HMS ''Alacrity'' was a
modified ''Black Swan''-class 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 ...
of the
Royal Navy. She was built for service as a convoy escort during the
Second World War, but was completed too late to see action. She did subsequently take part in the
Korean War between 1950 and 1952. She was scrapped in 1956.
Construction and design
''Alacrity'' was one of two Modified-''Black Swan''-class sloops ordered by the
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
from the Scottish shipbuilder
William Denny and Brothers
William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company.
History
The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built ...
on 12 August 1942 as part of the 1942 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy. The ship was
laid down at Denny's
Dunbarton shipyard on 5 April 1943, was
launched on 1 September 1944, and completed on 13 April 1945.
''Alacrity'' 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, and ...
and
between perpendiculars, with a beam 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 ...
of the Modified ''Black Swan''s was standard and deep load depending on the armament and equipment fitted.
Two
Admiralty three-drum water-tube boilers provided steam to
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
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 which drove two shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of .
The ship's main gun armament (as fitted to all the Modified ''Black Swan''s) consisted of 3 twin
QF 4 inch (102 mm) Mk XVI guns, in dual purpose mounts, capable of both anti-ship and anti-aircraft use.
Close-in anti-aircraft armament varied between the ships of the class, with ''Alacrity'' completing with an outfit of 2 twin
40 mm Bofors gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors:
*Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s
...
s and two single
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. Post war the ship's close-in armament changed to 2 twin and 2 single Bofors guns.
Anti-submarine armament consisted of a split
Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, mounted either side of the 'B' 4-inch mount, together with 110 depth charges.
Royal Navy service
On commissioning ''Alacrity'', which was assigned the
pennant number
In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
U60, completed work up in home waters, before being allocated for service in the Far East with the
British Pacific Fleet, sailing for the Pacific via the
Mediterranean, where she carried out further training.
''Alacrity'' arrived in Colombo after the
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
at the end of the War.
Following the war she remained in the Far East and underwent a refit in New Zealand in 1946. She received the new pennant number 'F60' and was part of the 1st Escort Flotilla. In 1949 the Flotilla was designated the 3rd Frigate Flotilla.
In 1950 she was deployed with
United Nations Naval forces for service in the
Korean War. She returned to Portsmouth in 1952 and was placed in reserve, before being put on the disposal list in 1956.
She was subsequently sold for scrap to W H Arnold Young at
Dalmuir and arrived for breaking up there on 15 December 1956.
References
Publications
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External links
''Alacrity'' at Naval History.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alacrity
Black Swan-class sloops
Ships built on the River Clyde
1944 ships