Bridgewater, Folkestone and Shoreham classes
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Bridgewater in January 1943
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The first newly built units for escort service by the Royal Navy after the World War were two Bridgewater- class sloops , which were built at Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. in Hebburn in 1928/29 . In times of peace, the ships should be used on foreign stations. Household 1929, four other sloops were ordered as Folkestone - or Hastings class were called. They differed from the first buildings in the nose gun, the mount of which now enabled use for aircraft defense. In addition, the Sloop Hindustan was built in 1929/30 at Swan Hunter for the Royal Indian Navy , which was similar to the other ships, but was much longer.
Between 1929 and 1933, sloops of the Shoreham class were built for the Royal Navy . These eight ships were built by the state shipyards in Devonport and Chatham and differed from their predecessors in having a longer hull.
Two other sloops of the shorter version were built by Hawthorn Leslie for the Portuguese Navy from 1931 to 1933 as Gonçalo Velo and Gonçalves Zarco , which were classified as Avisos II class in Portugal . With three 120 mm cannons, the export ships were more heavily armed than the British newbuildings that had been delivered up until then.
History of the Bridgewater- class
With funds from the Navy budget for 1927, Hawthorn, Leslie & Company in Hebburn built the first two sloops Bridgewater and Sandwich designed for escort from September 1927 . The 250 feet long and 34 feet wide ships displaced 1,045 t and with their two turbine sets with a total power of 2000 hp were up to 17 knots fast. The fuel supply of 282 t gave the sloops a range of 4750 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots.
Armament
The initial armament of the two sloops consisted of two 102 mm Mk.V guns . There were also two 47-mm L / 40-3pdr-Hotchkiss cannons , a mechanical minesweeping equipment and two ejector rails for eight depth charges . Even before the war began, the rear 102 mm cannon on both ships was converted so that it could also be used for aircraft defense. The old three-pounders were also replaced by two heavy 0.50 MG quadruples from Vickers .
During the war, the armament of the two sloops used in convoy security was reinforced. Immediately after the war began, two additional depth charges were installed and the depth of the depth charge increased to 40. In addition, both sloops received an Asdic system to track down submarines. In 1942, both ships received a second drop rail, two more depth charges and the depth of air bombs rose to 80. A radar system was installed on both ships . By the end of the war, the radar and sonar equipment was then improved as part of routine repairs. For the fight against submarines, both units of the class also received a 24-barrel Hedgehog launcher in the course of 1943 . The anti-aircraft capabilities of the two sloops were also strengthened by replacing the two heavy anti-aircraft machine guns on both boats with two 20 mm L / 70 Oerlikon automatic cannons in 1942 and installing two more Oerlikon cannons in 1943.
commitment
The two sloops entered service with the Royal Navy in 1929 and, although intended for use in the Persian Gulf , were first used at the China Station . While the Sandwich stayed there until the start of the war in 1939, the Brigdewater moved to South Africa in 1935 .
Brigdewater was awarded the Battle Honors North Sea 1942 and Atlantic 1942/43 for her service in World War II . The sloop, which has just been overtaken at home, was deployed from Simonstown and Freetown at the beginning of the World War . The trips to the necessary overhauls at home also led to deployments in other sea areas and to the acquisition of the aforementioned battle honors. After the overhaul in 1943, the condition of the sloops after the renewed entry period led the delegation to the 3rd Submarine Flotilla as the target ship, where the sloop remained until it was decommissioned in July 1945. After being used as a stationary target, the Bridgewater was sold for demolition in May 1947, which took place in Milford Haven .
The sister ship Sandwich had been sold for demolition in the Mediterranean in early 1946. The sloop, which was last overtaken in Hong Kong in the second half of 1938, was put back into service there in March 1939. After the first missions after the outbreak of war off the Chinese coast, she moved to her home country from November 1939, where she arrived in December with convoy HG 11 . For her subsequent war missions, the ship was awarded the Battle Honors Atlantic 1939 to 1944 and North Africa 1942. Initially deployed between Liverpool and Gibraltar, deployments to Freetown followed from mid-1940. In the meantime assigned to the 45th Escort Group , the Sandwich with the sloops Erne and Rochester was able to sink the German submarine U 213 of the VIID type east of the Azores on July 31, 1942 with its entire crew. Then the group was deployed off North Africa to secure the Allied landing . A routine overhaul in Bizerte and Gibraltar revealed significant defects on the sandwich and the sloop was laid up in Bizerte. A sale for further civil use failed, so that in early 1946 the sale for demolition took place.
| Surname | Pennant | shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | in service | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater | L / U 01 | Hawthorn, Leslie (BauN ° 555) | 02/06/1928 | 09/14/1928 | 03/18/1929 | from February 1944 no active use, target ship, out of service in June 1945, sold for demolition in May 1947 |
| sandwich | L / U 12 | Hawthorn Leslie (BauN ° 556) | 02/09/1928 | 09/28/1928 | March 22, 1929 | Involved in the sinking of U 213 on July 31, 1942 , out of service in October 1944, sold for demolition in 1945 |
History of the Folkestone / Hastings Class
After the two bridgewater- class sloops had been put into service, the Royal Navy issued orders for four more sloops in the same year, which differed from their predecessors only in small details; What was essential was the new mount of the front 4-inch cannon, which allowed it to be used against aircraft. In addition, the new sloops could hold 30 tons more fuel.
