Shoreham class sloop

The "Shoreham"-class sloops were a class of eight small British warships built in the early 1930s.

Developed from the "Bridgewater"-class sloops, with a longer hull, the "Shoreham"-class sloops were laid down between 1929 and 1931 at Chatham and Devonport Naval Dockyards.

hips

* HMS "Bideford" was launched on 1 April 1931 and scrapped in 1949. After participating in the Dunkirk evacuation (May 1940), she was used in anti-submarine sweeps and as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic. She rescued 63 survivors of the torpedoed "Edward Blyden" on 3 September 1941 and 31 more from the mv "Abosso" on 31 October, 1942. In August 1943, "Bideford", with the 40th Escort Group in the Bay of Biscay, was damaged by a Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb.

* HMS "Fowey" was launched on 4 November 1930 and sold for merchant use in 1946. From 1940 to 1942, she was engaged in North Atlantic escort and anti-submarine duty. "Fowey" participated in the sinking of U-55 on 30 January, 1940 and rescued survivors from various sinkings.

* HMS "Rochester" was launched on 16th July 1931, became a tender to the Navigation School. Scrapped in 1951. During the Battle of the Atlantic, "Rochester" participated in the sinking of three u-boats: U-204 on 19th October 1941, U-82 on 2nd February 1942 and U-135, on 15 July 1943.

* HMS "Shoreham" was launched on 22nd November 1930 at Devonport and sold for scrapping in 1946. From 1932, HMS "Shoreham" served in the Persian Gulf and, from the outbreak of war, in the Red Sea. She was active in the suppression of the Regia Marina in East Africa, participating in the sinking of the submarine "Toricelli". "Shoreham" was also involved in the invasion of Iran in 1941, where she suppressed Iranian naval ships at Abadan. Apart from a spell in the Mediterranean - including the Allied invasion of Sicily - from February 1943 to September 1943, "Shoreham"'s war was spent with the Eastern Fleet, with which she served up until VJ Day. "Shoreham" returned to the UK in 1946, sold off in November and broken up in 1950. Her battle honours were "Sicily 1943", "Mediterranean 1943", "Burma 1944-45". [ [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.2124 History : HMS Shoreham : Sandown Class : Mine Countermeasure : Surface Fleet : Operations and Support : Royal Navy ] ]

* HMS "Dundee" was launched on 20 September 1932 at Chatham and sunk on 15th September 1940 by U-48, while escorting a convoy.

* HMS "Falmouth" was launched on 19th April 1932 and became the RNVR "Calliope" in 1952. Scrapped in 1968. "Falmouth" was assigned to the China Station (later merged into the Eastern Fleet) where she was used as the Commander-in-Chief's yacht. In 1936, her new skipper was Frederick "Johnny" Walker who later became a highly successful anti-submarine commander in the Battle of the Atlantic. In June 1940 "Falmouth" sunk the Italian submarine "Galvani" off the Gulf of Oman. She participated in Operation Countenance, the invasion of Iran, in August 1941. Her role was to transport infantry to Khorramshahr and, with HMAS "Yarra", neutralise local Iranian land and sea forces. Her departure from the Shatt al-Arab near Basra was delayed when she ran aground and had to wait for the tide to refloat her.

* HMS "Milford" was launched on 11th June 1932 and scrapped in 1949. On 28th March 1938, "Milford" claimed Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean for Britain. [ [http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/gough_island/gough_island.html Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean ] ] In World War II, she sunk the Vichy French submarine "Poncelet" off the coast of Gabon, on October 8 1940. On 30 May 1943, she went to the assistance of the freighter "Flora McDonald", torpedoed off the coast of West Africa.

* HMS "Weston" was launched on 23rd July 1932 and scrapped in 1947. She spent the war years in home waters and the North Atlantic. On several occasions, she rescued survivors of torpedoed ships and on 31 May 1940, "Weston" sank U-13 in the North Sea.

References

External links

* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/shoreham.htm "Shoreham" class pictures]
* [http://www.navyphotos.co.uk/fowey%20fgt.htm Picture of HMS "Fowey"]
* [http://www.findonvillage.com/0799_hms_shoreham.htm Personal memories]
* Ladislav Kosour, [http://www.warshipsww2.eu/lode.php?language=E&period=&idtrida=2088 [e-mail] Shoreham class]