E Coast R.N. Named Ships

[E28]

How about 2 for the price of none?

As the open bridge with its merits or otherwise prevails let's do some more open bridge antics with this subject about 12 miles up the Yorkshire Esk.

We have already visited one Ton class sweeper, Rennington, where these coastal craft were designed in the early 1950's and constructed using predominantly aluminium and non ferrous metals for their superstructure and hull frame which was then planked with mahogany.

But that is only half the story. At the same time a mine hunter was also designed and developed with Thornycroft, who took the design and build lead for all these vessels, and in 1952 had contracts to build the first 3. These hunters would differ from the Tons in being of composite construction, in the same manner the composite inshore Ley class differed from the Hams.

The 3 new coastal hunters were named for villages ending in Thorpe with Ainthorpe 12 miles up the Yorkshire Esk being amongst this trio.

This patently is not Ainthorpe as the entire Thorpe plan was cancelled for myriad reasons in march 1953, mainly trouble with new mine hunting sonar, but a Ton sweeper sans pendant number which will have looked similar.

Why 2 for the price of none? Just west of Ainthorpe is Castleton which was another Ton which saw no white ensign service either and not named for that specific village anyway.

Oh yeah. The Thorpe trio were Ainthorpe, Bilsthorpe and Cutthorpe. Or would have been, later 18 Tons were converted to hunters. With enclosed bridges.

[Hornbeam]

Difficult to say which Town called Castleton the Minesweeper was named after as there are numerous Castleton(s) in England along with numerous Castleton(s) in the USA which RN had connections with due to a Lend/ Lease 4 Stacker which was scrapped in the late 1940’s
Castleton in Indiana was apparently presented with the Ships Bell by the Admiralty as a reverse gift bearing in mind as far am aware the Minesweepers came under the Marshall Aid Plan as GB was broke due to paying off the huge debt we owed the US which was.completed not that long ago.

[E28]

Let's stick with Castleton for this despite a rather tenuous connection and the lend lease US destroyer transferred and commissioned in Halifax 9 sept 1940 as one of the 50 we acquired in the destroyers for bases deal with Castleton amongst the original 8 all initially keeping their US names, in this case Aaron Ward and not until the 17 sept were they renamed. There are at least 7 Castletons in the UK, the ships badge being an illusion to a castle and incorporating a white 5 pointed mullet, or star, this feature incorporated in all these destroyers badges. Castleton was adopted by the borough of Clitheroe, lancs following warship week 21-28 march 1942.

At sea on 19 november 1941 Castleton suffered a most unusual event when 1 of her scuttling charges detonated killing 1 man, this the same day as the Australian cruiser Sydney was sunk with her entire complement off west Australia by the German auxiliary Kormoran mutually destroyed in this action.

Here she is alongside early 1942 after a refit putting on a pretty impressive display of flags from her foremast where the ships bunting tosser must be using every flag from their lockers, maybe they are all airing or is there some attempt at Nelsons famous England expects from Trafalgar signal.

[Hornbeam]

Dug out a photo from my time at Vernon, the Sweeper on the left is HMS Gavinton (Red “V” Fleet) this was the vessel that was towed by a Helicopter, the right hand Sweeper had just been built and was on her way around to GiB with a scratch Crew off Vanguard to be brought up to Tranche 2.
The middle Sweeper was also one of the Red “V” Fleet, somewhere I have a photo of HMS Deepwater which was also alongside Vernon, from an Engineering point of view a very interesting vessel propulsion wise.



.

[Hornbeam]

Photograph taken at HMS Vernon.
Not exactly named after any NE Rivers but certainly was crewed from the N.E. as I am sure this was “HMS” Northumbria “, I met some of her Crew in the Fes Bar at Southsea haunt of the Royal Yachties in the days when you wore the Uniform with pride outside of “work” before concerns about possible shootings by the IRA of Military Personnel stopped it.
The changing of Ships names off the “Tons” to Northumbria or the wonderfully named Killiecrankie seemed a bit of administrative nightmare.
Had a great evening with them even though I was a “Smoggie”

[E28]

Grimsby - GY.168 - steel steam trawler.

1896 would see one of the largest ever orders for new steel steam trawlers. The Grimsby company Hagerup, Doughty & Co had 51 new boats built by three builders plus 6 larger fish and ice carriers.