During the war, these ships were re-armed in a similar way to their predecessors. At the end of the war, the three surviving ships had two 4-inch anti-aircraft guns, two 20-mm Oerlikon twin and two single cannons and a supply of 90 depth charges.
Calls
The four new sloops were taken into service with the Navy between June 1930 and January 1931. Hastings was relocated to the East Indies Station on the Persian Gulf and then to the Red Sea in late 1930 . It was followed by the sister ship Penzance in January 1931 . At the end of 1931, the sister ships Scarborough were in Bermuda at America & West Indies Station and Folkestone at China Station .
The ships' duties changed until 1939, Penzance , stationed in Bermuda since mid-1939, was on its way to Curacoa when the war broke out . The Sloop remained in the Caribbean until the spring of 1940 , secured transports between Canada and Bermuda in March 1940 and then escorted the first convoy SC 1 from Canada to Great Britain as the only security ship . On August 24, 1940, the Penzance was torpedoed 700 nautical miles southwest of Iceland by the German submarine U 37 at 56 ° 16 ′ N , 27 ° 19 ′ W and broke up. Of the 104 men on board, only 15 were rescued, one of whom died shortly after the rescue. The following day, the German submarine also sank the freighter Blairmore with seven rescued persons, who also survived this sinking. The Penzance was awarded the Battle Honor Atlantic 1940.
The sister ship Hastings was significantly damaged by a stranding on June 11, 1935 on the Shab Kutb Reef near Suakin . Penzance , which was also stationed in the Red Sea at the time , was involved in the rescue work. She transported material and personnel to and from the damaged ship until the sister ship could be removed with the help of a tug on September 6th. Equipped with only one 4-inch gun, the sixth Hastings served as a fisheries protection boat after this accident since 1937 . The outbreak of war led to the ship being fully armed again and used as an escort boat on the British east coast. She had no enemy contact in the first year of operation, but was involved in two collisions. This was followed by assignments with many escort groups. The Hastings was one of the ships, the first time by the German Luftwaffe in the Bay of Biscay with 293 Hs - glide bombs were attacked. As part of the 40th EG with the frigates Exe , Moyola and Waveney of the River class and the sloops HMS Landguard (Y56) ex USCGC Shoshone and Bideford of the Shoreham class, she was looking for German submarines in the sea area off Cape Finisterre and Cape Ortegal Marching out or back from / to the bases on the French Atlantic coast occupied by the Germans. When the search association met with the Canadian 5th Support Group, which was approaching to relieve it, with two British frigates and three Canadian corvettes, the allied ships of twelve Dornier Do 217 of the II./KG.100 with the new radio-controlled bombs and seven Junkers Ju 88C of the I. ./ZG.1 attacked. Landguard was badly damaged by three close hits, Bideford received one hit from the attacking machines, but it did not detonate (1 dead, several injured). The Hastings secured in the 37th Escort Group nor the specific for the Mediterranean convoy KMS27 from the Channel to Gibraltar and then in the 39th EC (with a frigate and three corvettes) MKS28 on the route back. In November 1943 it was decided to decommission the Hastings . It was then used as a target ship for submarines from September 1944 to February 1946 and sold for demolition in April 1946. Although not very successful, the ship had been awarded the Battle Honors Atlantic 1940 to 1943 and Biscaya 1943.
The sixth Folkestone of the Royal Navy, built by Swan Hunter, was briefly deployed in the Persian Gulf on its departure and arrived at the China Station in November 1931 , where it remained in service until May 1939. The sloop was then converted into an unarmed survey ship and disarmed for a planned mission off New Zealand at the shipyard in Hong Kong. The outbreak of war prevented this mission. The existing crew manned local auxiliary minesweepers and the shipyard in Hong Kong equipped the sloop again. In January the Folkestone was operational again and was commanded home, where she arrived on February 19, 1940. The ship was assigned to secure the Atlantic access routes. The sloop served in the Atlantic with escort groups 42 , 44 and 56 ; for these missions the Folkestone received the Battle Honors Atlantic 1940 to 1944. In September 1944, the old sloop, last used from Freetown, moved back home, where it was decommissioned and assigned to the reserve. After being used for bomb tests, the Folkestone was sold to Milford Haven for demolition in May 1947 .
