The Grimsby Class Sloops
The Wellington is the last surviving member of the Grimsby Class sloops. The 13 ships of the class were built in the 1930s to serve primarily as convoy escorts. Four were lost through enemy action during the Second World War and their histories are briefly outlined below:
Ships of the Royal Navy
HMS Aberdeen (L97)
Launched 22nd January 1936 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Aberdeen served
with the Royal Navy until being sold for scrap on the 16th December 1948.
HMS
Deptford (L53)
Launched 5th February 1935 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Deptford
served with the Royal Navy until being sold for scrap on the 8th March
1948.
HMS Fleetwood (L47)
Launched 24th March 1936 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Fleetwood served
with the Royal Navy until being scrapped on the 10th of October 1959.
HMS
Grimsby (L16)
Launched 17th May 1934 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Grimsby served
with the Royal Navy until being sunk by German aircraft on the 25th May
1941 off Tobruk, Libya. Six months later her sister ship HMAS Yarra was
also lost in the same area.
HMS Leith (L36)
Launched 9th September 1933 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Leith served
with the Royal Navy until being sold in 1946 at which point she traded
as a merchant ship named the Byron . She was subsequently renamed the Friendship
in 1948. The Royal Danish Navy then bought her on the 26th August of 1949
and renamed her Galathea. She was finally scrapped in 1955.
HMS Londonderry
(L76)
Launched 16th January 1935 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Londonderry
served with the Royal Navy until being scrapped on the 8th March 1946.
HMS
Lowestoft (L59)
Launched 11th March 1934 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Lowestoft served
with the Royal Navy until being scrapped on the 4th of October 1946.
HMS
Wellington (L65)
Launched 29th May 1934 in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Wellington served
with the Royal Navy until being sold to the
Honourable Company of Master Mariners on the 6th February 1947. Currently moored at Victoria Embankment,
London.
HMS Wellington in Milford Sound
Ships of the Royal Australian Navy
HMAS Parramatta (L44)
Launched 10th June 1939 in Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co. Ltd. Sydney,
New South Wales, Australia. She was sunk on the 27th of November 1941 off
Tobruk in Libya by a German U-Boat (U-559). Only 24 survived from a complement
of 138 men. All of the ship’s officers were lost in the sinking.
HMAS
Swan (L74)
Launched on the 28th of March 1936 in Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co.
Ltd. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She served with the Royal Australian
Navy until being decommissioned on the 20th of September 1962.
HMAS Warrego
(L73)
Launched on the 10th of February 1940 in Cockatoo Docks and Engineering
Co. Ltd. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She served with the Royal
Australian Navy until being decommissioned on the 8th of August 1963.
HMAS
Yarra (L77)
Launched on the 28th of March 1935 in Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co.
Ltd. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She served with the Royal Australian
Navy until being sunk by gunfire from the Japanese heavy cruisers Atago,
Maya and Takao off southern Java (Sumatra) on the 4th March 1942 . 34 men
were able to abandon the Yarra but only 13 were eventually rescued after
drifting on floats for some time. All officers onboard were killed.
Ship of the Royal Indian Navy
HMIS Indus (L67)
Launched on the 24h of August 1934 in Hawthorn Leslie & Co., Hebburn,
on the Tyne. She served with the Royal Indian Navy until being sunk by
Japanese aircraft off Akyab, Burma.
For more information on these ships the following websites may prove useful:
Uboat.net
http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=142
Battle
Cruisers.co.uk
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/grimsby.htm
Royal
Australian Navy History
http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/history/ships/yarra2.html
