HMS Pink (K137)

HMS Pink was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and was built by Harland and Wolff in 1941. She was named after Pink. Commissioned in 1941 and scrapped in 1947.

History
United Kingdom
Name: Pink
Namesake: Pink
Builder: Henry Robb, Leith
Laid down: 20 May 1941
Launched: 16 February 1942
Commissioned: 2 July 1942
Stricken: 27 June 1944
Identification: Pennant number: K137
Fate: Scrapped, 1947
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

Pink was laid down by Henry Robb at their shipyard at Leith, on 20 May 1941 and launched on 16 February 1942. She was commissioned on 2 July 1942.

HMS Pink was on an screening mission off Normandy during the Invasion of Normandy on 27 June 1944. An unidentified U-boat, possible U-988, launched a torpedo which struck HMS Pink and seriously crippling the ship. She was towed back to Portsmouth from the English Channel and was declared a total loss and scrapped at Llanelly in 1947.[4]

References
  1. Brown 2007, pp. 41–43.
  2. Lambert and Brown 2008, p. 3.
  3. Brown D K, Nelson to Vanguard
  4. https://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/3271.html
  • 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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