Service history
On 30 April 1941, while Erne was still at the builders yard (4 days after commissioning), a near miss during a German air attack caused heavy damage. Repairs took until June 1942.
On 31 July 1942, depth charges from the three British sloops Erne, Rochester and Sandwich sank the German submarine U-213 in the North Atlantic east of the Azores, in position 36º45'N, 22º50'W.
On 29 August 1942, Erne, scuttled the Dutch merchant Zuiderkerk with depth charges. The German submarine U-566 had torpedoed Zuiderkerk west-north-west of Lisbon, Portugal in position 40º20'N, 16º02'W. A torpedo had caused extensive flooding of the forward holds, which forced the 56 crew members and twelve passengers to abandon ship in the early morning. Leith picked up the survivors.
HMS Black Swan, named after the black swan, was the name ship of the Black Swan-class sloops of the Royal Navy. This class was admired for its sea-going qualities.
HMS Graph was a German Type VIIC U-boat that the British Royal Navy captured during World War II. Commissioned as U-570 in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in mid-1941, she was attacked and captured on her first patrol.
ORP Dzik (Boar) was a U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 December 1941 as P-52 for the Royal Navy, but was transferred to the Polish Navy during construction. Launched on November 11, 1942, ORP Dzik was commissioned into the Polish Navy on December 12, 1942. Her name meant "Wild Boar" in Polish.
O 20, laid down as K XX, was a O 19-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy that saw service during World War II. O 20 along with her sister ship O 19 were the first boats in the world to be equipped with a submarine snorkel that allowed the submarine to run its diesel engines while submerged.
HMCS Alberni was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War. The Flower-class corvettes were warships designed for anti-submarine warfare. The ship was constructed by Yarrows Ltd. in Esquimalt, British Columbia, laid down on 19 April 1940, launched on 22 August and commissioned on 4 February 1941. The corvette sailed east to join the RCN's fleet in the Atlantic via the Panama Canal, where upon arrival, the vessel began escorting trans-atlantic convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic. Arvida took part in the key convoy battle of Convoy SC 42. In 1942, the corvette was transferred to Allied convoy assignments associated with Operation Torch in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1944, Arvida was among the Canadian naval vessels assigned to Operation Neptune, the naval component of the invasion of Normandy and escorted support ships to and from the United Kingdom on D-day.
HMS Samphire was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy.
HMS Termagant was a T-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was built by William Denny and Brothers, of Dumbarton and launched on 22 March 1943. She was scrapped in 1965.
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.
HMS P222 was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Commissioned in 1942, the boat had an uneventful first war patrol in the Alboran Sea. She intercepted the Vichy French merchant ship SS Mitidja in July, then provided protection for an Allied convoy to Malta in Operation Pedestal the next month. The navy intended that she was to be sighted on the surface by enemy aircraft to discourage potential attacks by surface warships. Though P222 did not encounter enemy forces, the convoy arrived at its destination on 15 August after sustaining severe losses. She then reconnoitred along the coast of Algeria in advance of Operation Torch, and was attacked by a French patrol ship, but sustained no damage.
HMS Marigold was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 September 1940 and was sunk by an Italian air-dropped torpedo on 9 December 1942.
HMS Bideford was a Royal Navy Shoreham-class sloop. She was named after the town of Bideford in Devon and was launched on 1 April 1931.
The third HMS Penzance (L28) was a Hastings-class sloop launched in 1930, and torpedoed and sunk in 1940 whilst on convoy protection duty by the German submarine U-37 with the loss of 90 of her 104 crew. She was named after the Cornish port of Penzance and was the third Royal Navy ship to bear that name.
HMS Blankney was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and was the first and so far only warship to bear the Name. She was laid down on 17 May 1940 at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland, launched on 19 December 1940 and commissioned on 11 April 1941.
HMS Viscount was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I and in World War II.
HMCS Clayoquot was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action mainly in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was sunk in 1944. The minesweeper was named after Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
HMS Deptford was a Grimsby-class sloop of the British Royal Navy. Built at Chatham Dockyard in the 1930s, Deptford was launched in 1935 and commissioned later that year. The ship saw early service on the Persian Gulf station, but the outbreak of the Second World War saw Deptford serving as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, sinking a German U-boat in 1941. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1948.
HMS Londonderry was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Built at Devonport Dockyard in the 1930s, Londonderry was launched in early 1935 and commissioned later that year. She served in the Red Sea and the South Atlantic until the outbreak of the Second World War. Londonderry served as a convoy escort during the war, which she survived. The ship was sold for scrap in 1948.
HMS Fleetwood was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Built at Devonport Dockyard in the 1930s, Fleetwood was launched in March 1936 and commissioned in November that year. She served in the Red Sea until the outbreak of the Second World War. Fleetwood served as a convoy escort during the war, which she survived, and sank the German submarines U-528 and U-340. Post-war, the ship served as a radar training ship, remaining in use until 1959, when she was scrapped.
HMS Lark was a modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock on 5 May 1942, launched on 28 August 1943 and commissioned on 10 April 1944, with the pennant number U11.
HMS Crane was a modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton on 13 June 1941, launched on 9 November 1942 and commissioned on 10 May 1943, with the pennant number U23. The saw active service during the Second World War, performing convoy escort roles in the Atlantic initially before supporting the Normandy landings. In the final months of the war, Crane joined the British Pacific Fleet with whom the vessel saw service during the Battle of Okinawa. Post war, Crane remained in south-east Asia and took part in hostilities during the Korean War. She was redeployed to the Middle East during the Suez Crisis before returning to Asia for service during the Malayan Emergency. Crane was withdrawn from service in the early 1960s and scrapped in 1965.
United Kingdom
