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USS Surprise (PG-63)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Surprise and HMS Heliotrope.

USS Surprise (PG-63)
History
United States
NameSurprise
BuilderJohn Crown & Sons Ltd
Launched5 June 1940
Acquired24 March 1942
Commissioned24 March 1942
Decommissioned20 August 1945
Stricken17 September 1945
FateReturned to Royal Navy 26 August 1945
NotesOriginally HMS Heliotrope
General characteristics
TypePatrol gunboat
Displacement
  • 925 long tons (940 t) (normal)
  • 1,375 long tons (1,397 t) (full load)[1]
Length205 ft 2 in (62.53 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draft14 ft 7 in (4.45 m)
Installed power2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)[2]
Propulsion
Speed16.5 kn (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement87 officers and enlisted men
Armament

USS Surprise (PG-63), the fourth American naval ship of the name, was the British Template:Sclass2- corvette HMS Heliotrope loaned to and operated by the United States Navy from 1942-1945 as a Temptress-class patrol gunboat. After World War II she was sold as a merchant vessel and ended her life in the Chinese navy as Lin I.

Service history

HMS Heliotrope was built by John Crown and Sons Ltd, Sunderland, England, and launched on 5 June 1940. She was transferred to the U.S. Navy at Hull, England, on 24 March 1942, one of a group of corvettes transferred to the U.S. Navy under reverse Lend-Lease. She was commissioned as USS Surprise the same day, Lieutenant R. C. D. Hunt, Jr., in command. She was delivered with British radars and armament installed, and over the course of her U.S. Navy service was gradually converted to U.S. standards. The 4-inch (102 mm) gun was mounted forward, the 3-inch (76 mm) gun aft.[5]

Surprise sailed from Lisahally Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 24 April 1942 to escort a convoy to Boston, Massachusetts. After an overhaul, she proceeded south and for the remainder of 1942 escorted convoys in the Caribbean, principally between Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In January 1943, she extended her range into the South Atlantic and, into 1944, performed escort runs between Trinidad and Recife, Brazil.

Surprise then returned to the United States. In May 1944, she returned to the North Atlantic and, until after the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, rotated between Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland convoy runs and weather patrol duty.

Surprise was decommissioned on 20 August 1945 at Chatham, England, returned to the Royal Navy on 26 August, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 September.

Fate

She was transferred to China in 1947,[6] and, after a period of mercantile service, she was taken into the People's Liberation Army Navy as Lin I.

Notes

  1. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156
  2. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156
  3. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156
  4. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156
  5. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156
  6. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 156

References

  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • Chesneau, Roger, ed. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. New York: Mayflower Books, 1980. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
  • Uboat.net HMS Heliotrope of the Royal Navy - Corvette of the Flower class - Allied Warships of WWII
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