HMSColtsfoot (K140) was aFlower-classcorvette that served in theRoyal Navy during the Second World War.[1][2]
The ship was ordered on 25 July 1939.[1] She was laid down on 4 September 1940 and built atAlexander Hall and Sons inAberdeen.[1]
The ship was launched 15 May 1941 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 1 Nov 1941.[1]
From June 1941 until July 1943, her commander wasWilliam Keith Rous, 5th Earl of Stradbroke.[1][2] In February 1942, during Warship Week, the ship was adopted by the town ofAmesbury.[2]
On 15 December 1941, she assisted the crew of the sunken shipSS Empire Barracuda after the Barracuda was torpedoed by U-77 under the command of Heinrich Schonder and sunk at 35°30′N 06°17′W while on a voyage from Gibraltar to Cape Town and Suez. Nine crew members and four DEMS gunners were killed. Thirty eight crew members and one DEMS gunner were rescued by HMS Coltsfoot and landed at Gibraltar.[3]
In August 1942, the ship participated inOperation Pedestal, a British convoy to supply Malta.[4][5] In the operation, she was assigned to Force R along with 3 other corvettes and a tug to protect the fleet oil tankers:RFABrown Ranger andRFADingledale.[6][7]
In 1943, the ship was part of the 39th escort group in theBattle of the Atlantic.[8]
The ship was sold in 1947.[1]
The ship featured on a 2012Maltese postal stamp.[9]
