HMS Vetch (K132)

	HMS Vetch in coastal waters off Liverpool
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Vetch
Ordered	12 December 1939
Builder	Smiths Dock Company, Middlesbrough
Laid down	15 March 1941
Launched	27 May 1941
Commissioned	11 August 1941
Decommissioned	29 June 1945
Out of service	Sold in August 1945
Renamed	Patrai in 1945; Olympic Hunter in 1951; Otori Maru No.18 in 1956;
Reclassified	Merchant vessel in 1945
Refit	Liverpool - 8 May-13 August 1942
Identification	Pennant number: K132
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	1,060 tons
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draught	16.6 ft (5.1 m)
Propulsion	Two cylindrical fire tube boilers; vertical triple-expansion steam engine;
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h) at 2,750 hp (2,050 kW)
Range	3,500 nautical miles at 12 knots (6,500 km at 22 km/h)
Complement	85 men
Armament	1 × BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun,; 1 × QF 2-pounder naval gun,; 4 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon; 2 × stern depth charge racks with 40 depth charges; 1 × Hedgehog A/S mortar;

HMS Vetch (K132) was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. After helping to escort many convoys and sinking two U-boats, she was decommissioned and sold in 1945.

Ordering and construction

As part of the 1939 War Programme, HMS Vetch was ordered on 12 December 1939 from

Smiths Dock Company Limited of Middlesbrough

. The ship was not laid down until 15 March 1941 but she was quickly launched on 27 May 1941 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 11 August 1941.

War service

In October 1941 Vetch was assigned to the

South Atlantic

).

OG 74 was protected by the sloop Deptford and other corvettes (

Martlet

aircraft which managed to shoot down the German aircraft.

Vetch arrived at Gibraltar on 27 September and 36 Escort Group remained there whilst escorting convoys HG 74 and OG 76 between 2 October and 11 November 1941. Whilst during offensive sweeps around Gibraltar, Vetch picked up and attacked a submarine contact on 6 December approximately 15 miles from Tarifa Point.

Convoy HG 76

76 HG was now led by Commander "Johnnie" Walker in HMS Stork. A large convoy, HG 76, consisting of 32 ships which sailed on 14 December 1941 from Gibraltar. Protection was from Audacity again and the sloops Stork and Deptford plus the corvettes Vetch, Convolvulus, Marigold, Pentstemon, Rhododendron and Samphire. Also detailed were Hunt-class destroyers HMS Blankney and HMS Exmoor as well as Town-class destroyer HMS Stanley.

Walker introduced new methods to combat the U-boat threat and successfully used Audacity's aircraft to locate submarines which were then attacked. During the convoy's journey five U-boats were sunk (U-127, U-131, U-434, U-574 and U-567) as well as two Condor aircraft, but the losses were heavy - Audacity (lost 21 December), Stanley (lost 19 December) and two merchant ships were sunk.

In April 1942 Vetch had been fitted with Type 271 radar with which, while escorting convoy OG 82 in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland, she detected U-252 which she then sank with the help of Stork.^[1]

36 EG was disbanded in June 1942 and Vetch continued with other escort groups until 1944. On 25 May 1943, while escorting a convoy to

Operation Husky

.

On 29 June 1945, the Vetch arrived at Gibraltar and was put in navy reserve. On 23 August 1945 she was loaned to the Greek government and renamed Patrai.

Civilian service

The Greeks sold Patrai in 1951 and the vessel was renamed Olympic Hunter. In 1956 she was resold as the Otori Maru No.18 and sailed until 1966 when she was finally scrapped.

References

HMS Vetch (K 132) of the Royal Navy – uboat.net
British Escort Movements WW2 - Flower-class corvettes – naval-history.net

^ HMS Stork, sloop (entry for 14 April 1942 – naval-history.net
^ Bronson, David, Mosier's Raiders: The Story of LST-325, iUniverse, Bloomington, 2004, page 27

[1] HMS Stork, sloop (entry for 14 April 1942 – naval-history.net

[2] Bronson, David, Mosier's Raiders: The Story of LST-325, iUniverse, Bloomington, 2004, page 27

[1]