The ninth Scarborough of the Royal Navy, also created by Swan Hunter, was assigned to the America and West Indies station after it was commissioned , where it retired in July 1938. At home, the sloop was converted into an unarmed survey ship, which began service in May 1939 off India. When war broke out in 1939, the sloop was in Singapore for a planned overhaul . The sloop returned to Colombo in the (East) Indian station area and was temporarily armed for the march back to Great Britain. After the march back through the Mediterranean Sea, the Scarborough arrived back home in January 1940 and, after a further addition to its armament, was used by the Western Approaches Command to secure the shipping traffic coming across the Atlantic. The Scarborough worked with other escort vehicles of the command such as the old destroyers Vanoc , Volunteer , Walker , Whirlwind , Wolverine , Campbell and the Havelock built for Brazil , the Sloops Wellington and Leith of the Grimsby class , Fowey and Bideford of the Shoreham class , the Sister ship Folkestone (L22) and Corvettes of the Flower class together. The Scarborough was awarded the Battle Honors Atlantic 1939-44, North Africa 1942, North Sea 1943, Normandy 1944 and Channel 1944.
In the spring of 1941, the Scarborough hired two Norwegian whalers hijacked by the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin . Star XIX (249 BRT, 1929) and Star XXIV (361 BRT, 1937) were discovered on March 13 at the position 44 ° 50 ′ N , 22 ° 0 ′ W and initiated their prepared self-sinking before the approaching sloop. The sloop could only accommodate the crews (eight Germans and 22 Norwegians) who had left their sinking ships with lifeboats . The success was modest, as it was learned that eight more fishing boats and the factory ships Pelagos , Solglimt and later the Ole Wegger had passed the British security units undetected. All of the ships hijacked by the Pinguin had also taken care of themselves from other prizes from the Germans. On April 5, 1941, the Scarborough, together with the destroyer Wolverine , managed to severely damage the submarine U 76 , which had to surface and sank at 58 ° 35 ' N , 20 ° 20' W itself. 42 men of the sinking submarine were saved. From October 1941 the sloop was used by the 43rd Escort Group between Great Britain and Freetown and - meanwhile equipped with radar - took part in Operation Torch in November 1942 . This was followed by further deployments in convoy security in the 39th EG and from January 1944 on the 15th EG from Belfast, which was gradually equipped with frigates of the captain class built in the USA. These new frigates from the USA were the reason that the old sloops gradually retired from active service in the Navy, as the repair and retrofitting of the older sloops became too expensive. Nevertheless, the Scarborough remained in active use during the landing in Normandy. First, the ship laid buoys on the explored routes to the landing areas in cooperation with the direction finder boats of Trinity House . The sloops Rochester of the Shoreham class and Londonderry of the Grimsby class took on similar duties . After the first few days of landing, the sloop led the use of light naval forces in the canal. The Scarborough was released from active fleet service in July 1944 and assigned to the reserve. The ship laid up in Hartlepool was decommissioned and assigned to the reserve. A sale to interested parties did not succeed. In 1949 it was sold for demolition, which began in Thornaby-on-Tees in early July 1949 .
| Surname | Pennant | shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | in service | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folkestone | L / U 22 | Swan Hunter (BauN ° 1405) | 05/21/1929 | 02/12/1930 | March 26, 1930 | Out of service in October 1944, demolished in May 1947 |
| Scarborough | L / U 25 | Swan Hunter (BauN ° 1406) | 05/28/1929 | March 14, 1930 | 07/31/1930 | August 1945 reserve, July 1949 demolition |
| Hastings | L / U 27 | Devonport Dockyard | 07/29/1929 | 04/10/1930 | 11/27/1930 | November 19, 1943 out of service; September 1944 to February 1946 target ship for submarines, April 1946 for demolition |
| Penzance | L / U 28 | Devonport DY | 07/29/1929 | 04/10/1930 | January 15, 1931 | sunk by the German U 37 on August 24, 1940 south of Iceland, 90 dead |
| Hindustan | L / U 80 | Swan Hunter (BauN ° 1413) | 09/30/1929 | 05/12/1930 | 10/10/1930 | In 1948 to Pakistan, renamed Karsaz , but not deployed, scrapped in 1960 |
From September 4, 1929 a sloop was built at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend am Tyne , which was launched as a Hindustan on May 12, 1930 and was put into service by the Royal Indian Navy on October 10, 1930 . The ship was a modified and longer version of the Hastings- class. The hull was 296 feet (ft) 4 inches (in) (90.32 m) long, 35 ft (10.67 m) wide, and had a draft of 11.5 ft (3.51 m). The standard displacement was 1190 long tons. The propulsion system corresponded to the British ships and allowed the Hindustan a maximum speed of 16 knots. The ship's crew consisted of 119 men. The ship was armed with two 4-in (102-mm) MK.IV cannons , which could only be thrown against targets on the water or on the ground. For this purpose, the Sloop, like the British half-sisters, had four 3-pounder (47 mm) salute guns.
