HMS ''Enard Bay'' was a

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

of the British Royal Navy, named for

Enard Bay Enard Bay is a large remote tidal coastal embayment, located 10.5 miles northwest of Ullapool, in northwestern Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands in the west coast of Scotland. The mouth of the bay is about 4.5 miles across running from the h ...

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

. The ship was originally ordered from the Smiths Dock Company of South Bank, Middlesbrough on 25 January 1943 as the ''Loch Bracadale'', and laid down on 27 May 1944. However the contract was then changed, and the ship was completed to a revised design as a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate, launched on 31 October 1944, and completed on 4 January 1946.

Service history

After sea trials in December 1945 and January 1946, ''Enard Bay'' sailed for the Mediterranean joining the Escort Flotilla at Malta on 7 February. She was first deployed in the eastern Mediterranean for the interception of merchant ships carrying illegal Jewish immigrants to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. In June she returned to Malta, and in August was

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

at Trieste, returning to the eastern Mediterranean in September for further interception patrols off Haifa. In January 1947 she returned to the UK to decommission and was placed into Plymouth Reserve Fleet, where she was used as an accommodation ship. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

.Souvenir Programme, ''Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953'', HMSO, Gale and Polden ''Enard Bay'' was placed on the Disposal List in 1956, and sold to the

British Iron & Steel Corporation The British Iron & Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd., commonly referred to as BISCO, was an organisation created during World War II to recycle scrap steel. BISCO's duties included making the arrangements for the scrapping of surplus Royal Navy s ...

(BISCO) for demolition by Shipbreaking Industries at

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

, where she arrived in tow on 15 November 1957.

References

Publications

* 1944 ships Bay-class frigates {{UK-frigate-stub