HMS ''Springbank'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

fighter catapult ship of the Second World War. Originally a cargo ship built in 1926 for Bank Line it was acquired by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

at the start of the war and converted to an "auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser" by the addition of four twin

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s and two quadruple 2 pdr (40 mm) "pom-pom"s. In March 1941 a catapult for a single

Fairey Fulmar The Fairey Fulmar is a British carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft/fighter aircraft which was developed and manufactured by aircraft company Fairey Aviation. It was named after the northern fulmar, a seabird native to the British Isles. The F ...

naval fighter (from

804 Naval Air Squadron 804 Naval Air Squadron (804 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy, formed in November 1939 from part of 769 NAS Sea Gladiators which had been detached to RNAS Hatston. The squadron was merged into 800 NAS in June 1944 and subsequent ...

) was fitted midships as a means to give further protection for convoys from enemy aircraft. ''Springbank'' was part of the escort for Convoy HG 73 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 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. ''Springbank''s Fulmar was launched to drive off a German

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English language, English: Courier), was a Nazi Germany, German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese req ...

reconnaissance aircraft; the Fulmar landing at Gibraltar afterwards. The convoy was attacked by Italian and German submarines over the following days. In the night of 27 September 1941 ''Springbank'' was torpedoed in the North Atlantic by the . After taking off her surviving crew, the ship was sunk by the .

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Springbank World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom 1926 ships Auxiliary anti-aircraft ships of the Royal Navy Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean