The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War

Donald Collingwood

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781526782236
• eBook ISBN: 9781473812987
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This is the first book to fully document the story behind the Frigates that played such a vital role during World War Two.

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

Glosssary of Terms and Abbreviations

Maps

List of Illustrations

1. The Genesis of the Captain Class Frigates

2. The 4th Escort Group

3. The 3rd Escort Group

4. The 1st Escort Group

5. The 5th Escort Group

6. The Coastal Forces Control Frigates

7. DE’s of the Nore Command

8. DE’s in the Portsmouth and Devonport Commands

9. DE’s Employed as Headquarters Ships in the Normandy Invasion

10. The 15th Escort Group

11. The 21st Escort Group

12. Service in Mixed Escort Groups

Bibliography

Appendix ‘A’ The Roll of the Captain Class Frigates

PREFACE

The seventy-eight American built Destroyer Escorts which were allocated to the Royal Navy under Lease Lend agreement and were classified as the Captain class Frigates when commissioned in 1943–44 were part of the massive contribution to the Allied maritime war effort made by Kaiser and the United States Navy shipyards.

The story of their design, construction, working up and eventual operational achievements is a unique and little known facet of the Royal Navy’s history. Many thousands of British sailors served in them and those who survive frequently bewail the fact that their achievements are not more widely appreciated.

I have attempted to remedy this in the chapters which follow. I have covered their whole story as far as my researches and permitted space allow. Life in one escort vessel was very similar to that in sister ships and the exploits of one escort group were very similar to those of others. It is therefore inevitable that there is some similarity between chapters. This was unavoidable if the full story of all the Captains was to be covered and their overall contribution to final victory recorded.

The Destroyer Escorts (or DE’s, as those serving in them persisted in calling them) were essentially escort vessels. Much of their existence in groups assigned purely as Close Escorts was boring and extremely uncomfortable, with the ‘Cruel Sea’ as the main enemy. The German historian Cajus Becker complained that only ten per cent of all Allied convoys were ever contacted by U-boats, a situation confirmed by one of our famous convoy Commodores (Rear Admiral Creighton) who wrote that many convoy commodores, merchant seamen and escort ship crews ploughed the Atlantic routes for four or five years without seeing a ship sunk or hearing a shot fired. The convoy system was nevertheless essential for the protection of our vital supply lines and it was due to the seamanship skills, vigilance and fortitude of the escort ships’ crews that so many of our merchant ships and major naval vessels survived. U-boat actions did not take place every day but when a U­ boat pack did strike the battle would often be horrifying and bloody.

It is generally accepted that the worst of the battles in the Atlantic were over by 1943, so the Captains were not in commission during the peak period of the U-boat pack actions. Nevertheless, the Captains which served in the roving Support Groups were very successful and sank a commendable number (thirty-six) of U-boats during the last two years of the war. As a matter of fact, a statistical analysis of U-boat sinkings I made some time ago revealed that of the ten major classes of RN escort vessels (comprising some 389 ships), the Captains were the fourth most successful class in locating and destroying U-boats. Their prowess in this respect was only exceeded by the Loch class frigates, the Black Swan class sloops and the converted ‘V and W’ destroyers.

It must be emphasized, however, that battle honours for the North Atlantic were not awarded only to those ships which notched up U­ boat ‘kills’. Submarine hunting was strictly a team pursuit and those which spent much time in the ‘outfield’ were often as deserving of praise as those which actually scored the runs.

I was privileged to serve as the Ordinance Artificer in Cubitt from November, 1943, to March, 1946, and had first hand knowledge ofthe Captains in Nore Command but in order to write the individual histories which follow, I used information from a number of secondary sources as well as the primary sources in the Admiralty files in the Public Record Office. These are, as Captain Roskill once said, the bare bones of naval history. They have to be fleshed out by those who actually lived that history. This present work would not be as complete as it is without the ‘flesh’ enthusiastically provided by so many men who served in these gallant ships. Some were friends and shipmates, some became friends during the research period and some I have never met in person, but I hope that I have done justice to their memories of the ships, for which we share a common nostalgia. Some of their names are mentioned hereunder but I am sincerely grateful to all who rendered me any assistance however small.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

l owe my thanks to Arsen Charles, one time Curator of the Museum in Charlestown Navy Yard at Boston for giving me copies of so many photographs and documents relating to the building of the Destroyer Escorts and giving permission for publication. I am also grateful to the present Curator for confirming that permission.

