HMS Thornborough (K574)

HMS Thornborough (K574), sometimes spelled Thornbrough,[5] was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as a United States Navy Buckley class destroyer escort, the ship served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.

HMS Thornborough photographed during World War II by an aircraft operating from Royal Naval Air Station HMS Osprey, Dunoon, Scotland.
History
United States
Name: unnamed (DE-565)
Builder: Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts
Laid down: 22 September 1943[1]
Launched: 13 November 1943[1]
Completed: 31 December 1943[1]
Commissioned: never
Fate: Transferred to United Kingdom 31 December 1943[1]
Acquired: Returned by United Kingdom 29 January 1947[1]
Fate: Sold for scrapping 24 April 1947[1]
United Kingdom
Class and type: Captain-class frigate
Name: HMS Thornborough (K574)
Namesake: Admiral Sir Edward Thornbrough (1754-1834), British naval officer who was commanding officer of HMS Robust at the invasion of Quiberon Bay in 1795[2]
Acquired: 31 December 1943[1]
Commissioned: 31 December 1943[3]
Decommissioned: 1945[4]
Fate: Returned to United States 29 January 1947[1]
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,400 tons
Length: 306 ft (93 m)
Beam: 36.75 ft (11.2 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:
  • Two Foster-Wheeler Express "D"-type water-tube boilers
  • GE 13,500 shp (10,070 kW) steam turbines and generators (9,200 kW)
  • Electric motors for 12,000 shp (8,900 kW)
  • Two shafts
Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h)
Range: 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement: 186
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • SA & SL type radars
  • Type 144 series Asdic
  • MF Direction Finding antenna
  • HF Direction Finding Type FH 4 antenna
Armament:
Notes: Pennant number K572

Construction and transfer

The ship was laid down as the unnamed U.S. Navy destroyer escort DE-565 by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., in Hingham, Massachusetts, on 22 September 1943 and launched on 13 November 1943.[1] She was transferred to the United Kingdom upon completion on 31 December 1943.[1]

Service history

Commissioned into service in the Royal Navy under the command of Lieutenant Commander Cyril George Hart Brown, RN, as the frigate HMS Thornborough (K574) on 31 December 1943 simultaneously with her transfer, the ship served on patrol and escort duty for the remainder of World War II.[3]

The Royal Navy decommissioned Thornborough in 1945[4] and returned her to the U.S. Navy on 27 January 1947.[1]

Disposal

The United States sold Thornborough on 24 April 1947 to a shipbuilding firm in Greece for scrapping.[1]

References
  1. Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive Thornborough (DE-565) HMS Spragge (K-574)
  2. Captain Class Frigate Association: HMS Thornborough K574 (DE 565)
  3. uboat.net HMS Thornborough (K 574)
  4. According to uboat.net HMS Thornborough (K 574), Thornborough was not carried on the Royal Navy's active list in October 1945, indicating her decommissioning sometime earlier that year.
  5. See Collegde, J. J., Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the Fifteenth Century to the Present, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-652-X, p. 348, for this alternative spelling.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.