HMS Stanley (I73)
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Stanley after being converted into a long range escort
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HMS Stanley (I73) was a British Town-class destroyer that was taken over by the Royal Navy in October 1940 under the Destroyer-by-Base Agreement of the US Navy. The destroyer, completed in 1919 for the United States Navy as USS McCalla (DD 253), was torpedoed by U 574 about 330 miles west of the Portuguese coast on December 19, 1941 and sank within a few minutes. Of 161 men on board, only 25 could be saved.
History of the destroyer
The destroyer USS McCalla , completed in the USA in May 1919 , was used by the US Navy and the Royal Navy until its sinking in December 1941 .
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USS McCalla (DD 253)
The destroyer was the first ship in the US Navy to be named after Rear Admiral Bomann H. McCalla (1844-1910), who had distinguished himself in Panama in 1885 , off Cuba in 1898 and in 1900 as head of the vanguard of the international expeditionary corps under Admiral Seymor . The keel-laying of the Clemson-class destroyer took place on September 25, 1918, the launch on February 18, 1919 at the Fore River shipyard of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation . The destroyer was baptized by the daughter of the namesake. On May 19, 1920, the destroyer was taken over by the US Navy. After only seven months of active service in the fleet, the destroyer came to the reserve and was then decommissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on July 20, 1922.
Only more than 17 years later, on December 18, 1939, the now obsolete destroyer was put back into service because of the outbreak of war in Europe. Because of the urgent need for escort vehicles, negotiations began between Great Britain and the USA for the transfer of such vehicles, which were concluded in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement (German: " Destroyer for Base Agreement ") of September 2, 1940.
From the beginning of September, the US Navy in Halifax (Nova Scotia) handed over 50 destroyers of the US smooth-deck type of the Caldwell class (Cl, 3 RN), the Wickes class (W, 27 RN / RCN) and the Clemson class (CL , 20 RN / RCN) to the Royal Navy or the Royal Canadian Navy. The US Navy was given bases in the Bahamas , Jamaica , Santa Lucia , Trinidad , Bermuda , British Guyana and Argentia on Newfoundland .
HMS Stanley (I73)
On October 23, 1940, the Royal Navy put the former US destroyer in Halifax (Nova Scotia) as the second HMS Stanley (I73) for the newly formed 4th "Town" Flotilla . The planned transfer across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom had problems early on, so the destroyer ran back to St. John's to carry out repairs on the machine. The Stanley escorted 15 transporters back to Canada, whose convoy had been attacked by Admiral Scheer . She met these ships about 60 miles at sea and escorted them to Trinity Harbor . After further repairs for a safe crossing of the Atlantic, the Stanley left Canada on December 14, 1940 and finally arrived in Plymouth on January 2, 1941 , where the conversion of the ship into a long-distance escort began at the naval shipyard in Devonport .
The conversion was similar to the war conversions of the V- and W-Class to Long Range Escorts. The two forward boilers and their chimneys were removed and replaced with additional fuel tanks and additional crew rooms. The bridge structure was also adapted to that of British destroyer escorts. The conversion extended the range of the ship; however, the top speed of the conversion was reduced to 25 knots . From its original armament, the Stanley only retained the 4-inch gun on the forecastle and a triple torpedo tube set now in the middle. The distance and conversions of existing weapons initially allowed the entrainment of a larger amount of water bombs and the installation of a Hedgehog -Werfers . The anti-aircraft armament now consisted mainly of the same weapons as on British ships. A British QF 3-inch 20 cwt Flak was now in the rear gun position , and the Stanley carried two single 40 mm pompom flak and three heavy Browning machine guns .
The conversion completed in August 1941 allowed the ship to be used over longer distances. After the first short missions in the area of the western approaches to the British Isles, the old destroyer was used to secure the WS12 convoy . Together with the Hunt II destroyer escort Blankney , the Stanley joined the convoy on October 1, 1940, which was to transport troops and equipment for Commonwealth troops in the Middle East to Sierra Leone and around the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt and India . Its security consisted of the sister ships Bradford , Brighton , Lancaster , Newark of the Town class and the destroyer escort Badsworth , which turned on the 3rd; the anti-aircraft cruiser Cairo with the destroyers Verity , Whitehall and Witch which left the convoy on the 4th; as well as the old carrier Argus used as an aircraft transporter and the destroyer Sikh , who left the convoy on the 5th to go to Gibraltar . Stanley and Blankney , who still completed a test drive program, accompanied the convoy to position 35 ° 36'N / 26 ° 31'W, in order to then begin the march back.