At the beginning of World War II, the Hindustan moved to the Persian Gulf, monitored the Strait of Hormuz, and was used as part of the Royal Navy's East Indies station . When Italy invaded British Somaliland in August 1940 , the Hindustan was commanded to Berbera , surrendered three of its 3 pdr guns for defense and ensured the withdrawal of the Commonwealth Forces from Berbera from September 15-19, 1940. After an overhaul in Bombay (now Mumbai ) and retrofitting with sonar , the sloop was used as part of the Eastern Fleet to secure a large number of convoys in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf . In the final phase of the World War, the sloops were used in the amphibious operations of the British Indian Army and British Army in Burma from April 1945 sloops ( Operation Dracula ). During the mutiny of parts of the Royal Indian Navy in February 1946, the Hindustan was in Karachi and was occupied by mutiners. The mutineers only surrendered after a brief firefight with paratroopers supported by a battery of 75mm howitzers. When independence was proclaimed in 1948, the ship fell to Pakistan , where it was renamed Karsaz , but was not used.
The Shoreham class sloops
.jpg) The Fowey in May 19042
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In 1929, the Royal Navy ordered ten more sloops of another modified design with a hull about 4.5 m longer. Only eight of the vehicles ordered were completed at the Chatham and Devonport State Shipyards . Fowey , Shoreham and Bideford moved to East India, where they replaced older sloops as well as Hastings and Penzance . The Rochester moved after its completion as the first new sloop to South Africa. From the second series, Weston and Milford also relocated to Africa Station . The Falmouth came to China Station and the last Dundee to be completed came to America and West Indies Station in Bermuda. Until the Second World War, the Weston moved from Africa Station to the Red Sea in the summer of 1935 and the Rochester to the East Indies in the summer of 1939 , where they replaced the Bideford , which went to China .
In terms of armament, the new sloops did not differ from their predecessors; however, the Shoreham had two 102 mm guns with anti-aircraft capabilities as early as 1934 and the other ships in the class were also retrofitted accordingly by 1939. In addition, a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun quad of the Vickers type was installed. When the war broke out in 1939, the Hotchkiss salute guns were surrendered and the anti-submarine weapons were reinforced by two depth charge launchers and the supply was increased to 40 bombs. From 1941 the sloops were equipped with Oerlikon guns and radar. Only the Fowey had a Hedgehog launcher from 1943 onwards. The depth of the depth charges for four launchers and two drainage rails increased to 90 depth charges by the end of the war. At the end of the war, only the Shoreham, which had been serving in the east for years, and the Rochester, which had served as the auxiliary ship of the navigation school, had significantly different armaments.
Missions and honors of the ships
Shoreham (originally L32 , U32 from May 1940) was launched on November 22, 1930 at the Chatham naval shipyard. The sloop, which had previously served as a stationary in the Persian Gulf , was relocated to the Red Sea after the outbreak of the World War. After Italy entered the war, she was one of the units of the Royal Navy deployed there against the Italian fleet and was involvedin the sinking of the Italian submarine Torricelli on June 23, 1940 with the destroyers Kandahar , Khartoum and Kingston . From August 1941 the Shoreham was used during the Allied occupation of Iran and blocked its warships in Abadan and sank the gunboat Palang (950 t, diesel propulsion, supplied by Italy in 1932). From February to September 1943 the sloop was used in the Mediterranean fleet and took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily . After that, the Shoreham returned to the Eastern Fleet , where it was used until VJ Day . Shoreham returned to the UK in 1946 and was sold for demolition in 1950. For their missions, the sloop was awarded the Battle Honors Sicily 1943, Mediterranean 1943, Burma 1944-45. The Sloop, which was overtaken in South Africa in the last years of the war, only had a 102 mm nose gun, a single 40 mm L / 39 anti-aircraft gun , three individual 20 mm Oerlikon cannons and two heavy Vickers quadruple machine guns at the end of the war as well as the usual depth charges, radar and sonar equipment for the class. It remained in the east in 1945 to be used as a stationary in the Persian Gulf after an overhaul in Bombay. In September 1946 the sloop returned to Great Britain after 15 years of service abroad and was decommissioned. A planned conversion for civil use did not materialize and the demolition of the ship began in Zeebrugge in 1946.
