HMS Cranstoun explained

HMS Cranstoun (K511) was a of the British Royal Navy that served in the last two years of World War II. The ship was laid down as a at the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard at Hingham, Massachusetts on 9 June 1943, with the hull number DE-82, and launched on 28 August 1943. The ship was transferred to the UK under Lend-Lease on 13 November 1943,^[1] and named after Captain James Cranstoun, an officer who served in the American Revolutionary and French Revolutionary Wars.

Service history

Cranstoun served as a convoy escort, and was attached to the Nore Command, and then the 19th Escort Group.^[2]

At 21:14 on the evening of 15 April 1945 Cranstoun and, while part of the escort to Convoy TBC 128, detected the in Bigbury Bay, Devon. The two ships mounted a coordinated attack, with Loch Killin using her Squid anti-submarine mortar three times and Cranstoun her Hedgehog mortar once, to force the U-boat to the surface. then also joined the attack, as the U-boat was illuminated by the ship's searchlights and fired on with 20 mm and 40 mm guns. U-1063 attempted to escape, but Loch Killin attacked with depth charges and sank her. Only 17 of the crew survived.^[3]

Cranstoun was returned to the U.S. Navy on 3 December 1945, struck from the Navy List on 7 February 1946, and sold for scrapping on 20 November 1947.^[1]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Destroyer Escort Photo Index - HMS Cranstoun (K511) . Mike . Smolinski . navsource.org . 2010 . 9 April 2011.
2. Book: Collingwood, Donald . The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War . 1998 . Leo Cooper . Barnsley . 0-85052-615-9 .
3. Web site: Into the Lion's Den: The Loss of U-1063 . Stephen . Phillips . ubootwaffe.net . 2003 . 9 April 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070730175711/http://www.ubootwaffe.net/research/reports.cgi?a=2 . 30 July 2007 .