HMS Puffin (L52) explained

HMS Puffin (L52) (later K52), was a sloop of the British Royal Navy, built in the 1930s, that saw service during World War II. The ship was laid down on 12 June 1935 by Alexander Stephens and Sons, based at Linthouse in Glasgow, launched on 5 May 1936, and commissioned on 6 August 1936.^[1]

Armament

On the outbreak of war, Puffin, like the rest of her class, was rapidly up-gunned. First a multiple Vickers machine gun was mounted on the quarterdeck, and two single 20 mm Oerlikon guns, added as they became available, on single pedestal mounts on the deckhouse aft, with the machine gun being replaced later with a further pair of such weapons. As it became available the Centimetric Radar Type 271 was added - a target indication set capable of picking up the conning tower or even the periscope or snorkel of a submarine. Radar Type 286 air warning was added at the masthead.

Service history

On 25 October 1939 the German submarine was sunk in the English Channel near Dover by depth charges from Puffin and the ASW trawler HMT Cayton Wyke.^[2]

On 19 May 1940 Puffin along with a group of six trawlers and two destroyers took part in "Operation Quixote", cutting commercial cables from the UK to Europe off the coast of Norfolk.^[3]

On 26 March 1945 Puffin under the command of Lt.Cdr. A.S. Miller, RNZNVR, rammed and sank a German Seehund midget submarine off Lowestoft.^[2] The impact caused the U-boat's torpedoes to explode^[4] and Puffin was so badly damaged that she was written off as constructive total loss, and finally sold for scrapping in 1947.

Bibliography

• Book: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Chesneau. Roger . Conway Maritime Press. Greenwich, UK . 1980 . 0-85177-146-7 . Great Britain (including Empire Forces). N. J. M. . Campbell . 2–85.
• Book: Colledge . J. J. . Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present . 2020 . Seaforth Publishing . Barnsley, UK . 978-1-5267-9327-0 . 5th revised and updated. Ben. Warlow. Steve. Bush. amp.
• Book: Hague, Arnold. Sloops: A History of the 71 Sloops Built in Britain and Australia for the British, Australian and Indian Navies 1926–1946. 1993. World Ship Society. Kendal, UK. 0-905617-67-3.
• Book: Lenton, H. T.. British & Empire Warships of the Second World War . Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 1998 . 1-55750-048-7 . Henry Trevor Lenton.

Notes and References

1. Web site: HMS Puffin . navalhistory.flixco.info . 2 February 2010.
2. Web site: HMS Puffin (L 52 / K 52) - Patrol vessel of the Kingfisher class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net . uboat.net . 2 February 2010.
3. Web site: HMS Jackal, destroyer . naval-history.net . 2 February 2010.
4. Web site: German Midget submarine operations - U-boat Operations - uboat.net . uboat.net . 2 February 2010.