HMS Magpie (U82)
Magpie in the Atlantic
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Magpie |
Namesake | Magpie |
Builder | John I. Thornycroft & Company |
Launched | 24 March 1943 |
Commissioned | 30 August 1943 |
Reclassified | As a frigate in 1947 |
Identification | Pennant number U82 |
Fate | Scrapped 1959 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Modified Black Swan-class sloop |
Displacement | 1,350 tons |
Length | 299 ft 6 in (91.29 m) |
Beam | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
Draught | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Range | 7,500 nmi (13,900 km; 8,600 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 192 |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: | 7th Frigate Squadron (1955-1958) |
Operations: |
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Victories: | U-592, U-238, U-734 (1944) |
HMS Magpie, pennant number U82, was a Royal Navy Modified Black Swan-class sloop launched in 1943 and broken up in 1959. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to bear the name. She was reclassified as a frigate in 1947, receiving a new pennant number F82. The ship was the only vessel commanded by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who took command on 2 September 1950, when he was 29.
Construction and design
Magpie was one of eight Modified Black Swan-class sloops ordered by the
Magpie was 299 ft 6 in (91.29 m)
The ship's main gun armament (as fitted to all the Modified Black Swans) consisted of three twin
Magpie was laid down at Thornycroft's Woolston, Southampton shipyard on 30 December 1941, was launched on 24 March 1943 and completed on 30 August 1943.[11] She was the seventh ship with the name Magpie to serve with the Royal Navy.[12]
Service history
Second World War
Magpie was commissioned on 30 August 1943, the same day as completion, with the
From 20 December 1943 to 20 January 1944, Magpie was refitted at Liverpool before returning to service with SG2.[13][14] On 31 January 1944, SG2 was operating Southwest of Ireland in support of Convoys SL47 and MKS38 when Wild Goose detected a submarine on sonar, (U-592, which had been damaged by a US Navy P4Y-1 bomber of VPB-110 two days before and was returning to France for repairs). A series of attacks by depth charge and Hedgehog were carried out on the contact by Wild Goose, Magpie and Starling before a large explosion brought up debris, including human remains and documents confirming the U-592 was the submarine in question. U-592 had been sunk with all hands.[18][19] SG2 was then deployed in support of Convoys SL147 and MKS38, threatened by the wolfpack[a] Igel 2.[20] On the night of 8/9 February 1944 Wild Goose first spotted a submarine which was sunk by depth charges from Woodpecker and Wild Goose, and then detected a second submarine which was sunk by Starling and Wild Goose. Meanwhile, Kite spotted a third submarine, with Magpie coming up in support. Despite Kite being narrowly missed by an acoustic torpedo and very poor sonar conditions, which made tracking the submarine difficult, the two sloops delivered a series of depth charge attacks before being joined by Starling, which directed Magpie in a Hedgehog attack, which scored two hits, with Magpie and Starling following up with two further depth charge attacks. These attacks destroyed the submarine, with a total of 252 depth charges and 48 Hedgehog projectiles expended against the submarine. Three German submarines (U-762, U-238 and U-734) had been sunk in a few hours, although it is not completely clear which submarines had been sunk by which attack.[21] Magpie, together with Starling and Kite, were officially credited with the sinking of U-238.[22]
In March 1944, 2SG, including Magpie, left Atlantic convoy support duties to support
Magpie took part in the D-Day amphibious Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, escorting an assault convoy to Gold Beach.[27][28] On return from invasion duties Magpie, joined the 22nd Escort Group, based at Greenock and escorting convoys in British coastal waters, as well as convoys to Gibraltar.[14][29] On 10 May 1945, Magpie and sister ship Amethyst took the surrender of the German submarine U-249, the first German submarine to surrender in British waters following the German capitulation, off The Lizard and took the submarine into Portland Harbour.[30]
Post-war operations
In 1946, Magpie joined the Mediterranean Fleet.[31] Along with others in the Black Swan class she was officially reclassified as a frigate in 1947,[32] also receiving a new pennant number F82.[33] In March 1949, Magpie and the frigate Peacock were deployed off the Jordanian port of Aqaba in support of British forces securing that port against the approach of Israeli forces during the 1948 Palestine war.[34] Magpie did duty in Trieste following riots there over the city's future, which was contended between Italy and Yugoslavia.[35][36] At this time she was based in Malta, as part of the 3rd Frigate Flotilla. This Flotilla took part in patrols preventing illegal immigrants following the formation of Israel. She returned to Portsmouth in 1954 where was placed in reserve.[37]
Magpie was commanded by
HMS Magpie stood in for the moving shots of
Notes
- ^ A concentration of U-Boats directed from shore to make co-ordinated attacks against a convoy
Citations
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 6
- ^ Friedman 2008, p. 333
- ^ Elliott 1977, p. 141
- ^ Friedman 2008, p. 67
- ^ a b Gardiner & Chesneau 1980, p. 58
- ^ Friedman 2008, p. 321
- ^ Gardiner & Chesneau 1980, pp. 57–58
- ^ a b Gardiner & Chesneau 1980, p. 57
- ^ a b Hague 1993, p. 83
- ^ Hague 1993, pp. 22, 83
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 82
- ^ Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 212
- ^ a b c d e f Hague 1993, p. 97
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 241
- ^ Blair 2000, p. 440
- ^ Kemp 1997, p. 156
- ^ Blair 2000, p. 488
- ^ Kemp 1997, p. 166
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 259
- ^ Kemp 1997, pp. 167–168
- ^ Blair 2000, p. 498
- ^ a b Ruegg & Hague 1993, p. 63
- ^ Blair 2000, p. 516
- ^ Kemp 1997, pp. 179–180
- ^ Ruegg & Hague 1993, pp. 63–64
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 281
- ^ Winser 1994, p. 110
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 340
- Perth, Western Australia. 11 May 1945. p. 12.
- ^ Critchley 1992, p. 11
- ^ Marriott 1983, pp. 117–118
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 118
- ^ "Reinforcement Of Akaba". The Times. No. 51331. 16 March 1949. p. 4.
- ^ "Italian Rioting in Trieste". The Times. No. 52771. 5 November 1953. p. 8.
- ^ "Partition as Solution of Trieste Dispute: Thanks of Zone A Slovenes". The Times. No. 52780. 16 November 1953. p. 8.
- ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3p.15
- ^ Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
- ^ "The Yangtse Incident:the story of HMS Amethyst". British Lion Films. British Lion Holdings Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
References
- Blair, Clay (2000). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-64033-9.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Critchley, Mike (1992). British Warships Since 1945: Part 5: Frigates. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-13-0.
- Elliott, Peter (1977). Allied Escort Ships of World War II: A complete survey. London: Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0-356-08401-9.
- Friedman, Norman (2008). British Destroyers and Frigates: The Second World War and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4.
- Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Hague, Arnold (1993). Sloops: A History of the 71 Sloops Built in Britain and Australia for the British, Australian and Indian Navies 1926–1946. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-67-3.
- Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed: German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409-321-5.
- Marriott, Leo (1983). Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1322-5.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-117-7.
- Ruegg, Bob; Hague, Arnold (1993). Convoys to Russia 1941–1945. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-66-5.
- Winser, John de S. (1994). The D-Day Ships: Neptune: the Greatest Amphibious Operation in History. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-75-4.