HMS ''Flint Castle'' (K383) was one of 44 s built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed at the end of 1943, the ship

ran aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

while training in January 1944. After repairs were completed the following month, she was briefly assigned to the 39th Escort Group for convoy escort duties in the Atlantic Ocean. ''Flint Castle'' was transferred to

Escort Group B2 Escort Group B2 was a convoy escort British formation of the Royal Navy which saw action during the Second World War, principally in the Battle of the Atlantic. The group was under the command of Cdr Donald Macintyre, one of Britain's most su ...

in March and screened convoys to and from

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

until September. That month, she joined

Escort Group B3 Escort may refer to: Protection *Bodyguard, a security operative who accompanies clients for their personal protection * Police escort, a feature offered by law enforcement agencies to assist in transporting individuals *Safety escort service, a ...

to escort convoys between Canada and Britain and continued to do so until the end of the war in May 1945. The ship then became an

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

training ship in Rosyth and

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

, Scotland, before moving to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

at the beginning of 1947. ''Flint Castle'' remained there until she was taken out of service in March 1956 and broken up beginning in July 1958.

Design and description

The Castle-class corvette was a stretched version of the preceding , enlarged to improve seakeeping and to accommodate modern weapons. The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had an overall length of , 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 deep draught of . They were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s. The engines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The Castles carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

that gave them a range of at . The ships' complement was 99 officers and ratings. The Castle-class ships were equipped with a single QF Mk XVI gun forward, but their primary weapon was their single three-barrel

Squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

anti-submarine mortar. This was backed up by one

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

rail and two throwers for 15 depth charges. The ships were fitted with two twin and a pair of single mounts for Oerlikon light AA guns. Provision was made for a further four single mounts if needed. They were equipped with Type 145Q and Type 147B ASDIC sets to detect submarines by reflections from sound waves beamed into the water. A Type 272 search radar and a HF/DF

radio direction finder Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...

rounded out the Castles' sensor suite.

Construction and career

''Flint Castle'', the only ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered on 19 January 1943 and laid down by Henry Robb at their

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

in Leith, Scotland on 20 April. The ship was launched on 1 September and completed on 31 December. She was damaged by an accidental explosion alongside Barrage Vessel BV 42 on 22 December 1943 and one man killed on each vessel. BV 42 sank. She arrived at Tobermory, Mull, Scotland, on 12 January 1944 to begin training at the Royal Navy's Anti-Submarine Training School, . ''Flint Castle'' ran aground while training on 18 January and was refloated. She arrived at Belfast, Northern Ireland, the following day to begin repairs that lasted until 9 February. The ship was then assigned to the 39th Escort Group and escorted one Atlantic convoy in mid-March before being transferred to the Liverpool-based Escort Group B2 to escort convoys to and from Gibraltar. In September 1944, ''Flint Castle'' was assigned to Escort Group B3, which protected convoys sailing between

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, Canada, and Britain. The ship was refitted in Cardiff, Wales, in January–March 1945 and rejoined her group in Liverpool in April. She was assigned to Rosyth Command in June as an anti-submarine training ship and visited ports in Norway and Germany over the next several months. ''Flint Castle'' was transferred to the Rosyth Escort Force in June 1946, which was employed as a training unit; it was redesignated as the Basic Anti-Submarine Training Flotilla in September. The unit was then transferred to

and used a variety of names before settling on the Second Training Squadron in January 1952.Goodwin, pp. 155–60 On 15 June 1953, she took part in the Fleet Review held at Spithead 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 ...

. The ship was used to portray a German anti-submarine vessel in the 1955

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

'' The Cockleshell Heroes''. ''Flint Castle'' was taken out of service in March 1956 at Devonport Dockyard, until her demolition began, starting on 10 July 1958 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 ...

. While her service was uneventful, ''Flint Castle'' was awarded the battle honour of Atlantic 1944–45.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flint Castle Castle-class corvettes 1943 ships