The largest order went to the old yard Govan of Mackie & Thomas who initially did 25 with a further 17 follow up plus all 6 carriers. All these boats were launched between september 1896 and june 1898, 57 in 21 months, quite an achievement.

This is the yard beam plan for what will be the lead boat Aberdeen and for whom the entire class is named, M & T yard 121, Grimsby being 127, and all these trawlers were identical. They were constructed 2 or 3 up on the same slip, each on that slip launched the same day, Grimsby launched 18 nov 1896 with Fleetwood 126 and Harwich 128, there after completion was a matter of weeks.

The plan is clear to read, all the caught fish, coal and ice in the forward sections abaft the crew space up the sharp end, the larger empty void is the location for the kettle at fore end, the donkey in the aft portion making these trawlers quite distinctive with the raked funnel ahead of the bridge structure. They carried 2 masts with a yawl rig and a crew of 8 plus lads.

I will be devoting this entire month to this single town only, lots more to follow.

Please note the plans for this are from the LR foundation archive whom i give full credit, a most valuable resource which will be of huge benefit to many.

[E28]

1877 saw Britains first steam trawler designed and built as such in service, it would lead the transformation of the fishing trade which really got steaming, adapting to new ways to use the boats, which got progressively larger, more capable with superior sea worthiness and much extended range which opened up new grounds. Bottom line, much more profitable.

GY.168 and these new Hagerup Doughty steel trawlers were a huge investment, the company needed to finance over £200,000 for them, buildings, offices, contribute to infrastructure and most crucially, the men, experienced men. But then, George Doughty had his fingers in so many pies he had long ago run out of fingers. All his new boats were based on those built for his old and life long friend James Schofield who actually named his own first iron steam trawler Jamesia GY.562

Everyone in Grimsby and beyond knew George Doughty, many today will know of him a century later...

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/1561800?h=dfa324

H D had their ups and downs, a big down being the destruction by fire of their offices and stores 15 september 1902, the loss at sea of some of their trawlers and men affected everyone, competition became fiercer and the ice business was erratic, most Grimsby trawlers would trawl, return with the catch to then sell at market, not the way things were done in Hull.

The 19 january 1906 saw Hagerup, Doughty & Co Ltd go into voluntary liquidation, here is a reminder that Grimsby GY.168 was still an active member of the fleet, a new future lay ahead for all and sundry.

The new company which H D together with over 50 other businesses became an integral part of was Consolidated steam fishing & ice company ltd, a name first registered 19 december 1905 so something very fishy there. Consolidated and its constituents flourished for the following decade.

August 1914 would change everything. Forever. No one predicted that. Harwich GY.170 launched that same november 1896 day as Grimsby was not amongst those still trawling, sunk in collision 12 february 1913, all crew survived.

[E28]

And off to war they went.

Between 1914 and 1918 some 1600 steam trawlers were requisitioned together with a similar number of steam drifters, performing multitudes of tasks in the name of King, Country and Empire, but fewer actually fought as hired trawlers rather than continue to fish in the fishing reserve.

Most boats were in service with the men who knew them, those not allocated to fish joined the RNR trawler section, where in the few years prior to the conflict the RN had done extensive mine sweeping trials which used much the same equipment the trawler men were familiar with, easy to grasp, alas the RN promptly neglected to ensure sufficient hulls were available, so where do you find hundreds of ready made suitable boats, fishing towns like Grimsby.

GY.168 was duly requistioned in january 1915 and apparently armed with a solitary 3 pounder 1'85" gun, whether an older antiquated Hotchkiss or modern Vickers model is not known, either way pretty paltry, plus a handful of rifles. All pre war skippers were given warrant officer rank and all men had to sign the form T.124, a token nod to the official secrets act detailing what you can or can't do, maybe, and a regular pay packet, if you survived.

Grimsby with RN pendant 951 was returned to Consolidated in july 1918 intact having served i know not where, and again fished from her home port until 1922 when sold to J. Paton of Leith as LH.308 until 10 march 1926 when having sprung a leak she sank at 1930 hrs 10 miles east of Montrose, her 8 men landed ashore after a good 2 hour workout.

As with previous post showing Harwich, here is sister Fleetwood GY.166 which stranded and duly lost 24 november 1920, both in consolidated house colours.

I am unable to find a photo of Grimsby so all 3 H D steam trawlers launched that same day in 1896 are now dissolving in the North Sea salts, no doubt festooned in nets of the type they'd have used and frequented by fish which now make them home as with hundreds of other lost trawlers and drifters.

