HMS ''Clacton'' was a built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Design and description

The ''Bangor'' class was designed as a small minesweeper that could be easily built in large numbers by civilian shipyards; as

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s were difficult to manufacture, the ships were designed to accept a wide variety of engines. ''Clacton'' displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship 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 draught of .Lenton, pp. 253–54 The ship's complement consisted of 60 officers and ratings.Chesneau, p. 64 She was powered by two

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

geared steam turbines, each driving one 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 produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . ''Clacton'' 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 her a range of at .Lenton, p. 254 The turbine-powered ''Bangor''s were armed with a

anti-aircraft gun 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, ...

and a single QF 2-pounder (4 cm) AA gun. In some ships the 2-pounder was replaced a single or twin

20 mm Oerlikon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

AA gun, while most ships were fitted with four additional single Oerlikon mounts over the course of the war. For escort work, her minesweeping gear could be exchanged for around 40

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 ...

Construction and career

HMS ''Clacton'' was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., at Troon, Scotland and launched on 18 December 1941. Thus far she has been only the second ship of the Royal Navy named after the Essex town of Clacton-on-Sea. HMS ''Clacton'' was in the Mediterranean off the east coast of

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, on passage from

La Maddalena La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy. The main town of the same name is locat ...

to Bastia on 31 December 1943. She struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

at 0832 hours and sank immediately. Three officers and 29 ratings were killed, with the survivors being rescued by HMS ''Polruan''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

HMS ''Clacton'' at Uboat.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clacton (J151) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Clyde 1941 ships World War II minesweepers of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by mines Maritime incidents in December 1943 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea