HMS Swale (K217)
 HMS Swale (K217) |
|
| Career (United Kingdom) |  Royal Navy |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | River Swale |
| Builder: | Smiths Dock Co., South Bank-on-Tees |
| Laid down: | 19 August 1941 |
| Launched: | 16 January 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 24 June 1942 |
| Notes: | Transferred on 26 July 1945 to South Africa as HMSAS Swale (K217). Returned to RN in January 1946. Scrapped on 26 February 1955. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | River class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,370 long tons (1,390 t) 1,830 long tons (1,860 t) (deep load) |
| Length: | 283 ft (86.26 m) p/p 301.25 ft (91.82 m)o/a |
| Beam: | 36.5 ft (11.13 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37.0 km/h) |
| Range: | 440 long tons (450 t; 490 ST) oil fuel; 7,200 nautical miles (13,334 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h) |
| Complement: | 107 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Swale (K217) was a River class frigate of the Royal Navy from 1942–1955, loaned to the South African Navy for six months at the end of the Second world War.
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[edit] Construction
Swale was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River class frigate. She was laid down at Smiths Dock Co., South Bank-on-Tees on 19 August 1941 and launched on 16 January 1942. She was commissioned into the RN on 24 June 1942 as K 217 and named for the River Swale in Yorkshire, England.
[edit] War service
Swale saw extensive service on convoy escort missions and experienced some of the worst days of the Battle of the Atlantic. In March 1943 she was SO (Senior Officer's ship) of the Escort Group (EG) B5, escorting the slow convoy SC 122 [1] from New York to Liverpool. Of the 51 merchant ships in the convoy, 10 returned to port unable to ride a violent storm, and three days later another 8 were sunk by U-boats.
Swale was to have better fortunes two months later. Escorting slow convoy ONS 7 [2] bound for Halifax, Canada, she sank U-657 [3] off Cape Farewell, Greenland on the night of 17 May The U boat had earlier torpedoed the 5,196 GRT steamer Aymeric,[4] [5] the last British cargo ship in the Atlantic to be sunk that month, claiming the lives of 53 men. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander John Jackson, DSC, RNR [6], Swale moved 6,000 m astern of the doomed Aymeric and made asdic contact. After a succession of depth charge and hedgehog attacks, she was rewarded with the sound of several loud explosions and the appearance of burning oil on the surface. The convoy continued to Canada without further loss.[1]
On the night of 11/12 July 1943 Swale sailed from Gibraltar to the aid of the remnants of the small, fast Convoy Faith [7],[2] which had originally comprised two troopships, the California and the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of York, and the merchant ship Port Fairy, carrying ammunition, from Greenock to Freetown, Sierra Leone.[3] On 11 July, the convoy was about 300 miles (480 km) west of Vigo when it was attacked by three Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft from the Merignac airfield near Bordeaux. Both the California and Duchess of York were hit and abandoned, to be sunk later by torpedoes from their escorts. Also bombed, Port Fairy survived and was ordered to Casablanca for repairs escorted by Swale. The following day, 12 July, Port Fairy and Swale were attacked by two Fw 200s returning from a reconnaissance mission off the Portuguese coast. Despite the interception and strafing of the Condors by two US Navy PBY Catalinas [4] Port Fairy was hit on her port quarter by a 50 kg bomb which started a fire; Swale came alongside and helped extinguish the flames with her hoses. Port Fairy was repaired and remained in service until 1965 [8].
On 6 April 1944 while escorting slow convoy SC 156 from Halifax, Canada to Loch Ewe, Scotland, Swale sank U-302 [9][10] with depth charges northwest of the Azores after the U-boat penetrated the escort screen and sank the Norwegian merchantmen Ruth 1 [11] and South America [12].
[edit] Post-war service
Swale was loaned to the South African Navy on 26 June 1945 as HMSAS Swale (K217) but returned to the RN in January 1946. She was scrapped on 26 February 1955.
[edit] References
- ^ Gannon, M. (1998). Black May. ISBN 1-85410-588-4.
- ^ Munro, A. (2006). The Winston Specials - Troopships via the Cape 1940–1943. Maritime Books, ISBN 190445920X
- ^ The National Archives, London, ADM 199/1032
- ^ Ragnarsson, R. (2006). US Navy PBY Catalina Units of the Atlantic War, page 65. Osprey Publishing, ISBN 184176910X
[edit] External links
- http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/index.html Comprehensive details of the Atlantic convoys and their fates.