Fowey (L / U 15) was the first ship of the class to be launched on November 4, 1930 at the Naval Shipyard in Devonport. Thesloop, whichhas been part of the East India Station since its completion,was in Bombay for repairs when the war broke out. From mid-September 1939, the Sloop moved through the Mediterranean Sea to Freetown to secure the Allied shipping traffic and to control the sea areas for German ships or merchant ships with loads for Germany. From December 2nd to 18th, the Fowey securedconvoy SL 11 from Freetown to Southampton , which she left in the British coastal waters to be serviced in a shipyard. On the 3o. January 1940, the sloop was involved in the pursuit of U 55 of the Type VII B together with the destroyer Whitshed and the French large destroyers Valmy and Guépard and a Sunderland flying boat of the 228th Squadron . The German submarine finally sank itself at 48 ° 37 'N 07 ° 46' W, the crew was rescued except for the commander. The sloop continued to be used in the anti-submarine defense in the Atlantic, was regularly modernized and was last used from January 1945 to secure convoys in British coastal traffic. From June 1945 theship stationedin Stranraer was involved in securing the German submarines surrendered after the surrender. A planned transfer of the ship to Egypt in 1946failed. Theship, which wasawarded the Battle Honor Atlantic 1939-1945, was sold to private owners in October 1946 and, after a short period of service, wasscrappedas Rowlock in Mombasa in 1950.
Bideford (L / U 43) was launched in Devonport on April 1, 1931 and was taken over by the Navy on November 27, 1931. It then moved to the Persian Gulf and was overtaken three times in Colombo and once in Bombay during its service there. From August to December 1938 there was a major overhaul of the Bideford in Malta with a change in armament. The ship returned to its station on the Persian Gulf, but was then moved to Hong Kong to the China station in May / June 1939. After the outbreak of war, surveillance tasks followed in the Far East until the ship was ordered home in December. The last leg of the return voyage was from January 5th to 15th, 1940 securing convoy HGF 14 from Gibraltar to the homeland together with the sloop Aberdeen and the destroyer Vidette . After a short overhaul, the sloop was mostly used on this route. On May 28th, the sloop arrived in Dover with convoy HG.31F from Gibraltar and was supposed to take over a counterconvoy.
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She was commanded to Dunkirk to take part in the evacuation of British troops from the mainland. Already on the approach, the ship was hit by a German bomb, which tore off 40 feet of the stern. 16 men of the crew and 12 "passengers" were killed in the bomb attack. The Bideford was set aground so as not to sink. The minesweeper Kellett went alongside and took over all unneeded crew members and passengers. Two tugs sent from England did not find the severely damaged sloop. The gunboat Locust finally discovered the damaged vessel, was able to tow him and brought him - finally supported by two tugs - to Dover in 36 hours. The sloop was repaired in Portsmouth by April 15, 1941 and then moved to Greenock to be used on convoys to and from Freetown . On September 3, 1941, she took on the 63 men of the torpedoed motor ship Edward Blyden (5003 GRT, 1930). In early 1942, the Bideford formed the 40th Escort Group with the sloops Londonderry of the Grimsby class as well as Landguard , Lulworth and Culver of the Banff class (former Lake class cutter of the United States Coast Guard ) . While securing an escort for the imminent landings of the Allies in (French North Africa) , the Bideford discovered a lifeboat on October 31, 1942. The sloop received permission to take the castaways on board. The 31 rescued remained the only survivors of the (West African) liner Abosso (11,330 GRT, 1935) sunk by U 575 on October 29 ; 362 other fellow travelers of the single journey remained missing.
In August 1943, the Bideford was on the 23rd in the 40th EG with the frigates Exe , Moyola and Waveney of the River class and the sloops Landguard and Hastings between Cape Finisterre and Cape Ortegal to hunt incoming and outgoing German submarines from and used to bases in France and should on 25 of the Canadian 5th Support Group with two British frigates and three Flower corvettes will be replaced, as surprising twelve Do-217 bombers of II./KG.100 with the new remote-controlled bombs Henschel HS 293 and seven Ju-88C long-range fighters of I./ZG.1 attacked. One sailor was killed and 16 men seriously injured by one hit without an explosion and three close hits by the remote-controlled bombs.
After the necessary repairs, the sloop came to the 41st EG and was used between the United Kingdom and West Africa until the spring of 1944. This was followed by missions with the 44th EG in the Mediterranean. After a three-month overhaul in the first three months of 1945, the sloop was last used to secure the south-western approaches to the British Isles, but then decommissioned in June 1945 and launched in Milford Haven . Since no further use was found, the ship was demolished there. For her missions in World War II, the Bideford was awarded the Battle Honors Atlantic 1939–45, Dunkirk 1940, North Africa 1942, Biscay 1943 and English Channel 1945.
Rochester (L / U 43), the secondsloop of the classto be built on Chatham Dockyard , was launched on July 16, 1931 and was the first of the new sloops to berelocatedto the Afrika Station after its completion in March 1932. At the same time,the sloops Verbena and Delphinium of the Arabis group of the Flower class of the First World War were stationedat the Cape , which are now to be replaced by new buildings. For this purpose, the cruisers Carlisle and Cardiff - as flagship - were on the station, whose area of activity extended from Freetown in West Africa to Kenya in East Africa. In the early summer of 1939 Rochester moved to the Persian Gulf; When the Second World War broke out, the sloop was off the island of Masira . The sloop returned home and last secured the convoy SL 32 in December 1939. After an overhaul, the sloop was assigned to the 2nd Escort Division for the Western Approaches in March 1940and used between the United Kingdom and Freetown. The regularly retrofitted ship then came to the 37th Escort Group in July 1941, later to the 43rd EG and the 39th EG and was involved in submarine sinkings several times. She was equipped with more and better radars and a Huff-Duff system and temporarily secured the Allied landing in North Africa ( Operation Torch ). After operations during the Normandy invasion , the sloop remained in the English Channel until November 1944, when it was converted into a training ship for the Portsmouth Navigation School , HMS Dryad . There the Rochester was used as a navigation training ship from March 1945 to September 1949, only to be scrapped in 1951. TheSloop, armedas a training ship with only seven individual 20 mm Oerlikon cannons , was awarded the Battle Honors Atlantic 1939-45, North Africa 1942 and Normandy 1944for its service in World War II.
Falmouth (L / U 34) was launched in Devonport on April 19, 1932 as the eleventh Navy ship of that name. Recently he had worn a light cruiser, the had been sunk by a German submarine on 20 August 1916th The new Falmouth was assigned to China Station after its completion in October 1932, where it first served as the commander's yacht. From 1936 Frederick "Jonny" Walker , the most famous anti-submarine commander during the war, was the captain of the sloop. The ship, which was stationed in Hong Kong when the war began, moved to East India Station in May 1940and was deployed in the Persian Gulf when war broke out with Italy. On June 26, the sloop sank the Italian submarine Galvani of the Brin class off the Gulf. The sloop then took part in the Allied occupation of Iran , during which it wassupposedtotransporttroops to Khorramshahr . However, it was temporarily canceled because it ran agroundin Shatt al-Arab . November / December 1941, the sloop was in service in the eastern Mediterranean, but then returned to the Indian Ocean to remain in escort duties until 1945, which were interrupted by many repairs. She was not involved in the Allied advance in Burma in 1945, but after the collapse of Japan she was briefly used in the search for Allied prisoners in the Dutch East Indies and then returned to station service in the Persian Gulf. The Falmouth was one of the few units in the fleet that was not awarded a Battle Honor. The Sloop returned home at the end of 1946 from January 1952 as RNVR Drill Ship Calliope of the Tyne Division of Reservists, until it was sold for demolition in April 1968.
Milford (L / U 51) was launched on June 11, 1932 as the second ship of the second order for Shoreham- classsloops. The sloop, which was completed in December 1932, wasassigned tothe Africa Station like its previously completed sister shipand also took on scientific tasks there, such as a visit to Bouvet Island in the southern summer of 1934 or a visit to Tristan da Cunha in 1938, during which survey work was also carried out. On March 28, 1938, the Milford formally took Gough Island in the South Atlantic for Great Britain in possession. When the Second World War broke out, Africa Station was renamed Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic . The Milford came to the planned Freetown war stationin Sierra Leone and secured convoys between South Africa and Gibraltar, routine overhauls took place in Simonstown. From July 7, 1940, the Milford was with the small carrier Hermes and the heavy cruisers Dorsetshire and Australia in front of Dakar to persuade the local naval units (especially the battleship Richelieu ) to join the Allies, or at leastto obtaina declaration of neutrality . After the British attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir ( Operation Catapult ), however, the French were unwilling to negotiate and refused to allow Milford to enter the portwith an emissary to Dakar. Air raids by Hermes machinesthen severely damaged the French flagship. Another attack with free French on Dakar on September 23, 1940 ( Operation Menace ) , in which the Milford was involved, also failed. From the beginning of November until December, the sloop was then used with the cruisers Delhi and Devonshire to support the Free French off Libreville . On the 8th, the sloop was able tosinkthe French submarine Poncelet of the Redoutable class , whichhad been discoveredby a Devonshire aircraft. In December the sloop took over escort duties in the South Atlantic again. In the following period it was also used more frequently in the Indian Ocean. A shipyard lay time required in 1942 wascarried outat the naval shipyard in Rio de Janeiro ; the next necessary overhaul in 1943 took place on the Clyde . The overtaken sloop was used in September in the 40th Escort Group together with the Indian sloop Kistna , two river frigates andtwo flower corvettes as well as the auxiliary carrier Rapana for the last time to secure a double convoy from Sierra Leone and Gibraltar with 62 merchant ships ( SL 139 / MKS) . The convoy wasfound and escortedeast of the Azores by German long-range scouts and gradually attacked by 18 German submarines, three of which were lost. The convoy was temporarily secured by three support groups (7th Support Group with three Black Swan sloops and three frigates, 5th SG with two frigates and five corvettes, 4th SG with six frigates) as well as the auxiliary cruiser Prince Robert and two destroyers of the W- Class and aircraft reinforced. The convoy was most recently the target of a group of 25 He-177 bombers of the II./KG40 with Hs-293 guided missiles , which sank one merchant ship and one severely damaged. In addition, U 515 hitthe sloop Chanticleer with a wren torpedo250 nautical miles east-northeast of the Azores island of San Miguel . Her stern was torn off, but the sloop could betowedto Ponta Delgado . 28 Chanticleer mendied, the wreck was used as a barge in the Azores until the end of the war and demolished in Portugal after the end of the war.
