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HMS Leeds Castle
HMS Leeds Castle
Class overview
Operators: Naval flag of United Kingdom Royal Navy
Flag of Canada Royal Canadian Navy
Naval flag of Norway Royal Norwegian Navy
General characteristics
Type: Corvette
Displacement: 1,060 tons
Length: 252 ft (77 m)
Beam: 37 ft (11 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3. HMS Leeds Castle was a Castle-class Corvette of the Royal Navy, originally with pennant number K384 The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the The Royal Norwegian Navy (often abbreviated as RNoN) is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations A corvette is a small maneuverable lightly armed Warship, originally smaller than a Frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many 0 m)
Propulsion: 2 water tube boilers, 1 four cylinder triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw 2,750hp (2MW)
Speed: 16. 5 knots
Range: 9,500 nautical miles at 10 knots
Complement: 112
Sensors and
processing systems:		 Radar: Type 272
Sonar: Types 144Q and 147B
Armament: 1 × 4-inch Quick Firing Mk. XIX High Angle/Low Angle combined air/surface gun
1 × Squid Anti-submarine mortar
1 × depth charge rail, 15 depth charges
2 × 20 mm twin anti-aircraft cannon
6 × 20 mm single anti-aircraft cannon

The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943. Class designation The term "corvette" was originally a French name for a small sailing warship intermediate between the Frigate and the Sloop-of-war A corvette is a small maneuverable lightly armed Warship, originally smaller than a Frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. They were equipped with radar as well as asdic. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships Sonar (which started as an Acronym for sound navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses Sound propagation (usually underwater to navigate

The Admiralty had decided to cease Flower class construction in favour of the larger River-class frigates as the Flower class had originally been intended for coastal escort work and were not entirely satisfactory for Atlantic convoy service. The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Design The River class ships were designed by naval engineer William Reed to have the endurance and anti-submarine capabilities of the ''Black Swan'' class sloops For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship A convoy is a group of Vehicles (of any type but usually motor vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support In particular, they were slow, poorly armed, and rolled badly in rough seas which quickly exhausted their crews. However, many shipyards were not large enough to build frigates and so the Castle class was designed to be built on small slipways.

Appearance was much like the later "long forecastle" variant of the Flowers and they were a little larger (around 1,200 tons — about 200 tons more than the Flowers, and 40 ft (12 m) longer).

The most obvious difference was the lattice mainmast instead of the pole one fitted to the Flowers. There was also a more "square cut" look to the stern although it was still essentially a cruiser spoon type, this difference was only visible from abaft the beam. Abaft is a nautical expression indicating a point that is behind a given part of a Boat or Ship. The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point or at the mid-point of its length

Armament was similar except that the depth charge fitment had been replaced by one for the Squid anti-submarine mortar. Depth Charge is a character in the Beast Wars: Transformers universe The Squid was a World War II Ship -mounted anti- Submarine Weapon. A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability A mortar is a muzzle-loading Indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities short ranges and high-arcing ballistic trajectories

Propulsion machinery was identical to the Flowers, and experienced officers felt that they were seriously under powered, having a tendency to turn into the wind despite everything the helmsman could do. A helmsman is a person who steers a Ship, sailboat submarine or other type of maritime vessel The fact that attacks with Squid required a fairly low speed compared to depth charge attacks only made matters worse.

Most had been scrapped by the end of the 1950s, but a few survived a little longer as weather ships. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive A weather ship is a Ship stationed in mid- Ocean to make meteorological observations for Weather forecasting. However, the last was the Uruguayan Montevideo, originally Rising Castle and scrapped in 1975. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Most were operated by the Royal Navy, but twelve were assigned to the Royal Canadian Navy and one to the Royal Norwegian Navy. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the The Royal Norwegian Navy (often abbreviated as RNoN) is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations Three Castles were sunk through enemy action, and Castles participated in the sinking of seven U-boats. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers

Contents

Ships

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Navy

The initial Castle was the Allington Castle, re-ordered on 9 December 1942 (from the previous order placed for a Modified Flower Class corvette named Amaryllis); another 13 vessels were ordered on 19 December, also under the 1942 War Programme. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Events 536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.

The remaining ships were all ordered under the 1943 War Programme. HMS Kenilworth Castle (K420 was a Castle-class Corvette of Britain's Royal Navy. For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968 see Canadian Forces Maritime Command The Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN) was the Empire Rest was originally laid down as the Castle class corvette HMS Rayleigh Castle but completed as a Convoy rescue ship. Empire Rest was originally laid down as the Castle class corvette HMS Rayleigh Castle but completed as a Convoy rescue ship.

Royal Norwegian Navy

Cancelled

15 ships ordered for the Royal Navy from UK shipyards were cancelled:

36 ships were ordered in March 1943 for the Royal Navy from Canadian shipyards for completion between May 1944 and June 1945, but were all cancelled in December 1943:

Castles sunk or destroyed in action

U-boats sunk by Castles

Film Appearance

The final third of the film The Cruel Sea is set on a Castle class corvette. Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Barents Sea (Barentshavet Баренцево море is a part of the Arctic Ocean located north of Norway and Russia. Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Cantabrian Sea redirects here Not to be confused with Biscay Bay Newfoundland and Labrador or Biscayne Bay. Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar

Postwar Conversions

Three were converted to passenger/cargo ships for the Union Steamship Company of British Columbia, and were known as the White Boats (see Twigg). They were operated from 1946 to 1958, but were heavy on fuel and had limited cargo capacity, for example they could not carry cars in the hold.

References

Twigg, Arthur M: Union Steamships Remembered: 1920-1958 (1997) ISBN 1-55056-516-8

External links

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