HMS Locust (T28)
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HMS Locust, 25 February 1942
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Locust |
Ordered | 20 June 1938 |
Builder | Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd., Scotstoun[1] |
Laid down | 29 November 1938 |
Launched | 28 September 1939[1] |
Commissioned | 17 May 1940 |
Decommissioned | May 1946 |
Reclassified | Royal Naval Reserve drill ship in 1951 |
Fate | Sold for breaking, 1968 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Dragonfly-class river gunboat |
Displacement | 585 tons[1] |
Length | 197 ft (60 m) |
Beam | 33 ft (10 m) |
Draught | 5 ft (1.5 m) |
Installed power | 3,800 shp (2,800 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h) (max) |
Range | 90 tons of fuel |
Complement | 74 |
Armament |
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HMS Locust was one of 4
Service
Designed as a Gunboat for the Yangtze River, she was equipped with two 4-inch guns; fore and aft, two 3-pounders each side, and a 3.5-inch howitzer midship plus a multi-barrel 2-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft gun. She was flat bottomed with a triple rudder configuration.
She participated in the Dunkirk evacuation during which she was attacked by German aircraft and evacuated 1,000 troops.[2]
Locust had a central role in Operation Jubilee, the
She served during Operation Overlord, during which she received a hit from shellfire. She survived the war, was recommissioned as a training vessel and eventually sold for scrap in 1968.[3]
Fate
She was placed in reserve from 1946 until 1951 when she was converted to a drill ship for the Royal Naval Reserve[1] and used for training. When moored next to the RNVR ship HMS Flying Fox in Bristol, the vessel's shallow draught (essential for navigating shallow rivers) could be seen easily, around a foot or so below the waterline. Locust had three propellers and three large-bladed shallow rudders, equally spaced across its stern. She was decommissioned in 1968 and sold on 24 May 1968 to Cashmore for breaking.[1] She was broken up in Newport.[1]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Colledge (2006) pp.233–4.
- ^ Tragedy At Dieppe: Operation Jubilee August 19, 1942. Mark Zuehlke. Douglas & McIntyre:Vancouver, p.62 of ebook edition.
- ISBN 978-0345807694.[page needed]
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.