The poor condition of the ship led to the decommissioning of the Milford in December , which was initially laid up in Ardrossan . In the spring of 1944 it was decided to use the old sloop as an escort and target ship for the 10th Submarine Flotilla . The necessary conversion took place at a private shipyard from May 1944, where the anti-submarine armament was removed and, in addition to normal maintenance work, a crane was installed to pick up practice torpedoes. In October 1944, the old Sloop took up as an escort ship for the 10th SubFlo in Rothsay. In December 1945, after an overhaul on the Clyde, the sloop was relocated to the 7th SubFlo in Portsmouth; Already in 1946 the Milford was transferred to the reserve, in 1949 the ship was placed on the Disposal List in 1949. The sloop was sold for demolition, which took place in Cornwall from July 1949. For use in the war, the sloop was awarded the Battle Honor Atlantic 1940-1944.
Weston (L / U 72) was launched shortly after the sister ship on July 23, 1932. After its commissioning in February 1933, the sloop was assigned to the Africa Station , where the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire arrived as the station's new flagship. In addition to the now three sloops, the station also had the cruiser Carlisle . In August 1935, the sloop waswithdrawnfrom Simonstown and assigned to the Red Sea station, where it remained until February 1939. When the war began in 1939, the sloop was available at home and was used for security purposes. On May 31, 1940, she was forcedto surfaceeast of Lowestoft by depth charges U 13 ( Type IIB ). The damaged submarine was thenself- scuttled by its crew inthe Weston artillery fireat 52 ° 26 ' N , 2 ° 2' E. The entire crew of 26 men was saved by the British. After a year on the east coast, the Sloop was used in 1941 for securing Atlantic convoys on the last section to the British Isles, before it wasassigned tothe 42nd EC in October 1941, which secured convoys to and from West Africa. During these missions, the sloop was continuously upgraded and equipped with Huff Duff , Hedgehog and a VHF radio telephone. After a layover in the shipyard, the Sloop stayed at home in March 1945 and secured the Dutch mine-layer Willem van der Zann when deploying aminebarrier against snorkel submarines in the western approaches to the canal. In May 1945 the Weston was decommissioned and sold for demolition in 1947. For their war missions, the sloop was awarded the Battle Honors North Sea 1940, Atlantic 1940-44 and English Channel 1945.
Dundee was launched in Chatham on September 20, 1932, as the last of the small pre-war sloops with 4-in guns. After its commissioning in March 1933, the sloop moved to the North America and West Indies station with its main base in Bermuda . At the station already Sloop were Scarborough of Hastings class that heavy cruiser York (flagship) and Norfolk and the older light cruiser of the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron with Dauntless , Danae and Dragon . The Sloop, last overtaken in 1938, controlled trade around Trinidad in the autumn of 1939 after the outbreak of war. After an overhaul in Bermuda in August 1940, the sloop was assignedto the UKas a backup for convoy SC 3 in September 1940and joined the convoy in Sydney (Nova Scotia) , which set sail on the 10th. At 56 ° 45 ' N , 14 ° 1' W , the sloop west of Ireland wastorpedoedby the German U 48 and sank. Six officers and six other crew members died. Three merchant ships and the destroyer Wanderer took over the survivors.
