HMS Denbigh Castle (K696)

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HMS Denbigh Castle IWM FL 6032.jpg
HMS Denbigh Castle (K696) in 1945
History
RN EnsignUnited Kingdom
Name: HMS Denbigh Castle (K696)
Namesake: Denbigh Castle
Ordered: 19 January 1943
Builder: J. Lewis & Sons Ltd
Launched: 5 August 1944
Commissioned: 30 December 1944
Fate: Torpedoed 13 February 1945
General characteristics
Class & type: Castle-class corvette

HMS Denbigh Castle (K696) was a Castle-class corvette of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, one of 44 from the class built.

Built by J. Lewis & Sons Ltd in Aberdeen, Scotland, HMS Denbigh Castle was launched on 5 August 1944 and then commissioned on 30 December 1944.[1] The design of the Castle Class were a follow on from the Flower-Class, built to be more adapt to Arctic operations. The ship was 252 ft long, 37 ft wide and a draft of 13 ft, with a displacement of over 1,060 tons.[2]

Power & armaments

HMS Denbigh Castle was powered by two three-drum boiler engines, through a single shaft giving a drive of 2,750Hp. She could move at 16.5 knots, with a range of 9,000 miles (travelled at 10 knots), using 480 tons of oil.[2]

Armaments included a 4-inch gun, up to ten anti-aircraft guns and depth charges. On top of arms HMS Denbigh Castle was also equipped with radar and sonar (Squid).[3]

Ill-fated

In World War II she served as a convoy escort. On 13 February 1945, HMS Denbigh Castle was being captained by Ltcdr G. Butcher[4] and on duty escorting convoy JW-64 to Murmansk, when she was torpedoed by U-992 in the Barents Sea on her port side. Of her 120-man-crew, 11 hands were lost.[2][note 1]

HMS Denbigh Castle was then towed by Bluebell and a Russian tugboat to the Kola Inlet and beached at Bolshaya Volokovaya Bay near Vaenga,[2] but she capsized into deeper waters and was written off as a total loss.

Notes

  1. According to an AB D'Arcy George Shell on board, the number lost was 13.

References

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