BAY-Class Anti-Aircraft Frigate initially ordered
from Hall Russell at Aberdeen
on 19th January 1943 for build as a LOCH-Class Anti-submarine Frigate, but for which the ordered was changed in 1944. Originally
to have been named LOCH CARLOWAY she was laid down on 30th May 1944
as Job Number J11825
and launched as
BIGBURY BAY
by Harland on 16th
November 1944. First RN ship to carry this name she was completed on 12th July 1945
to the revised design after the end of hostilities with Germany.
G e o g r a p h i c
L o c a t i on
Grid
Reference SX 6342:
Bigbury Bay,
Devon 17km east of Plymouth.
B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
None
H
e r a l d i c
D a t a
Badge: On a Field Per fess Red and Black, a gridiron Gold.
(Note: This is the crest recorded in the Admiralty List
after WW2.
Two unofficial crests had previously been used, one incorporating
the gold circles of the Devon County Crest and the second
and arm
with a clenched fist grasping an armoured leg.
This latter is part of
the design of the Coat of Arms belonging to the
Armstrong
family
who are major land owners at Bigbury.)
M a n n i n g
P o r t
Portsmouth
S
u m m a r y o
f S e r v i c
e
(for more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and type name in Site Search
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Following acceptance trials the ship worked-up for
operational service at Tobermory and then went to Portsmouth to prepare for service with the British Pacific Fleet. She
took passage on 10th October with HM Frigate
WHITESAND BAY
as far as Colombo
and the proceeded independently to Hong Kong
where she arrived on 19th
December .
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Her first deployment with the British Pacific Fleet,
which had transferred to Hong Kong
after being released from service with the US Navy off Japan,
was to carry out patrols of the Chinese mainland. These were to protect British
flagged mercantiles which traded with Chinese ports and were subject to attacks
by Chinese warships or pirates. In June she went to Australia
for a refit at Sydney
and returned to Singapore
in August. During the rest of the year she visited Japan
and took part in exercises with US Navy ships in that area.
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On completion of the exercises and an anti-smuggling
patrol in
Sukishima Strait,
she returned to Hong Kong
in February having embarked 13 Japanese war criminals for passage to face a Tribunal in Singapore.
Following a Fleet exercise that month she was transferred to the Mediterranean
where ships of the Fleet stationed in Malta
were
heavily occupied in carrying out patrols to intercept shipping taking illegal
immigrants to Palestine.
After arrival in Malta
at the end of April she joined the 5th Frigate Flotilla and was modified for
the Palestine
patrols and was based at Haifa.
During November whilst visiting Mudros, two of the
ship’s company were drowned in a sailing accident.
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After a further Palestine patrol duty she took part in
Mediterranean Fleet exercises during February and the next month was
transferred for service in the West Indies and took
passage from Gibraltar
in July after refit. The ship arrived in Bermuda
during October and had called at Newfoundland
on passage. During the next three months she took
part in local exercises with ships on the America
and West Indies Station and visited St Kitts and Dominica.
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Her first year on the West Indies Station was taken up
with a series of visits including Nicaragua,
Honduras Mexico and ports in the southern USA.
Whilst at New Orleans in
February an unusual ceremony took place on
board
when the OBE was presented on board to a US Army Colonel for services during
WW2. After then visiting
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, involving passage in the Mississippi river. she took part
in Atlantic exercises with RCN and US Navy ships based in Cuba.
Before commencing an extensive
cruise in the West Indies
she refitted in Bermuda
and took part in exercises with ships based at Bermuda
in July. Calls were made at Antigua,
Tortola, St Kitts, the Windward
Islands, before refuelling in Trinidad
during August prior to visit to Barbados,
Venezuela
and Jamaica
before return to Bermuda
in September. In December whilst preparing for passage to the Falkland
Islands for duty as Guardship, she exercised
locally. Sailing for Port Stanley
in December she took passage for Trinidad
before the New Year.
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Before taking up duty she called at Montevideo,
Uruguay
where a plaque commemorating the Battle
of the River Plate was handed to the local authorities. She arrived at Port Stanley
on 30th January. Until taking return passage on 22nd March the ship visited
local communities with the Governor and also went to South
Georgia independently. Before arrival back in Bermuda
the next month she called at Santos
and Recife
in Brazil
with refuelling in Trinidad.
