| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | La Malouine |
| Ordered | 25 July 1939 |
| Builder | Smiths Dock Co. Ltd,Middlesbrough,England |
| Laid down | 13 November 1939 |
| Launched | 21 March 1940 |
| Commissioned | June 1940 |
| Fate | Seized by theRoyal Navy, 3 July 1940 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSLa Malouine |
| Acquired | 3 July 1940 |
| Commissioned | 29 July 1940 |
| Identification | Pennant number: K46 |
| Fate | Scrapped at Gelliswick Bay, 22 May 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Flower-classcorvette |
| Displacement | 925 long tons (940 t) |
| Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draught | 11.5 ft (3.5 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Range | 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 85 |
| Armament |
|
HMSLa Malouine was aFlower-classcorvette of theRoyal Navy, serving during theSecond World War. Originally ordered by theFrench Navy (Marine Nationale) under the same name, following the fall of France, the ship was seized by theUnited Kingdom and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940. The corvette remained in service until beingbroken up in 1947.
La Malouine was one of four Flower-class corvettes ordered by the Marine Nationale. Only two of these were delivered to the Marine Nationale. One of these ships wasLa Malouine, the otherLa Bastiaise. On completion bySmiths Dock Co. LtdLa Malouine sailed forPortsmouth for fitting out. It was here that she wascommissioned into the Marine Nationale in June 1940. However,Francesurrendered toGermany on 22 June 1940. As a consequence of this eventLa Malouine was seized by the Royal Navy on 3 July 1940 and subsequently commissioned into the Royal Navy, by Lt. Cdr. R.W Keymer RN, on 29 July 1940. Throughout the remainder of the warLa Malouine flew both theTricolore and theWhite Ensign.
Of the other three ships ordered by FranceLa Bastiaise was destroyed by asea mine whilst onsea trials atHartlepool.[1]La Dieppoise andLa Pampolaise were never delivered to the Marine Nationale and were commissioned into the Royal Navy asHMS Fleur de Lys andHMS Nasturtium.
La Malouine took part in her firstconvoy, out ofFreetown,Sierra Leone, in September 1940. At the end of September 1940 she formed part of the escort for convoy HX72, sailing fromHalifax,Nova Scotia. Eightmerchant ships were lost during this convoy.La Malouine alone picking up 146 survivors from theSS Canonesa,Dalcairn,Empire Airman and theFrederick S. Fales. All these ships were sunk by theGerman submarine U-100. By the end of 1940 she had taken part in nine convoys.
1941 foundLa Malouine as a member of the 2nd Escort Group operating out ofthe port of Londonderry,Northern Ireland. On 7 January 1941, in company with another corvette,HMS Anemone, she assisted in the sinking of theItalian navy submarineNani. On 5 May, during an air raid onBelfast, Northern Ireland,La Malouine was damaged by a near miss and lost two of her crew killed. This required several weeks of repair. By July she was back on active service joining convoy SL81 out ofFreetown. This convoy lost six ships, includingKumasian toU-74 on 5 August 1941.La Malouine picked up 59 of theKumasian survivors. During 1941La Malouine escorted 10 convoys.
Between January and May 1942La Malouine was involved in 4 convoys. In February 1942 she was atGibraltar in company with the corvettes,Bluebell,Stonecrop,Myosotis andCarnation.
In June 1942La Malouine was assigned to the close escort group forConvoy PQ 17. Other corvettes of her class involved wereHMS Dianella,HMS Lotus andHMS Poppy. The convoy leftHvalfjord on 27 June 1942 bound for Murmansk. On 4 July PQ was ordered to disperse, 25 of its merchant ships were sunk and only 11 reached theSoviet Union.La Malouine and hersister ships, survived the voyage.La Malouine reachedArchangel on 25 July, carrying 20 survivors from theHartlebury who had been transferred from the cargo shipEmpire Tide.[2]
After her return from the Soviet Union, in September 1942,La Malouine was back in theMediterranean undertaking 4 more convoys before the end of the year.
1943 began withLa Malouine escorting convoy KMS.6G during which, on 6 January, east ofAlgiers, the merchant vesselBenalbanach was lost along with approximately 400 lives. The period from January to June 1943 was spent escorting convoys fromFreetown toLiverpool. Whilst escorting convoy OS.45, on 2 April,La Malouine picked up some of the 53 survivors from the torpedoed merchant vesselKatha, 515 kilometers (320 mi) west ofPorto. From June 1943La Malouine returned to the Mediterranean where she escorted a further 11 convoys in addition to the six already undertaken in the first half of the year.
During 1944La Malouine undertook escort duty on 14 convoys, covering both trans-Atlantic and Mediterranean routes. On 16 April whilsten route toPort SaidLa Malouine assisted in the rescue of 72 crew from theliberty shipMeyer London which had been attacked and sunk with anaerial torpedo.
Records indicate thatLa Malouine undertook two convoys in 1945 the last of which was from Liverpool toGibraltar in May of that year.
La Malouine returned to the UK and was decommissioned, eventually being scrapped at Gelliswick Bay,Milford Haven on 22 May 1947.
