HMS Rutherford

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HMS Rutherford underway during World War II.
History
United States
Nameunnamed (DE-93)
Ordered10 January 1942[2]
Builder
Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts
Laid down4 August 1943[1]
Launched23 October 1943[1]
Completed16 December 1943[1]
Commissionednever
FateTransferred to United Kingdom 16 December 1943[1]
AcquiredReturned by United Kingdom 25 October 1945[1]
Stricken19 December 1945[1]
FateSold for scrapping May 1946[1]
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Rutherford
NamesakeCaptain
William Gordon Rutherford (1765-1818), British naval officer who was commanding officer of HMS Swiftsure during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805[4]
Acquired16 December 1943[1]
Commissioned16 December 1943[2][3]
Decommissioned1945
IdentificationPennant number K558
Honours and
awards		Battle honours for Atlantic 1944, English Channel 1944, and North Sea 1944-1945
FateReturned to United States 25 October 1945[1]
General characteristics
Displacement1,400 long tons (1,422 t)
Length306 ft (93 m)
Beam36.75 ft (11.2 m)
Draught9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion
Speed24 knots (44 km/h)
Range5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement186
Sensors and
processing systems
  • SA & SL type radars
  • Type 144 series Asdic
  • MF Direction Finding antenna
  • HF Direction Finding
    Type FH 4 antenna
Armament

HMS Rutherford (K558) was a British

Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as a United States Navy Buckley-class destroyer escort
, she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.

Construction and transfer

The ship was

launched on 23 October 1943.[1] She was transferred to the United Kingdom upon completion on 16 December 1943.[1]

Service history

acceptance trials in Casco Bay in Maine and, upon finishing them in January 1944, proceeded to Bermuda for shakedown and crew training afloat and ashore. Completing shakedown and training in March 1944, she departed Bermuda bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, suffering damage during the voyage when she struck submerged wreckage. She underwent repairs at Halifax and, upon completing them, proceeded to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where on 26 March 1944 she entered a shipyard for modifications to meet Royal Navy requirements.[3]

After her modifications were completed in May 1944, Rutherford was assigned to serve in the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, based at Harwich, England, on convoy escort duty and as a Coastal Forces Control Frigate (CFCF), in the latter role operating with Royal Navy Coastal Forces responsible for controlling and providing radar support to groups of British motor torpedo boats intercepting German motor torpedo boats in the North Sea before the German boats could attack Allied convoys. In June 1944 she arrived in Harwich to assume her duties with her sister ships HMS Cosby (K559) and HMS Cubitt (K512).[3]

The Allied

landings, Rutherford was assigned later in June to escort convoys from the Thames Estuary bringing reinforcements to the beachheads, and she carried out these duties until August 1944.[3]

In September 1944, Rutherford returned to her convoy defence and CFCF duties at Harwich, operating in the Thames Estuary and North Sea through November 1944. In December 1944, she shifted the focus of her activities to waters off the coasts of

Scheldt Estuary.[3]

In April 1945 Rutherford deployed off the Belgian and Dutch coasts with HMS Cubitt to continue her convoy defence and CFCF duties. On 7 April 1945 she took part in an engagement against German S-boat – known to the Allies as "E-boat" – motor torpedo boats in which two S-boats were badly damaged, also rescuing the crews of the British motor torpedo boats HMS MTB-494 and HMS MTB-5001 after they were fatally damaged by S-boats during a close-range battle. On 9 April 1945 she intercepted a group of S-boats sighted off Ostend, Belgium, by Allied aircraft and sank two of them in a short action.[3]

After the

surrender of Germany in early May 1945, Rutherford was selected for conversion to a fighter direction ship for service with the British Pacific Fleet. She proceeded to a commercial shipyard in the United Kingdom that month to undergo a refit for her new role. Her refit was not yet complete when the armistice with Japan of 15 August 1945 brought World War II to a close, and further work on her conversion was suspended.[3]

The Royal Navy soon steamed Rutherford to the United States, where it returned her to the U.S. Navy on 25 October 1945.[1][3]

Disposal

The U.S. Navy struck Rutherford from its Naval Vessel Register on 19 December 1945. She was sold in May 1946 for scrapping.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive Rutherford (DE-93) HMS Rutherford (K-558)
  2. ^ a b c uboat.net HMS Rutherford (K 558)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Naval History: HMS Rutherford (K 558)
  4. ^ Captain Class Frigate Association: HMS Rutherford K558 (DE 93)


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