HMS Loch Morlich (K517)

HMS Loch Morlich was a Loch-class frigate that never saw service with the Royal Navy. Ordered during World War II, she saw service instead with the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Loch Morlich in Scotland. After the war she was returned to the Royal Navy and she was sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy and renamed Tutira.

HMCS Loch Morlich (K517)
History
United Kingdom
Name: Loch Morlich
Namesake: Loch Morlich
Operator: Royal Navy
Ordered: 13 February 1943
Builder: Swan Hunter
Laid down: 15 July 1943
Launched: 25 January 1944
Identification: pennant number: K 517
Fate: Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy on completion. Returned 1945 and reduced to reserve fleet 1945 , Sold to New Zealand 1948
Canada
Name: Loch Morlich
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Commissioned: 17 July 1944
Decommissioned: 20 June 1945
Identification: pennant number: K 517
Fate: Returned to United Kingdom 1945
New Zealand
Name: Tutira
Namesake: Lake Tūtira
Operator: Royal New Zealand Navy
Acquired: April 1949
Commissioned: 19 April 1949
Decommissioned: September 1951
Identification: pennant number: F 517
Honours and
awards:		 Korea 1950-51[1]
Fate: Scrapped 1966
General characteristics
Class and type: Loch-class frigate
Displacement: 1,435 tons
Length: 307 ft 9 in (93.80 m)
Beam: 38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Draught: 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 114
Armament:

Loch Morlich which was ordered from Swan Hunter on 13 February 1943. She was laid down 15 July 1943 and launched 25 January 1944. Upon completion she was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned on 17 July 1944, at Wallsend-on-Tyne.[2][3]

War service

After commissioning Loch Morlich joined convoy escort group EG 6 based in Derry after working up at Tobermory. She patrolled the waters around the United Kingdom until April 1945 when the group was transferred across the Atlantic to Halifax. She remained on the Canadian side of the Atlantic until the end of May when she returned to the United Kingdom. She was decommissioned and returned to the United Kingdom 20 June 1945 at Sheerness alongside HMCS Loch Achanalt, another Loch-class loaner to the Royal Canadian Navy.[2] She was reduced to reserve status and laid up in Sheerness, eventually being sold with six other Loch-class frigates in 1948.

Postwar service

Loch Morlich was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy on 1 April 1949.[3] Renamed Tutira, she was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 19 April 1949.[1] In 1950, along with HMNZS Pukaki, she sailed for Korea, taking part in the United Nations naval blockade during the Korean War, serving mainly as an escort. She took part in the Battle of Inchon serving as part of the screening force.[4] After returning from Korean waters she was placed in reserve in September 1951. She sat laid up in Auckland from 1952 until sold for scrap in 1961[1] and was broken up in 1966 at Hong Kong.[2]

See also

References
Notes
  1. "HMS LOCH MORLICH (K 517), later HMNZS TUTIRA - Loch-class Frigate". naval-history.net. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  2. Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John (1981). The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Toronto: Collins. ISBN 0-00216-856-1.
  3. "HMCS Loch Morlich (K 517)". uboat.net. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  4. Varhola, Michael J. (2000). Fire and Ice: The Korean War, 1950-1953. Da Capo Press. p. 142. ISBN 1882810449.
References
  • Macpherson, Ken; Burgess, John. The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910–1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships. Collins: Toronto, 1981. ISBN 0-00216-856-1
  • McDougall, R J (1989) New Zealand Naval Vessels. Page 37-41. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-477-01399-4


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