| Surname | Pennant | Marine shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | in service | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoreham | L / U 32 | Chatham | December 19, 1929 | 11/22/1930 | 11/02/1931 | October 1946 sold for civil use |
| Fowey | L / U 15 | Devonport | March 24, 1930 | 04. 11.1930 | 11.09. 1931 | August 1945 reserve, July 1949 demolition |
| Bideford | L / U 43 | Devonport | 06/10/1930 | 04/01/1931 | 11/27/1931 | Damaged in August 1943 by Henschel Hs 293, sold in September 1947 |
| Rochester | L / U 50 | Chatham | 11/24/1930 | 07/16/1931 | March 24, 1932 | involved in the sinking of U 94 , U 204 , U 82 , U 213 , U 135 , 1945–49 navigation training ship, 1951 demolished |
| Falmouth | L / U 34 | Devonport | 08/31/1931 | 04/19/1932 | 10/27/1932 | 1952 stationary exercise ship Calliope the RNVR , 1968 demolition |
| Milford | L / U 51 | Devonport | 09/14/1931 | 06/11/1932 | 12/22/1932 | June 1949 sold for demolition |
| Weston | L / U 72 | Devonport | 07.09.1931 | 07/23/1932 | 02/23/1933 | sunk U 13 in the North Sea. May 1947 sold for demolition |
| Dundee | L / U 84 | Chatham | December 01, 1931 | 09/20/1932 | March 31, 1933 | Sunk by U 48 as escort on September 15, 1940 . |
The replicas for Portugal
In 1933 Hawthorn Leslie delivered two similar sloops to the Portuguese Navy. The ships classified as Avisos II. Class were developed from the sloops of the Bridgewater class. In contrast to the British half-sisters, the export ships received three 120 mm L / 50 cannons of the Vickers-Armstrong Mk. G type , which largely corresponded to the British cannons and with which the Portuguese destroyers of the Vouga class were also equipped.
There were also four 40 mm L / 39-2pdr Mk.II and two drop rails for depth charges . The fuel supply of the Portuguese ships was with 470 tons larger than the British ships and gave them a range of 6000 nautical miles at 10 kn.
For more details and the history of the operation, see Gonçalo Velho and Gonçalves Zarco .
literature
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy. Chatham, 4th ed. London 2010, ISBN 9-7819-3514907-1.
- Robert Gardiner, Roger Chesneau: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, London 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7
- Arnold Hague: Sloops: A History of the 71 Sloops Built in Britain and Australia for the British, Australian and Indian Navies 1926-1946. World Ship Society, Kendal, England 1993, ISBN 0-905617-67-3 .
Web links
- Commons : Bridgewater class - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files
- War service of HMS Bridgewater
- War service of HMS Sandwich
- Convoy Escort Movements for Bridgewater -class sloops
- Commons : Hastings class - collection of images, videos, and audio files
- JTE Collins: The Royal Indian Navy, 1939-1945. Official History of the Indian Armed Forces In the Second World War, Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan), New Delhi 1964
- Commons : Shoreham class - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bridgewater class sloops
- ^ A b Dr Graham Watson: BETWEEN THE WARS: ROYAL NAVY ORGANIZATION AND SHIP DEPLOYMENTS 1919–1939, chapter 10: SLOOP DEVELOPMENT 1919–1939.
- ↑ Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd): HMS BRIDGEWATER (L 01) - Bridgewater-class Sloop.
- ↑ Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd): HMS SANDWICH (L 12) - Bridgewater-class Sloop.
- ↑ HMS PENZANCE (L 28) - Hastings-class sloop.
- ^ Blairmore , British Steam Merchant
- ↑ HMS Hastings (L 27 / U 27)
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 23-29 August 1943, Biskaya A second attack on the newly formed anti-submarine unit of 18 German bombers with the guided missiles on August 27, 1943 led to the sinking of the Sloop Egret (197 dead) and badly damaged the destroyer Athabascan .
- ↑ HMS Hastings (L27) _Hastings-class Sloop.
- ^ HMS Folkestone (L22) _Hastings-class Sloop.
- ↑ Service History HMS SCARBOROUGH (L 25).
- ^ A b Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. P.56.
- ↑ Collins: The Royal Indian Navy, 1939-1945. P. 33.
- ↑ Collins: The Royal Indian Navy, 1939-1945. Pp. 39, 40.
- ^ East Indies Fleet War Diary 1944. December 30, 1944
- ↑ Service History HMIS CAUVARY (U 10).
- ↑ HMIS Hindustan (L 80 / U 80).
- ↑ Service History HMS SHOREHAM (L 32) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ HMS FOWEY (L 15) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ^ HMS Locust , T 28, Dragonfly-class river gunboat
- ↑ Edward Blyden.
- ^ Abosso British Motor passenger ship
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 23-29 August 1943, Biscay, Operation Percussion
- ↑ HMS BIDEFORD (L 43) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ HMS ROCHESTER (L 50) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ HMS FALMOUTH (L 34) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ HMS MILFORD (L 51) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ U-13 on uboat.net
- ↑ HMS WESTON (L 72) - Shoreham-class sloop.
- ↑ HMS Dundee (L84) on uboat.net
- ↑ HMS DUNDEE (L 84) - Shoreham-class sloop.