Smiths Castles were the first warship class to include an anti submarine mortar in the form of the a/s mortar Mk IV or squid, an ahead throwing weapon wielding 3 x 12" projectiles as opposed to simple depth charge rails or throwers. Ambuscade had run successful trials and it needed to be deployed against the u boat very hastily, the Castles were in design and selected.
Hadleigh Castle once commissioned spent her war on convoy work, her white ensign career ending in Jan 1946 when paid off in Pompey to enter the fleet reserve with a brief refit in 1949. Reserve is where she remained, latterly in West Hartlepool before being allocated for disposal through BISCO. None of the Castles retained by the RN served any meaningful post war service, decaying until the late 1950's.
Have you any idea where Hadleigh Castle actually is? 'tis in Essex just West of Southend having belonged to the Salvation Army and the predecessors of the current custodian known as the public works department, amongst others.
Here, take a gander, still much used and admired today by numerous groups and the public at large.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/vis ... e/history/
Thats all folks. Sean.