 HMSSwale with 'dazzle' paintwork | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Swale |
| Namesake | River Swale |
| Builder | Smiths Dock Co.,South Bank-on-Tees |
| Laid down | 19 August 1941 |
| Launched | 16 January 1942 |
| Commissioned | 24 June 1942 |
| Identification | Pennant number: K217 |
| Fate | Transferred on 26 July 1945 toSouth Africa asHMSAS Swale (K217). Returned to RN in January 1946. Scrapped on 26 February 1955. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | River-classfrigate |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 36.5 ft (11.13 m) |
| Draught | 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load) |
| Propulsion | 2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts,reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp |
| Speed | 20 knots (37.0 km/h) |
| Range | 440long tons (450 t; 490 short tons) oil fuel; 7,200 nautical miles (13,334 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h) |
| Complement | 107 |
| Armament |
|
HMSSwale (K217) was aRiver-classfrigate of theRoyal Navy (RN) from 1942 to 1955, loaned to theSouth African Navy for six months at the end of theSecond World War.
Swale was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River-class frigate. She was laid down atSmiths Dock Co.,South Bank-on-Tees on 19 August 1941 and launched on 16 January 1942. The ship was commissioned into the RN on 24 June 1942 as K 217 and named for theRiver Swale inYorkshire, England.
Swale saw extensive service on convoy escort missions and experienced some of the worst days of theBattle of the Atlantic. In March 1943 she was SO (Senior Officer's ship) of the Escort Group (EG) B5, escorting the slow convoySC 122[1] fromNew York toLiverpool. Of the 51 merchant ships in the convoy, 10 returned to port unable to ride a violent storm; three days later another eight were sunk by U-boats.
Swale was to have better fortunes two months later. Escorting slow convoyONS 7[2] bound forHalifax,Canada, she sank theGerman submarine U-657[3] offCape Farewell,Greenland on the night of 17 May. TheU-boat had earlier torpedoed the 5,196 GRT steamerAymeric,[4][5] the last British cargo ship in the Atlantic to be sunk that month, claiming the lives of 53 men. Under the command ofLieutenant Commander John Jackson,DSC,RNR,[6]Swale moved 6,000 metres (6,600 yd) astern of the doomedAymeric and madeASDIC (sonar) contact. After a succession ofdepth charge andHedgehog attacks, she was rewarded with the sound of several loud explosions and the appearance of burning oil on the surface. The convoy continued to Canada without further loss.[7]
On 10 July 1943Swale sailedGibraltar to rendezvous with the small, fastConvoy Faith (one of the 'Winston Specials')[8] en route fromGreenock in Scotland toFreetown, Sierra Leone.[9] The convoy had comprised two troopships, theCalifornia and theCanadian Pacific linerDuchess of York, and the transportPort Fairy, (which was carrying ammunition), escorted by three warships. At about 2000 hrs on 11 July while 300 miles (480 km) west ofVigo, the convoy was subjected to a devastating air attack by threeFocke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft fromMerignac airfield nearBordeaux. By the timeSwale arrived at 2235 hrs, bothCalifornia andDuchess of York had been hit, set on fire, and abandoned, to be sunk later by torpedoes from their escorts.Swale too was attacked by the Condors, bombs falling just 20 yards (18 m) astern. After making anA/S sweep,Swale was ordered to escortPort Fairy, which had escaped unscathed, toCasablanca, ahead of the other escorts which were still searching for survivors.[10][11][8] On the evening of the next day, the two ships were attacked by two Fw 200s returning from a reconnaissance mission off the Portuguese coast. Despite the interception and strafing of the Condors by twoUS NavyPBY Catalinas[12]Port Fairy was hit on her port quarter by a 50 kg (110 lb) bomb which started a fire next to her magazine.Swale came alongside, took off 64 survivors from the two troopships together with eight passengers, and helped extinguish the blaze with her hoses.Port Fairy was repaired at Casablanca and remained in service until 1965.[13]
On 6 April 1944, while escorting the slowconvoy SC 156 fromHalifax,Canada toLoch Ewe,Scotland,Swale sankU-302[14][15] with depth charges northwest of theAzores after the U-boat penetrated the escort screen and sank the Norwegian merchantmenRuth 1[16] andSouth America.[17]
Swale was loaned to theSouth African Navy on 26 June 1945 asHMSAS Swale (K217) but returned to the RN in January 1946. She was scrapped on 26 February 1955.
