HMS Vervain

HMS Vervain was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.

HMS Vervain's 4-inch gun crew in action, July 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Vervain
Ordered: 8 April 1940
Builder: Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland
Yard number: 1101[1]
Laid down: 16 November 1940
Launched: 12 March 1941
Completed: 9 June 1941[1]
Commissioned: 9 June 1941
Stricken: 20 February 1945
Identification: Pennant number K190
Fate: Torpedoed and sunk on 20 February 1945
General characteristics
Class and type: Flower-class corvette
Displacement: 925 long tons (940 t; 1,036 short tons)
Length: 205 ft (62.48 m) o/a
Beam: 33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught: 11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion:
  • single shaft
  • 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers
  • 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
  • 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement: 85
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 × SW1C or 2C radar
  • 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament:

In March 1942, the ship was adopted by the village of Queensbury in West Yorkshire.[2]

On 28 February 1943 the liberty ship SS Wade Hampton was torpedoed by German submarine U-405 while sailing in a convoy from New York to Murmansk, Russia. Survivors were picked up by Vervain and HMS Beverley near Greenland.[3]

On 20 February 1945 at 11.45 hours Vervain was escorting a homeward-bound convoy when she was sunk by a torpedo from a U-boat, U-1276 under Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Wendt, about 25 miles south-east of Dungarvan, Ireland, south of Waterford. Vervain sank after 20 minutes. The commander, three officers and 56 ratings were lost. Three officers and 30 ratings were rescued.[4] In turn the U-boat, U-1276 was sunk with depth charges by HMS Amethyst. The action resulted in the loss of all 49 of the U-boat's crew.

HMS Vervain is a Designated vessel under schedule 1 of The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012.[5]

References

  1. McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780752488615.
  2. "Queensbury Remembers". Queensbury Remembers. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  3. "Wade Hampton". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-66-62-wp-45-106-11.pdf
  5. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1110/schedule/1/made

Publications

  • Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Vervain". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.

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