HMS ''Aberdeen'' was a

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. Built in Devonport Dockyard,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, UK by Thornycroft (

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, UK), she was launched on 22 January 1936.

Construction and design

HMS ''Aberdeen'' was one of two s constructed under the 1934 construction programme for the

. She was ordered from Devonport Dockyard on 1 March 1935. Two ''Grimsby''-class sloops had been ordered under each of the 1931, 1932 and 1933 programmes, giving a total of eight ''Grimsby''-class ships built for the Royal Navy. Four more were built for Australia and one for India. The ''Grimsby'' class, while based on the previous , was intended to be a more capable escort vessel than previous sloops, and carried a more powerful armament. ''Aberdeen'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of at deep load.

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

, and full load. The ship was powered by two geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s driving two shafts, fed by two Admiralty 3-drum boilers. This machinery produced and could propel the ship to a speed of . The ship had a range of at . While previous ships of the class had been built with a gun armament of 4.7-inch (120 mm) low-angle guns, designed for use against surface targets, by 1934 it was realised that attack from the air posed a significant risk to shipping, and it was decided to fit the sloops of the 1934 programme with an improved anti-aircraft armament. It was planned to equip ''Aberdeen'' with three 4-inch (102 mm) dual purpose (anti-aircraft and anti-surface) guns, but she was completed as a despatch vessel, with the aft 4-inch gun and minesweeping gear replaced by extra accommodation. Close-in anti-aircraft defence was provided by a single quadruple .50 in (12.7 mm) Vickers anti-aircraft machine gun mount. ''Aberdeen'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 14 June 1935, launched on 22 January 1936 and completed on 17 September 1936.

Modifications

''Aberdeen'' was fitted with the originally planned third 4-inch gun in 1939, with four

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

added during the war. The ship's depth charge loading increased from 15 to 60–90 during the war, while a

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

anti-submarine mortar was fitted in 1942, replacing the forward 4-inch gun.

Service history

''Aberdeen'' was fitted for use as despatch vessel during construction, and was used by the Commander-in-Chief of the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

, replacing the First-World War vintage sloop in the role from November 1936. She returned to British waters in May 1937 to allow her to take part in the

Fleet Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

celebrating the

Coronation of King George VI The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth, as King of the United Kingdom, King and Queen consort of the United Kingdom, Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth r ...

, before returning to the Mediterranean, where she served up until the outbreak of World War II. Recalled to UK at the outbreak of war she was deployed with 1st Escort Division of Western Approaches Command for convoy escort duty in English Channel and SW Approaches. In June 1940 she was transferred to Rosyth for escort of convoys in North Sea and NW Approaches. This redeployment was made consequent on the re-routing of Atlantic convoy traffic from Channel because of the German occupation of France November 1940 she was transferred to Liverpool Sloop Division for Atlantic convoy escort.March 1941 underwent refit, upon completion of this she resumed her North Atlantic escort duties. June 1941 she was transferred to 41st Escort Group based at Londonderry for defence of convoys between UK and Freetown. October & November 1942 participated in Operation Torch. December 1942 she went to the Tyne for refit, which continued through January and most of February. Early March she joined 40th Escort Group and took passage to St. John's, Newfoundland and was part of the escort of the badly mauled convoy HX229A. during the defense of convoy HX229A HMS Aberdeen ran aground on the ice-edge and sustained damage to hull structure including loss of underwater fittings for the submarine detection equipment. On arrival in UK underwent repair at Liverpool at this time she was also fitted with an additional radar for surface and aircraft detection (Type 291) as well as VHF radio telephone equipment for communication with other escorts and with aircraft. Repairs and trials lasted iuntil 30 May. She was then deployment at Freetown for Atlantic convoy defence and continue in this role until April 1944 when she returned to UK with convoy SL154 to undergo refit. repair work required was extensive and in June she was made seaworthy to take passage to Bermuda to have her refit completed there. Post refit trials finally took place in September after which she returned to continue her duties at Freetown. This continued until VE Day. After VE Day remained at Freetown for several months carrying out local patrol and air sea rescue duties, at this time extensive air traffic was being used for return of US service personnel from Europe. August 1945 she took passage to Gibraltar to pay off into reserve. She was kept in Reserve at Gibraltar until the end of 1946 when the ship was placed on the Disposal List. After tow to Devonport she was sold to BISCO on 16 December 1948 for breaking-up by T W Ward at Hayle, Cornwall where she arrived on 19 January 1949.

Notes

References

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External links