HMS Erica (K50)

HMS Erica was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and was built by Harland and Wolff in 1941. She was named after Erica. Commissioned in 1940 and sunk by a mine on 9 February 1943.

History
United Kingdom
Name: Erica
Namesake: Erica
Ordered: 19 Sep 1939
Builder: Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Laid down: 22 Feb 1940
Launched: 18 Jun 1940
Commissioned: 9 Aug 1940
Identification: Pennant number: K50
Fate: Sunk by mine, 9 Feb 1943
General characteristics
Class and type: Flower-class corvette
Displacement: 925 long tons
Length: 205 ft (62 m) o/a
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draught: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
  • 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
  • Single shaft
  • 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed: 16 kn (30 km/h)
Range: 3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement: 85
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 × SW1C or 2C radar
  • 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:

Design and description

In early 1939, with the risk of war with Nazi Germany increasing, it was clear to the Royal Navy that it needed more escort ships to counter the threat from Kriegsmarine U-boats. One particular concern was the need to protect shipping off the east coast of Britain. What was needed was something larger and faster than trawlers, but still cheap enough to be built in large numbers, preferably at small merchant shipyards, as larger yards were already busy. To meet this requirement, the Smiths Dock Company of Middlesbrough, a specialist in the design and build of fishing vessels, offered a development of its 700-ton, 16 knots (18 mph; 30 km/h) whale catcher Southern Pride.[1][2] They were intended as small convoy escort ships that could be produced quickly and cheaply in large numbers. Despite naval planners' intentions that they be deployed for coastal convoys, their long range meant that they became the mainstay of Mid-Ocean Escort Force convoy protection during the first half of the war. The original Flowers had the standard RN layout, consisting of a raised forecastle, a well deck, then the bridge or wheelhouse, and a continuous deck running aft. The crew quarters were in the foc'sle while the galley was at the rear, making for poor messing arrangements.[3]

The modified Flowers saw the forecastle extended aft past the bridge to the aft end of the funnel, a variation known as the "long forecastle" design. Apart from providing a very useful space where the whole crew could gather out of the weather, the added weight improved the ships' stability and speed and was retroactively applied to a number of the original Flower-class vessels during the mid and latter years of the war.

Construction and career

Erica was laid down by Harland and Wolff at their shipyard at Belfast, on 22 February 1940 and launched on 18 June 1940. She was commissioned on 9 August 1940.

HMS Erica was on an escort mission from Benghazi to Alexandria on 9 February 1943. She passes through a mine field laid by HMS Rorqual and struck one of the mine. No one was killed in the explosion, tho with some minor injuries, all of her crew were picked up and rescued by HMSAS Southern Maid. Erica sank off Derna, Libya.[4]

References
  1. Brown 2007, pp. 41–43.
  2. Lambert and Brown 2008, p. 3.
  3. Brown D K, Nelson to Vanguard
  4. "Harland and Wolff - Shipbuilding and Engineering Works". www.theyard.info. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  • Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Goodwin, Norman (2007). Castle Class Corvettes: An Account of the Service of the Ships and of Their Ships' Companies. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 978-1-904459-27-9.
  • Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
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