HMS Scarborough (L25)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2014) |
Scarborough in coastal waters on 24 August 1943
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Scarborough |
Ordered | 26 February 1929 |
Builder | Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Tyne and Wear |
Laid down | 28 May 1929 |
Launched | 14 March 1930 |
Commissioned | 31 July 1930 |
Identification | Pennant number L25 (later U25) |
Motto | Tutus est fortis: 'In strength lies our safety' |
Fate |
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Badge | On a Field Red, an ancient ship with tower Gold on wavelets Silver and Blue |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Hastings-class sloop |
Displacement | 1,045 tons |
Length | 250 ft (76 m) |
Beam | 34 ft (10 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 100 |
Armament |
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HMS Scarborough was a
Construction and commissioning
Scarborough was ordered on 26 February 1929 under the 1929 building programme
Pre-war
From 1931 onwards, Scarborough was part of the
In the summer of 1931 she was in
Wartime modifications
Scarborough was disarmed and used as a survey ship on the East Indies Station where she arrived in May 1939. On the outbreak of the war in September 1939, she put into Colombo for a refit, where she was rearmed with one 4-inch (102 mm) quick-firing high-angle gun, suitable against either surface or air targets. In late 1941 and 1942, she carried a 12-pounder (5 kg) quick-firing, high-angle anti-aircraft gun and gradually a number of 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were added. For anti-submarine work, Scarborough was given 15 depth charges in 1939, later increased to 40, then 80.
Wartime career
Convoy escort
Scarborough was nominated to serve in Home waters on completion of her refit, and after passing through the
SC 7
She continued to escort convoys, through the Irish Sea in and out of Liverpool often in company with other sloops. By mid 1940 she was covering the North Western Approaches. She was soon engaged in escorting convoys bound to and from Canada and North America. In October she sailed to join the inward convoy SC 7, initially as the sole escort for the 35-ship convoy. The convoy had left Sydney, Nova Scotia on 4 October 1940 bound for Liverpool and other British ports. Although vulnerable to air attack, there was no aircraft protection in 1940 for Allied ships in the Atlantic Ocean after leaving coastal regions. A wolfpack of U-boats attacked the convoy and inflicted heavy losses, despite the arrival on 16 October of the sloop HMS Fowey and the corvette Bluebell as reinforcements. Scarborough herself came under attack on 17 October by U-48 and on 18 October by U-38. The escorts were joined by HMS Leith and Heartsease, but the U-boats succeeded in sinking 20 merchantmen without loss.
Intercepting German ships and U-boats
Scarborough remained on convoy defence into 1941. In the spring of 1941, Scarborough intercepted and sank two German-crewed ex-Norwegian
In April 1941 Scarborough was escorting a convoy through the North Western Approaches when she, HMS Wolverine and Arbutus detected and depth charged U-76, which was forced to the surface and then scuttled.[citation needed] In July Scarborough rescued 57 survivors from HMS Malvernian.[4]
Scarborough was refitted in August 1941 and joined the 43rd Escort Group covering convoys between the UK and Freetown in October. She carried out these duties into 1942. On 16 April she was involved in a collision with HMS Bradford. Scarborough was refitted again in July, which involved the fitting of a new Type 271 radar for surface warning.[citation needed]
North Africa
After completing the refit in October she was nominated to support the planned landings in North Africa (Operation Torch). She deployed out of Gibraltar escorting convoys for the rest of the year, moving to the western Mediterranean in January. She returned to the UK in February and was deployed with the 39th Escort Group. On 7 February 1943 Scarborough was part of the escort of Convoy MJS-7 when three of its merchant ships hit mines west of Gibraltar that had been laid by a German submarine on 1 and 2 February 1943. Empire Mordred sank taking 12 crew and 3 gunners down with her, but HMS Scarborough rescued the master, 41 crew and 13 gunners.[5] She landed them safely in Liverpool. The rest of the year was spent escorting Atlantic convoys. Scarborough was transferred to the 15th Escort Group at based in Belfast in January 1944.
Normandy landings and reserve
In May she was assigned to support the Allied landings in
Postwar
After the end of the war Scarborough was placed on the disposal list and sold to BISCO on 3 June 1949. She was towed to Thornaby-on-Tees and arrived at the breakers yard on 3 July, where she was scrapped.
Notes
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 6
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 26
- ^ Hague 1993, p. 29
- ^ Kindell, Don. "Naval Events, July 1941 (Part 1 of 2) Tuesday 1st – Monday 14th". British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day. Naval-History.net. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
- ^ "Commemorative Roll - William John Pont". Australian War Memorial.
References
- Blair, Clay (2000). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1980). "Great Britain (including Empire Forces)". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-9327-0.
- 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, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-67-3.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.