HMS Bickerton

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HMS Bickerton.jpg
HMS Bickerton in the foreground, with Kent and Trumpeter.
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameEisele
Builder Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard Inc., Hingham, Massachusetts
Laid down3 May 1943
IdentificationDE-75
FateTransferred to Royal Navy
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameBickerton
Namesake Sir Richard Bickerton
Launched26 July 1943
Commissioned17 October 1943
Identification Pennant number K466
FateTorpedoed and sunk, 22 August 1944
General characteristics
Class and type Captain-class frigate
Displacement1,800 long tons (1,800 t) (fully loaded)
Length306 ft (93 m) (overall)
Beam36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught11 ft (3.4 m) (fully loaded)
Speed24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Range5,500  nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
ComplementTypically between 170–180

HMS Bickerton was a Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the World War II as a convoy escort and anti-submarine warfare vessel in the Battle of the Atlantic and was an effective U-boat killer, being credited with the destruction of two U-boats during a service career of just 10 months. Bickerton was lost in action on 22 August 1944.

Contents

Name

Originally this ship was provisionally given the name USS Eisele (this name was reassigned to DE-34). However the delivery was diverted to the Royal Navy before launch, and she was renamed for Sir Richard Bickerton commander of HMS Terrible at the First Battle of Ushant during the American Revolutionary War..

Construction

Bickerton was ordered on 10 January 1942, as DE-75, a long-hulled turbo-diesel (TE) type destroyer escort, one of more than 500 such vessels built for ASW to a collaborative British-American design. [1] She was laid down on 3 May 1943, by the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard in Hingham, Massachusetts. She was launched on 24 July and completed 17 October, in the remarkably (but not unusually) short build time of 5 months 14 days [2] [Note 1]

Service career

On commissioning and working up Bickerton sailed for Britain, where she was modified to meet Royal Navy requirements. In March 1944 she was allocated to Western Approaches Command as senior ship of 5th Escort Group under her new captain, Cdr. D MacIntyre

In April 5EG joined ON 233 as support group, but was detached to hunt for a U-boat on weather-reporting duty. On 6 May 1944, the German submarine U-765 was found and sunk in the North Atlantic by depth charges from Bickerton, operating alongside two Fairey Swordfish (No. 825 Squadron) of the escort carrier Vindex and frigates Bligh and Aylmer. Of the crew of U-765, 37 died and 11 survived. [3] A further search for the U-boat sent as U-765's relief was unsuccessful.

In June Bickerton and 5EG were deployed in the English Channel as part of Operation Neptune, the naval component of the Normandy landings. Their task was to guard against interference by U-boats from the Biscay ports. On 15 June the group was in an unsuccessful action against a U-boat, during which the frigate Mourne was sunk. (The U-boat, U-767 , was caught three days later and destroyed by 14 EG.) [4]

Ten days later on 25 June, off Start Point, Bickerton and 5 EG found and sank U-269 . Of the crew of U-269, 13 died and 39 survived. [4]

Fate

in August 1944 Bickerton and 5EG were escorting the escort carriers (Trumpeter and Nabob) from the Home Fleet (under Admiral Moore), which covered the convoy JW 59 and launched further attacks (Operation Goodwood) on the German battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord. Before the group was able to launch an attack on Tirpitz, U-354 encountered them on her search for the convoy northwest of the North Cape in the Barents Sea. At about 01:00 on 22 August, at position 71°42′N19°11′E / 71.700°N 19.183°E / 71.700; 19.183 , U-354 badly damaged Nabob with a pattern-running FAT torpedo spread. The U-boat then tried to sink her at 01:22 with a GNAT homing torpedo, which struck Bickerton. She was subsequently scuttled by a torpedo from Vigilant, to focus the recovery effort on Nabob. Two days later U-354 was herself sunk attacking convoy JW 59. [5]

Battle honours

Bickerton earned the following battle honours for service: [6]

Successes

During her service Bickerton was credited with the destruction of two U-boats.

DateU-boatTypeLocation [7] Notes
6 May 1944 U-765 VIIC North Atlantic
52°30′N28°28′W / 52.500°N 28.467°W / 52.500; -28.467 		Sighted by Swordfish X/825 from Vindex; depth-charged, shelled by Bickerton, Aylmer, Bligh, Keats. [8] [9]
25 June 1944 U-269 VIIC English Channel
50°01′N02°59′W / 50.017°N 2.983°W / 50.017; -2.983 		depth-charged by Bickerton south-east of Start Point. [10] [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ The similar-sized River-class frigates had a typical build time of over 12 months.

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References

  1. ↑ Elliott p245
  2. ↑ Elliott p.262
  3. ↑ Blair p.512
  4. 1 2 Blair p.592
  5. ↑ Blair pp.598-9
  6. ↑ Battle Honours at britainsnavy.co.uk; retrieved 22 July 2020
  7. ↑ Locations per Kemp; other sources may differ
  8. ↑ Kemp p.189
  9. ↑ Neistle p.88
  10. ↑ Kemp p.199
  11. ↑ Neistle p.51

Bibliography

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