My thanks are also due to the Director of the Imperial War Museum (London) for allowing me to include pictures from the extensive collection of ship photos in the Museum archives and to the photographic staff who so willingly assisted me to locate particular photographs.

My warmest thanks to Mrs Wood, widow of the late Lieutenant W. Wood RAN, First Lieutenant of HMS Holmes, for so kindly allowing me to use the reproduction of his painting of that ship.

I am also indebted to the author Peter Elliot, who loaned me copies of a set of wartime signals referring to Royal Naval ship movements in the Western Atlantic in 1943 – 44 which pinpointed early movements of the Captains after commissioning.

During the research period in the early 1980’s, I was also in correspondence with a vast number of men who had served in the Captains and many were able to provide me with valuable information not recorded elsewhere. The list of names is too long for full inclusion here but those who provided the most valued information are mentioned below. It is unfortunate that since my researches began so long ago and publication has taken so long to achieve, some of those mentioned have since ‘Passed the Bar’ and so, sadly, my acknowledgement is posthumous in these cases:

ERA Ashenden; Ron Ayers; Sub-Lieutenant Baggs; Fred Barr; Roy Bentham; John Brady; Alf Brown; W. Burke; Frank Chapman; Les Cheeseman; Commander E. Chavasse; Ron Collision; Captain Feather stone-Dilke; Geoff Finn; Rear Admiral Dudley-Davenport; Frank Dawson; George Dyer; P. R. Elvin; Lieutenant M. Forte; Bill Garland; Geoff Goodchild; S. Grayson; Dennis Grinnell; Lieutenant-Commander A. L. Hammond; B. Harrop; Alan Hope; Vic Jackman; George Lester; S. A. Lewis; Sub-Lieutenant P. Mallett (South Africa) Ken Maltby; William McCoy; N. McElroy; A. McGregor; T. W. McPhail; L. Morton; Dave Murray; Arthur Newton; Frank Owen; A. Penwarden; Frank Phelps; Lieutenant I. Pilditch; Mervyn Price; Bill Read; ‘Robbie’ Robins; Ted Rowson; P. Seaborn; Geo. Seymour; Lieutenant A. Shepherd; Harry Smith; J. Smith; A. Storey; Jim Watts; Phil Webb; R. Willis; Lieutenant W. A. Wood (Australia); Frank Woodley; D. Yeomans; Geo. Young.

To those not mentioned by name, I also extend my most grateful thanks.

Wantage D.J.C.

