This ship was originally a fishing trawler launched on 24 March 1936. She was requisitioned by the

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 ...

upon the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939 and designated HMT ''Lord Middleton'' with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

(FY219). She survived the war and was returned to her owner in July 1945. She was scrapped in 1964. Her sister-ship, HMT ''Lord Austin'', was lost on 24 June 1944. The ship features in a song written by Alan Bell of The Taverners Folk Group: ''"So spare to her a kindly glance if e'er you're passing by, for over there in the old scrapyard the Lord Middleton must die"''.

Service in the Second World War

In April 1942, ''Lord Middelton'' rescued crew from the torpedoed

merchantman A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...

''Empire Howard''. In May of the same year, she also rescued some of the crew of the Soviet ship ''Tsiolkovskij'' after that vessel was eventually sunk by attacks from a German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

and two

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s. On 20 September 1942, ''Lord Middleton'' was part of

Convoy PQ 18 Convoy PQ 18 was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942, rendezvoused with more ships an ...

which was attacked by . During the battle, was hit and sustained major damage. ''Lord Middleton'' evacuated 80 of her 190-strong crew, leaving some of them to try to save the ship. When the ship eventually broke in two and sank five days later, ''Lord Middleton'' and pulled 35 more of her crew from the sea. On 17 February 1943, as part of the

Arctic convoy The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

JW 53 to the Soviet port of

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

, HMT ''Lord Middleton'' suffered flooding in her forward storeroom in the bad weather and was lagging behind the convoy. She was forced to retreat to

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

escorted by the

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

HMS ''Dianella''.

References

Naval-History.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Middleton Anti-submarine trawlers of the Royal Navy 1936 ships Ships built in Selby