HMS Cranstoun

HMS Cranstoun (K511) was a Captain-class frigate of the British Royal Navy that served in the last two years of World War II. The ship was laid down as a Buckley-class destroyer escort 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,[3] and named after Captain James Cranstoun, an officer who served in the American Revolutionary and French Revolutionary Wars.

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Cranstoun
Laid down:	9 June 1943
Launched:	28 August 1943
Commissioned:	13 November 1943
Decommissioned:	3 December 1945
Stricken:	7 February 1946
Honours and awards:	English Channel North Foreland[1]
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 20 November 1947
General characteristics
Class and type:	Captain-class frigate
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) standard 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) full
Length:	306 ft (93 m) o/a 300 ft (91 m) w/l
Beam:	36 ft 9 in (11.20 m)
Draught:	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Foster Wheeler Express "D"-type water-tube boilers GE 13,500 shp (10,067 kW) steam turbines and generators (9,200 kW) Electric motors 12,000 shp (8,948 kW) 2 shafts
Speed:	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Range:	5,500 nmi (10,200 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	186
Electronic warfare & decoys:	SA & SL type radars Type 144 series Asdic MF Direction Finding antenna HF Direction Finding Type FH 4 antenna
Armament:	3 × 3 in (76 mm) /50 Mk.22 guns 1 × twin Bofors 40 mm mount Mk.I 7–16 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns Mark 10 Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar Depth charges QF 2-pounder naval gun
Service record
Commanders:	Lt. Eric W. Rainey, RN (23 November 1943 – 23 June 1945) A/Lt.Cdr. Alfred S. Miller, DSC, RNZNVR (23 June–September 1945) A/Lt.Cdr. John P. Kilbee, RNR (September–October 1945)[2]
Victories:	U-1063 (15 April 1945)

Service history

Cranstoun served as a convoy escort, and was attached to the Nore Command, and then the 19th Escort Group.[4]

At 21:14 on the evening of 15 April 1945 Cranstoun and Loch Killin, while part of the escort to Convoy TBC 128, detected the U-1063 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. Burges 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.[5]

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.[3]

References

1. Tynan, Roy (2006). "Captain Class Frigate - Battle Honours". captainclassfrigates.co.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
2. Helgason, Guðmundur (2011). "Allied Warships of WWII : HMS Cranstoun". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
3. Smolinski, Mike (2010). "Destroyer Escort Photo Index - HMS Cranstoun (K511)". navsource.org. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
4. Collingwood, Donald (1998). The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-615-9.
5. Phillips, Stephen (2003). "Into the Lion's Den: The Loss of U-1063". ubootwaffe.net. Archived from the original on 30 July 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2011.