HMS ''Cubitt'' (K512) was a of the British Royal Navy that served during World War II. The ship was laid down as a at the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard at Hingham, Massachusetts on 9 June 1943, with the hull number DE-83, and launched on 11 September 1943. The ship was transferred to the UK under

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

on 17 November 1943, and named after Captain J. Cubitt, a Navy officer who commanded the frigate in 1661.

Service history

''Cubitt'' was assigned to

Nore Command The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Th ...

, serving in the 21st Escort Group based at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

. She did not take part in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, but was afterwards deployed escorting convoys to and from the landing beaches. Towards the end of 1944 ''Cubitt'' became a Coastal Forces Control Frigate (CFCF), controlling a flotilla of Motor Torpedo Boats operating in the Channel and North Sea to counter the threat of enemy E-Boats. On 29 January 1945 ''Cubitt'' was on patrol with ''HMS Caicos'' and three MTBs, the ''Caicos'' signalled contact with two groups of E-boats. Lt Cmdr Gregory ordered ''Caicos'' to take on the group to the north and turned ''Cubitt'' with his MTBs to engage the other group. The seas that night were choppy and the MTBs found themselves speed restricted to 20 knots, a clear 10 knots slower than the E-boats. Five miles behind their target Gregory decided to leave behind the slower MTBs and took off to engage the E-boats alone. Managing to close to just a mile away, his enemy closed on a minefield into which it could retreat. Gregory’s gunners’ visibility was still hugely impaired and ''Cubitt'' was forced to send up flares for a last ditch barrage. The E-boats, warned by the light, veered away: declining the challenge for a fight. Gregory was described in reports as ‘stamping in fury’ at their refusal to engage. Cubitt’s forward gunners fired off twelve rounds before losing range. In February 1945 ''Cubitt'' was refitted at Tilbury. Her 2-pounder "pom pom" bow chaser was removed, the two 20 mm Oerlikons mounted in front of the bridge were replaced with two single 40 mm Bofors, and splinter shields were fitted to her guns. On the night of 7/8 April 1945 ''Cubitt'' and were on patrol with their MTB's when ''Cubitt'' encountered a large group of E-Boats. A

Motor Gun Boat The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...

and an E-Boat collided, and ''Cubitt'' picked up casualties from another MGB that was on fire. ''Cubitt'' visited several Dutch ports immediately after they were liberated, and after VE Day escorted ships to Oslo and

Brunsbüttel Brunsbüttel () is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies at the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to the Kiel Canal. History The earliest re ...

. ''Cubitt'' was then assigned to "

Operation Deadlight Operation Deadlight was the code name for the Royal Navy operation of November 1945 – February 1946 to scuttle German U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end of World War II. Operation Of the 156 U-boats ...

", towing surrendered U-boats from

Loch Ryan Loch Ryan ( gd, Loch Rìoghaine, ) is a Scottish sea loch that acts as an important natural harbour for shipping, providing calm waters for ferries operating between Scotland and Northern Ireland. The town of Stranraer is the largest settleme ...

out into the North Atlantic where they were sunk. ''Cubitt'' was returned to the U.S. Navy on 4 March 1946, struck from the Navy List on 12 April 1946, and sold for scrapping on 7 March 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubitt (K512) 1943 ships Ships built in Hingham, Massachusetts Captain-class frigates Buckley-class destroyer escorts World War II frigates of the United Kingdom