[E28]

H.M.S. Grimsby Sloop 1931 programme with Leith and E class destroyer flotilla.

Lead ship of the 8 strong Grimsby sweeping sloops built for RN, all Devonport except Deptford at Chatham with contracted machinery, a slightly shorter hull with more beam was designed making the Grimsby's very distinctive from the previous post war sloops.

Launched from the south yard by Mrs C. Forbes 19 july 1933 with Empire wine 18 months after keel laid, she would complete 10 months later 17 may and commence some extensive trials as this class introduced new weapons not previously seen in sloops. A pair of single 4.7" (120mm) 45 QF Mk IX in A and X positions with rudimentary rangefinder only, no director control, and a 3" AA gun in B pos'n ahead of bridge. They could also carry 32 x Mk XV mines, 16 each side on the main deck, 7 ahead and 9 abaft the accomodation ladder which needed a convenient access, which were manually loaded from the break in forecastle with dedicated davits and all the associated deck pads, rails and stern sponsons but when so armed the aft 4.7" and all sweeping gear had to be landed...i suspect it made for some haphazard mine fields.

where you can clearly see 4 mines starboard side just forward of the accomodation ladder.

The 1931 E class destroyer flotilla used identical 4.7" to the Grimsby class, as had the A-D flotillas, additionally Esk and Express were also built as minelayers, 60 could be carried with gun and torpedo topweight reduced, patently a 1931 thing. Another first was sister Fleetwood which conducted fleet trials with the new 4" twin HA/LA (High, Low angle) Mk XVI mount in X position and which duly became the standard 4" AA gun fleet wide in multitude classes.

All the 22 RN inter war sloops with Town names had decent legs, they had to get to Freetown 2700 miles from Devonport with 1/3 rd bunkerage left, in the event of. They were all built to serve 1 purpose, to serve on Foreign stations Worldwide and on 17 august 1934 after visiting her name town Grimsby she duly departed eastabout to replace the 1916 built Arabis class sloop Cornflower for service on the China station via Gib, Malta, Port Said, Ismailia, Aden, Colombo where she was accompanied by tender Barnet to Penang and Singapore where she arrived october 20th and on to Hong Kong where she met up with Falmouth. That is very significant as some of you may know, it was the start of Grimsby's 5 year double commission on this station visiting ports throughout the region, a comparatively carefree life in the good old gunboat traditions.

[E28]

Grimsby was a Pompey manned sloop, having now arrived on the China station her duties would be varied with Hong Kong and Singapore being the 2 principal bases all the fleet would use with extensive cruises covering the entire region visiting large ports as well as obscure villages miles up shallow challenging rivers, what is termed showing the flag with some ports probably not having seen a white ensign now since that era, definitely a case of join the navy and see the World, you never know what you will catch. The sloops would tend to act independently of the fleet ships, destroyers and larger plus the submarines, in the 1930's the China station had 4 times the entire number of ships in the RN today, many serving extended periods, Grimsby's commissions were average.

One sloop was employed as a special service ship, actually the C-in-C's yacht which followed the flagship, usually an 8" County or Kent class, around and was kept immaculate, she being the Falmouth serving longer out east than any other inter war sloop having arrived in jan 1933.

Grimsby in Hong Kong 1930's

In mid 1936 she needed a refit, this respite was when her company were replaced by new men from England, they arrived in the trooping transport Lancashire which had hundreds of servicemen of all 3 forces, move onto Hong Kong, return and embark her original men for the trip home. Grimsby recommissioned in Singapore 8 october 1936 with Folkestone and continued cruising when she did another pay off and Singers refit mid '39 when she was prepared for transfer to the East Indies station exchanging with Bideford which had previously arrived. It was at this time sloops were first allocated pendant / pennant numbers in the series L.00 - L.99, Grimsby allocated L.16, you will not find pictures of any with their L flag superior painted up, except the later Bittern, L.07, when sunk 30 april 1940. These sloops frequently served inter station, the majority of that time foreign, here is Grimsby class Wellington, so named as she was built for exclusive service in New Zealand...

https://www.thewellingtontrust.org/

On 26 july 1939 Grimsby sailed west, quick paint job as the China and East Indies liveries differed slightly, in Bombay 15 august, on the outbreak of war in Khor Kuwai up the Persian Gulf with Shoreham, Fowey and Deptford.

Not for long.