WS 12 then ran on to Freetown alone under the protection of the Devonshire heavy cruiser . The Stanley took over after returning to Liverpool the lead of the 40th Escort Group with the former US Coast Guard cutters Culver , Gorleston , Languard , Lulworth and older Sloop Bideford . The first mission was to secure the convoy OS 10 of 34 transporters to Freetown together with Gorleston , Lulworth and the corvette Verbena . The convoy was attacked for the first time on the 31st by U 96 , which was able to sink the Dutch steamer Bennekom (5,998 GRT, built in 1919 as a Gera for the DADG ) 560 miles west of Fastnet . 45 men of the 54-man crew could be rescued by Culver and Lulworth . A second attack by the submarine on the following day was repelled; the other boats of the Störtebecker group did not manage to catch up with the convoy. The 40th EG then took over the security of SL 93 (33 merchant ships) back to Great Britain on November 19, 1941 , which was initially secured by 14 Navy ships. The destroyer Brilliant and five corvettes left the escort on the 23rd, and the Stanley on the 24th , while the ex-CG cutters of their group remained with the escort to Great Britain. The Stanley is said to have joined the following convoy SL 94 on November 30th together with two corvettes and two older destroyers , which on December 2nd of the 41st Escort Group with the sloops Ibis and Enchantress , the former CG cutters Hartland and Walney and the town destroyer Clare , which has also been converted into a long-range escort . Stanley left this convoy on December 5 to join the security of convoy HG 76 in Gibraltar .
The end of Stanley
Convoy HG 76 consisted of 32 ships that were to be returned from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom. Several ships ran in ballast . The convoy was secured by the 36th Escort Group under Commander F. J. "Johnnie" Walker with the sloops Stork and Deptford as well as seven corvettes of the Flower class : Convolvulus , Gardenia , Marigold , Pentstemon , Rhodedendron , Samphire and Vetch . In addition there was the new escort carrier Audacity (ex German Kombischiff Hannover ) with eight Martlet II fighter bombers of the 802. FAA-Squadron , accompanied and secured by the escorts Blankney and Exmoor as well as the Stanley . In addition, the sloops Fowey and Black Swan as well as the corvettes Carnation and La Malouine secured the expiry phase of the convoy in order to then run towards the convoy following from Sierra Leone as security.
Convoy HG 76 left Gibraltar on December 14, 1941; On the 17th, Audacity aircraft first discovered a submarine when the convoy was northeast of Madeira. Stanley , Exmoor , Blankney and the corvette Pentstemon as well as aircraft from the Audacity attacked the submarine with depth charges . 131 U of type IX C was forced to surface and sunk by the crew at 34 ° 12 'N, 13 ° 35' W itself. The 55 men of the submarine were taken on board by the British ships as prisoners of war.
The following day, reached Stanley and Blankney when she was another success 434 U of type VIIC W sunk in position 36 ° 15 'N, 15 ° 48' and still save 42 men from the water could.
In the early morning of December 19, 1941, the Stanley , which was running at the end of the convoy , recognized and reported a submarine behind her. Shortly after cessation of this message which was Stanley hit by a torpedo and sank quickly to the position of 38 ° 12 ' N , 17 ° 23' W . The attacking submarine U 574 of the type VIIC was attacked immediately by the Sloop Stork under Commodore Walker, which had taken a position behind the Stanley . The Stork's depth charge forced the submarine to the surface shortly before the sloop, an evasive maneuver failed and the Stork overran the submarine and threw more depth charges, so that the attacker was also sunk about 12 minutes after the Stanley . The heavily damaged Stork was able to save 20 men from U 574 and 25 men from the sunk Stanley .
Many of the rescued were later killed when the badly damaged Stork collided with the Deptford , which was chasing and destroying a submarine, during the further fighting for the convoy .
Further conversions to escort ships
Only two other destroyers of the Clemson subgroup of the Town class were completely rebuilt for service in the Royal Navy in a similar way to the HMS Stanley ex USS McCalla :
HMS Bradford (H 72) (Type A - Belmont class) built at Bethlehem Steel in Quincy, launched as USS McLanahan on September 22, 1918 , and commissioned on September 5, 1919. In 1939 in reserve, the destroyer came back to Dient because of the outbreak of war in Europe and was handed over to the Royal Navy in 1940.
HMS Clare (I14) ex USS Abel P. Upshur (Type A - Burbham class) built by Newport News SB Company, launched on February 14, 1920 and commissioned on May 20, 1920. In 1939 in reserve, the destroyer came back to Dient because of the outbreak of war in Europe and was handed over to the Royal Navy in 1940.
| Surname | Escort boat | Battle Honors | Final fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Stanley (I73) | August 1941 | Atlantic 1941, | sunk by U 574 on December 19, 1941 |
| HMS Bradford (H72) | September 1941 | Atlantic 1941-43, North Africa 1942, English Channel 1943 | . . . . . . . Separated in May 1943, used as a barge, sold for demolition on June 19, 1946. |
| HMS Clare (I14) | October 1941 | Atlantic 1941-43, North Africa 1942-43, Sicily 1943 | Used as a target ship from May 1944 to August 1945, demolished in March 1947. |
| HMCS Annapolis (I04) | February 1941 | April 1944 Training ship, canceled June 4, 1945, to Boston for demolition | |
| HMCS Columbia (I49) | ?? | Atlantic 1940-43 | . . . . . . . February 25, 1944 Ground contact, used as a warehouse, demolished in autumn 1945 |
| HMCS St. Francis (I93) | October 1941 | Atlantic 1941-43 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 1944 Training ship, 14 June 1945 towed to be demolished, sunk after a collision, can be dived |
In Canada, the Clemson- class HMCS St. Francis and the Wickes- class HMCS Annapolis and HMCS Columbia lost a boiler and chimney. The achievable maximum speed was then around 30 kn. The reasons for the retrofitting were different, however: HMCS Annapolis (I04) was retrofitted first because it had a boiler damage at the end of October 1940 and the defective rear boiler and the associated chimney were then removed. Because it belongs to the Wickes class with its shorter range, the destroyer was only used in the Canadian coastal area and never came across the Atlantic. From April 1944, the destroyer was only used for training purposes and then decommissioned in Halifax on June 4, 1945. At the end of the month the destroyer was towed to Boston to be demolished there.
