HMS ''Palomares'' was a British anti-aircraft ship of the Second World War. Originally MV ''Palomares'', built by

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wea ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

yard in 1937, it operated as a merchant fruit carrier ship (a 13.5 knot

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) for service on the MacAndrews Line in January 1938 with their Spanish service.

Service

She was purchased 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 ...

in 1940, as these fruit ships were considered to be fast and manoeuvrable. In 1941 the Admiralty converted her to an Anti-Aircraft Artillery ship and subsequently to a fighter direction ship ("seagoing Anti Aircraft Auxiliaries"). Most likely the conversion took place at

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yard in

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on the

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with her sister ship . In March 1942, she sailed with ''Pozarica'', and the

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s , , and for the port of

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in Iceland In June 1942, she sailed as an escort in

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, where 25 out 36 ships were lost to the enemy, while working around

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and

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. In November 1942, HMS ''Palomares'' took part in the

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landings in

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as an Anti Aircraft ship. The ship left

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on the 3rd and arrived on the 8th. However the next day ''Palomares'' was hit by a bomb suffering a large number of casualties, engulfed in flames her steering gear was put out of action. Deceased seamen were transferred to the corvette for burial at sea and her steering gear was repaired by the 10th. In September 1943, during the

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of Italy on the 9th, ''Palomares'' was a fighter direction ship, directing fighter planes with her radar system. In January 1944, ''Palomares'' again served as a Fighter Direction ship during the Anzio landings. Arriving at the beachhead on the 22nd, she struck a mine and was towed back to

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by the tugs ''Edenshaw'' and ''Evea''. In September 1945, ''Palomares'' was to have participated in the Malaya landings but couldn't as a fire had damaged her engine room.

Armaments and displacement

Upon being converted as an Anti Aircraft ship HMS ''Palomares'' was equipped with eight 4-inch AA guns in four turrets and eight 2-pounder (40mm) AA guns in two quadruple mounts. In December 1942, to take the role as a fighter-direction ship, ''Palomares'' was fitted with

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

for directing fighter aircraft. HMS ''Palomares'' had a weight of 1,896 tons and could move at 13.5 knots.

Returned

Surviving the war, HMS ''Palomares'' was returned to the MacAndrews Line in 1946, where she continued service with the company until 1959. She was then sold, being renamed ''Mary Sven'' and in 1961 sold again becoming ''Sarabande''. On 5 October 1961 following a fire she drifted aground and was wrecked.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palomares World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom 1937 ships Auxiliary anti-aircraft ships of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Wear Banana boats (ships)