covering . Its northernmost point , Cape Angela , is the northernmost point on the African continent . It is bordered by ___MASK53___ to the west and southwest , Libya to the southeast , and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east . Tunisia ' s population was estimated to be just under 11 million in 2014 . Tunisia ' s name is derived from its capital city , Tunis , which is located on Tunisia ' s northeast coast . Hampshire (; abbreviated Hants , archaically known as the County of Southampton ) is a county on the ___MASK77___ coast of England in the ___MASK9___ . The county town of Hampshire is Winchester , the former capital city of England . Hampshire is the most populous ceremonial county in the ___MASK9___ ( excluding the metropolitan counties ) with almost half of the county ' s population living within the South Hampshire conurbation which includes the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth . The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1 , 547 , 000 . Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the ___MASK11___ , British Army , and ___MASK94___ . It is bordered by Dorset to the west , Wiltshire to the north - west , Berkshire to the north , Surrey to the north - east , and West Sussex to the east . The ___MASK77___ boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent , facing the Isle of Wight . Mauritania ('; or Soninke : " Murutaane "; Pulaar : " Moritani "), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania , is a country in the Maghreb region of western Africa . It is the eleventh largest country in Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west , ___MASK43___ and the remnants of Western Sahara in the north , ___MASK53___ in the northeast , Mali in the east and southeast , and Senegal in the southwest . ___MASK37___ (; ', , " Kimi "), officially the Arab Republic of ___MASK37___ , is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula . ___MASK37___ is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast , the Gulf of Aqaba to the east , the Red Sea to the east and south , Sudan to the south , and Libya to the west . Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan , and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies ___MASK55___ , although Jordan and ___MASK55___ do not share a land border with ___MASK37___ . It is the world ' s only contiguous Afrasian nation . ___MASK43___ (', lit . " The West "; '), officially known as the Kingdom of ___MASK43___ (', lit . " The Western Kingdom "; '), is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa . Geographically , ___MASK43___ is characterized by a rugged mountainous interior , large tracts of desert , and a lengthy coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea . Sudan (" as - Sdn ", ), also known as North Sudan and officially the Republic of the Sudan (" Jumhriyyat as - Sdn "), is a country in Northern Africa . It is bordered by ___MASK37___ to the north , the Red Sea , Eritrea , and Ethiopia to the east , South Sudan to the south , the Central African Republic to the southwest , Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest . It is the third largest country in Africa . The River Nile divides the country into eastern and western halves . Before the Sudanese Civil War , South Sudan was part of Sudan but broke away in 2011 . Its predominant religion is Islam . The Maghreb ( or ; literally " sunset "; ', " the Arab West " previously known as Barbary Coast , derived from Berber ), or the Greater Maghreb (" al - Maghrib al - Kabr "), is usually defined as much or most of the region of western North Africa or Northwest Africa , west of ___MASK37___ . The traditional definition as the region including the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of ___MASK43___ , ___MASK53___ , Tunisia , and Libya , was later superseded , especially following the 1989 formation of the Arab Maghreb Union (    ), by the inclusion of Mauritania and of the disputed territory of Western Sahara ( mostly controlled by ___MASK43___ ). During the Al - Andalus era in Spain ( 711  1492 ), the Maghreb ' s inhabitants , Maghrebis , were known as " Moors "; the Muslim areas of Spain in those times were usually included in contemporary definitions of the Maghreb  hence the use of " Moorish " or " Moors " to describe the Muslim inhabitants of Spain in Western sources .