HMS Marigold (K87)

HMS "Marigold" (K87) was a Flower class corvette of the Royal Navy.

Career

"HMS Marigold" was launched from the yards of Hall, Russell & Company, of Aberdeen, Scotland on 16 November 1940. She went on to have an eventful career in a number of the theatres of the Second World War.

Timeline

7 May 1941 she picked up 19 survivors from the torpedoed British merchant SS "Ixion" 200 miles south west of Reykjavik, Iceland.

16 November 1941 she engaged "U-433" which sank at 2155hrs, after a sustained attack with depth charges and gunfire in the Mediterranean, 25nm east of Gibraltar. "Marigold" picked up a number of survivors and took them to Gibraltar.

I had completed my watch on the Asdic set, and gone down to our sleeping quarters to turn in, when I heard the rumble of exploding depth-charges and the bark of gunfire somewhere near at hand, on our starboard beam. All the rest of the watch were fast asleep, so I just settled down on my bunk and waited for the “action stations” alarm bells to ring out, but they remained silent. We had already spent too many hours watch-keeping on the long voyage out not to take advantage of a little shut-eye when the opportunity came along. Feeling very tired and sleepy, I rolled into my bunk, and was soon fast asleep. On being awakened to take over Asdic watch again, I was informed that during the night, HMS "Marigold" had made contact with a U-boat and had engaged her with all she had. The striking power of the "Marigold"’s guns and depth charges had made short work of the enemy submarine. She proved to be the U-433, en route to join up with the Italian submarine fleet, the idea being to boost their dwindling morale. On picking up no less than 40 survivors, the "Marigold" left the search group and returned to Gibraltar with her prisoners.
Bill Harcus - corvette HMS "Samphire"

15 June, 1942 she picked up 41 survivors from the British merchant SS "Etrib", 20 survivors from the Norwegian tanker SS "Slemdal" and 29 survivors from the British merchant SS "Thurso" that had been torpedoed and sunk by "U-552" 380 miles West of Corunna, Spain.

13 November, 1942 she rescued 81 survivors from the British merchant SS "Maron" which had been torpedoed and sunk by "U-81" off Oran, Algeria.

inking

In the late evening of 9 December, 1942 HMS "Marigold" was escorting convoy KMS.3Y, off Algiers, Algeria. The convoy was attacked in the late evening by three S.79 VTBs of the 105º Gruppo AS (105th Torpedo group) led by Capt. Urbano Mancini. "Marigold" was hit by a torpedo at around 2200 hours and sank a short time later with 40 of her crew killed. Lt. James Alexander Smith Halcrow, RNR (age 35) had been her commanding officer since April 25, 1942 and was among those lost.

References

* http://uboat.net/boats/u433.htm [http://uboat.net/boats/u433.htm]
* http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4788.html [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4788.html]
* http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNR_officersH.html [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNR_officersH.html]
* http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/billharcus.htm [http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/billharcus.htm]
* http://www.warshipsww2.eu/shipsplus.php?language=E&period=2&id=63588 [http://www.warshipsww2.eu/shipsplus.php?language=E&period=2&id=63588]
* http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/TDIH/november/13nov.txt [http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/TDIH/november/13nov.txt]
* http://www.wrecksite.be/wreck.aspx?15507 [http://www.wrecksite.be/wreck.aspx?15507]
* http://www.justanswer.com/questions/qkiy-searching-records-grandfather [http://www.justanswer.com/questions/qkiy-searching-records-grandfather]

External links

* HMS Marigold wreck location in Google Earth [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=EarthMilitary&Number=1098608&Searchpage=1&Main=1098608&Words=&topic=&Search=true]
* HMS Marigold at www.convoyweb.org.uk [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html?search3.php?query=Marigold&Submit=Find+Vessel~haguemain]
* Official loss report [http://theflowerclasscorvetteforums.yuku.com/topic/432/t/Loss-of-HMS-Marigold-Official-Report.html]