HMCS Columbia (I49) ex USS Haraden was handed over to the British on September 24, 1940 in Halifax after 17 years in the USN's material reserve ; the destroyer was commissioned by the RCN as Columbia ; to adapt the destroyer was converted - but to a lesser extent than the HMS Stanley . The destroyer only lost a boiler with the associated chimney, but received a larger tank facility so that it could be used on the entire convoy route on the North Atlantic. At the beginning of January 1943, the Columbia found HMS Caldwell , which was drifting helplessly in the Atlantic after losing both screws, and was able to tow it over 370 miles to Halifax. The destroyer then stayed mostly on the Canadian side of the Atlantic. On February 25, 1944, the destroyer rammed an underwater rock in Motion Bay of Newfoundland due to faulty navigation (fog and faulty radar displays) . Only the hull of the damaged ship was sealed in May 1944 and then used from September as a fuel and ammunition store for escort units under repair in Liverpool (Nova Scotia). The old destroyer was finally decommissioned on June 12, 1945 and sold for demolition in August. Like the other two converted Canadian destroyers , the Columbia was armed as an escort ship with only one American 102 mm L / 50 Mk 9 gun, a British 76 mm L / 45-20cwt anti-aircraft gun, two individual 20s -mm-Oerlikon cannons , three 12.7-mm machine guns, three of a kind set of 533-mm torpedo tubes, a 24-rohrigen Hedgehog -Werfer , 60 depth charges with four cannons and two ejector rails. The ship was equipped with radar and sonar for this purpose.
HMCS St. Francis (I93) ex USS Bancroft had only been in active service with the USN from 1919 to 1922 and from late 1939 onwards. After a short period of use after the takeover by the RCN at the end of 1940, the first operations were carried out to secure the ships in convoy HX 84 , which the German armored ship Admiral Scheer had attacked. The destroyer was converted into a long range escort in Great Britain between July and October 1941 . A boiler and the associated chimney were removed and the fuel capacity increased. The armament was converted for this purpose. From 1941 to 1943 the ship was then used on the North Atlantic securing a large number of escorts. In November 1943, the ship was largely used up. The most necessary repairs were made in Shelburne, NS From February 1944, the St. Francis was used as a training ship and then decommissioned on June 11, 1945. In July, the old destroyer was towed by the Peter Norman to Baltimore , where the demolition should take place. After passing the Cape Cod Canal , the ships got into heavy fog and the old destroyer collided with the oncoming coal steamer Windward Gulf off Buzzards Bay . Attempts by Peter Norman to pull the destroyer into shallower water failed because large amounts of water took over too quickly in the destroyer and sank very quickly to a depth of 60 feet, with no one being killed. The ship sank on June 14, 1945, some two miles Acoaxet in position 41 ° 28 ' N , 71 ° 6' W .
swell
- ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 09/02/1940 General Location / USA "Destroyer / Naval Base Deal"
- ↑ a b McCalla I (Destroyer No. 253)
- ↑ Rohwer: Sea War , December 14–23, 1941 North Atlantic, Operation of the »Pirates« group against convoy HG.76. At HG.76 two freighters = Ruckinge (1939, 2869 BRT, 3 † / 39 survivors) and Annavore (1921, 3324 BRT, 34 † / 4 survivors) =, two escort ships (HMS Stanley , HMS Audacity ) but also four German ones submarines = U 131 (KKpt. Arend Baumann), U 434 (Kptlt. Wolfgang Heyda ), U 574 (Oblt.zS Dietrich Gengelbach †), U 567 Kptlt. ( Engelbert Endrass sunk †) =.
- ↑ a b HMS BRADFORD (H 72) - ex-US Destroyer
- ↑ a b HMS CLARE (I 14) - ex-US Destroyer
- ^ Wreck of the HMCS St. Francis in 1945
- ↑ HMCS Annapolis (I04)
- ↑ HMCS Columbia (I49)
- ↑ HMCS St. Francis (I93)
literature
- Arnold Hague: Destroyers for Great Britain: A History of 50 Town Class Ships Transferred From the United States to Great Britain in 1940 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis / Maryland (1988), ISBN 0-87021-782-8 .
- HF Lenton, JJ Colledge: British and Dominion Warships of World War II , Doubleday and Company, 1968.
- Marc Milner: North Atlantic Run . Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-450-0 .
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945 , Stalling, Oldenburg 1968.