1998

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

AA	Anti-Aircraft
A and A	Alterations and Additions (to a ship’s original design)
AB	Able Seaman
AB S/D	Able Seaman submarine detector rating
AB S/T	Able Seaman Torpedoman
AD	Air defence
AP	Armour piercing (ammunition)
A/S	Anti-submarine
Asdic	The British name for the Sonar submarine detector
BRLO	British Resident Liaison Officer
Captain (D)	Commander of a destroyer flotilla
CERA	Chief Engine Room Artificer
CFCF	Coastal Forces Control Frigate
CO	Commanding Officer (ie. ship’s Captain)
CPO	Chief Petty Officer
CPO ‘Buffer’	Chief Bosun’s Mate (the ’buffer’ between the First Lieutenant and the crew)
CTL	Constructive Total Loss
CW candidates	Lower deck ratings who were potential officers and undergoing sea experience
DC	Depth-Charge
D-Day	The day upon which a major operation is to begin. D-Day for the Normandy Invasion was 6 June, 1944.
DE	Destroyer Escort
DF	Destroyer Flotilla (eg. 1st DF)
DSC	Distinguished Service Cross
DSM	Distinguished Service Medal
DSO	Distinguished Service Order
EA	Electrical Artificer
E-boat	German high speed Motor Torpedo-boat
EG	Escort Group
ERA	Engine Room Artificer
First Lieutenant	Executive Officer and Second-in-Command of a small ship
FOBAA	Flag Officer British Assault Area (in Normandy)
FOXER	A noise-making device towed as a decoy to deflect acoustic torpedoes
G7E	The standard German electrical torpedo
HE	High explosive (ammunition)
Hedgehog	Ahead throwing A/S mortar
HFDF	High Frequency Direction Finder. A device, known to all as ‘Huff Duff’, for locating submarines by intercepting their radio transmissions.
HMCS	His Majesty’s Canadian Ship
HMNZS	His Majesty’s New Zealand Ship
HSD	Higher Submarine Detector rating (a PO)
Jolly Roger	The black and white flag, carrying the skull and crossbones emblem, flown by ships entering harbour from an operation in which they have sunk an enemy submarine
KFK	A German barge armed with air defence guns for harbour and canal defence
LCF	Landing craft fitted with flame throwers
LCG	Landing craft mounting two 4.7″ naval guns and five Oerlikons
LCS	LCG converted to fire banks of rockets
LTO	Leading Torpedo Operator
LENTIL	A German explosive motorboat
MGB	Motor Gunboat
MO	Medical Officer
MTB	Motor Torpedo-boat
Mulberry Harbour	Artificial harbour, constructed chiefly out of huge concrete caissons which were towed across the Channel on D-Day, 1944, and sunk off Arromanches
NEGER	German manned torpedo
NOIC	Naval Officer in Charge
Nore Command	The Royal Naval Home Command which had Chatham as its Home Port
OA	Ordnance Artificer
Oerlikon	A 20mm heavy machine gun (or cannon) firing explosive ammunition for use in the AD role but also used against such targets as surfaced U-boats or E-boats.
OOW	Officer of the Watch
Ord.Mech	Ordnance Mechanic
OS	Ordinary Seaman
OYSTER	A German pressure mine
Pink List	An Admiralty list issued every four days giving the location of every ship in the Royal Navy in harbour.
PO	Petty Officer
Pom-Pom	A heavy machine gun firing 2pdr HE shells. Sited right in the bow of a DE for use against E-boats or in the AD role.
PT-boat	A USN patrol boat equivalent to the Royal Navy’s MTB
RAN	Royal Australian Navy
RCN	Royal Canadian Navy
RNCVR	Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
RN	Royal Navy
RNR	Royal Naval Reserve
RNVR	Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (wartime commissioned officers held RNVR commissions)
SBA	Sick Berth Attendant
SO	Senior Officer (Escort Group Leader)
SPO	Stoker Petty Officer
TBS	Talk Between Ships (radio telephone)
T5 ‘GNAT’	German ZAUNKÖNIG homing torpedo
Trout Line	A defensive line of minesweepers and other small craft moored close together to form an extended barrier protecting the Normandy Assault Area
U-boat	German submarine (Unterseeboot)
USN	United States Navy
V & W destroyers	British destroyers of 1918–20 vintage – all with names beginning with V or W
WA	Western Approaches
W/T	Wireless telegraphy

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Fargo Barracks, Milk Street, Boston

2. Frazier Barracks, Charlestown Navy Yard

3. Hingham Shipyard

4. The launch of DE-278, HMS Keats

5. HMS Calder – handover and commissioning ceremony

6. HMS Holmes – dressed over all for commissioning.

7. Commander C. Gwinner DSO*, DSC RN. 1st Escort Group

8. Commander D. Macintyre DSO … DSC RN 5th Escort Group

9. Lieutenant Commander R. Hart DSC* RN. 21st Escort Group

10. HMS Conn returns from a successful operation flying the Jolly Roger

11. HMS Inman, the last Captain to be handed over to the Royal Navy

12. HMS Lawford in her role as a headquarters ship for the Normandy Invasion, June, 1944

13. HMS Bickerton crippled by an V-boat’s torpedo during Operation GOODWOOD

14. HMS Duckworth, ‘the Champion’ of the Captains

15. HMS Holmes, from a painting in the collection of the late Lieutenant Bill Wood RANVR

16. An ill fated pair. HMS Lawford and HMS Trollope in Portsmouth Dockyard 26 May, 1944

17. The horrific damage suffered by HMS Whitaker, and a group of survivors

18. Lieutenant Bill Wood RANVR, First Lieutenant of HMS Holmes, on the bridge at sea

19. HMS Goodall, looking aft from the forecastle

20. Sub-Lieutenant Paul Mallet SANF. G...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Index