HMS Vervain was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.
 HMS Vervain's 4-inch gun crew in action, July 1942
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Vervain |
| Ordered | 8 April 1940 |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Yard number | 1101[1] |
| Laid down | 16 November 1940 |
| Launched | 12 March 1941 |
| Completed | 9 June 1941[1] |
| Commissioned | 9 June 1941 |
| Stricken | 20 February 1945 |
| Identification | Pennant number K190 |
| Fate | Torpedoed and sunk on 20 February 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Flower-class corvette |
| Displacement | 925 long tons (940 t) |
| Length | 205 ft (62.48 m) o/a |
| Beam | 33 ft (10.06 m) |
| Draught | 11.5 ft (3.51 m) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 16 knots (29.6 km/h) |
| Range | 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h) |
| Complement | 85 |
| Sensors and processing systems |
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| Armament |
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In March 1942, the ship was adopted by the village of Queensbury in West Yorkshire.[2]
On 28 February 1943 the Liberty ship SS Wade Hampton was torpedoed by German submarine U-405 while sailing in a convoy from New York to Murmansk, Russia. Survivors were picked up by Vervain and HMS Beverley near Greenland.[3]
On 20 February 1945 at 11.45 hours Vervain was escorting a homeward-bound convoy when she was sunk by a torpedo from a U-boat, U-1276 under Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Wendt, about 25 miles south-east of Dungarvan, Ireland, south of Waterford. Vervain sank after 20 minutes. The commander, three officers and 56 ratings were lost. Three officers and 30 ratings were rescued.[4] In turn the U-boat, U-1276 was sunk with depth charges by HMS Amethyst. The action resulted in the loss of all 49 of the U-boat's crew.
HMS Vervain is a Designated vessel under schedule 1 of The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780752488615.
- ^ "Queensbury Remembers". Queensbury Remembers. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ "Wade Hampton". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "WEEKLY RESUME (No. 286) of the NAVAL, MILITARY AND AIR SITUATION from 0700 15th February to 0700 22nd February" (PDF). War Cabinet. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2009 – via The National Archives.
- ^ "The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012".
Publications
edit- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- National Archives Archived 9 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Vervain". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.