Her stay was short as she sailed to recommission on
May 1st, arriving at Portsmouth
ten days later and began refit later that month. On completion in October she
returned to the West Indies
where she arrived at Bermuda
on 20th of the
month. She remained in that area for exercises until the end of the year.
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Early in January the ship was deployed for exercises
with NATO ships before beginning an extensive foreign visits programme to ports
on the east coast of South America including
Rio de Janeiro,
Porto Belgrano and San Julian in Santa
Cruz Province, Argentina.
An official visit was the made to Montevideo
followed by calls at Victoria
Forteleza and a
most unusual trip up the
Amazon
River to Manaos, and Santarem, all in Brazil. She returned to Bermuda
via Port of Spain,
Trinidad and St
Lucia arriving on 20th April. The ship was
docked on a Patent Slip at Dartmouth,
Nov Scotia in June and returned Bermuda
the next month for further exercises with the West
Indies
Squadron. She was deployed for visits in the Caribbean
area between August and the end of September when she returned to Portsmouth
to Pay-off and recommission after refit, starting in November.
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Recommissioned on 6th March this ship was deployed in
Home waters and served with the 6th Frigate Squadron, Home Fleet until September.
In this period she took part in Home Fleet exercises and visited Brighton
and Dieppe.
She sailed for the West Indies
on 4th October and arrived 12 days later with passengers. Soon after arrival
she went to St Kitts , Barbados
, Tobago, and after
refuelling at Port of Spain
called at St Vincent,
St Lucia,
Dominica,
Monserrat and Antigua
before return to Bermuda
for Xmas.
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In January the ship took part in
Squadron exercises at Jamaica
before proceeding to take up duty as Guardship at Port
Stanley in the Falklands.
On passage she called at Bocas de Toro,
Panama
and at Bluefields in Nicaragua
before returning through the Panama Canal
to take passage to Rio de Janeiro
and arrived in the Falklands
to join HM Cruiser SUPERB. Her stay was marked by bad weather and incidents
with Argentinean warships during visits to the neighbouring dependencies. She
embarked the Governor for some of the visits and sailed for the return to
Bermuda in July. On passage she visited Montevideo,
Rio de Janeiro
and Recife as well as the US
Navy base at Port of Spain,
Trinidad.
On arrival she was immediately sent to Kingston, Jamaica
to give aid to the civil power at George town with HMS SUPERB and HM Frigate
BURGHEAD BAY. the ship then visited Mackenzie with passage up the Demerara River,
60 miles from the sea. Her commission over she sailed from Bermuda on 29th
October, arriving in Portsmouth on 9th November to refit.
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Refit completed in April and included
the fit of the new High Definition Radar Type 974 extensively used for
navigation and manoeuvring in poor weather or in close company. Before sailing
for Falklands Guardship duty on 16th June she took part in Squadron exercises,
During passage she called at Antigua Recife, Rio de Janeiro and
Montevideo,
arriving at Port Stanley
on 23rd June. She carried out a patrol for surveillance of Argentine naval
activities with the Governor embarked and then left for a visit to Porto Allegre in southern Argentina before calling at Montevideo
for stores and mail for delivery to Port Stanley. Following patrol in west Falklands
in September she
again left the area and paid an
Official Visit to the Chilean naval base at Punta
Arenas, returning to Part Stanley, via East
Falklands on 18th October. Relieved on 23rd by
HM Frigate VERYAN BAY she sailed for Bermuda three days later for passage up the
West Coast of South America. Calls were made at Talcahuano
and Coquimbo in Chile,
Talara in Peru
before transit of the Panama Canal
on 28th November. She arrived in Hamilton,
Bermuda on 11th December after calling in Jamaica
for a week stay.
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Early in January the ship prepared for
attendance at Port of Spain,
Trinidad during the visit by HRH Princess Margaret to the West
Indies in February. She took passage via San Juan,
Puerto Rica and arrived in Trinidad on 29th January. Subsequently the Royal
visitor went to
Rosseau,
Dominica,
St Kitts and the Leeward Islands.
On release from escort for HM Royal Yacht BRITANNIA, the ship paid an Official
Visit to the Netherlands naval base at Williamstadt,
Curacoa before going to La Ceiba, Honduras and Puerto Barrias,
Guatemala during March. These visits were followed by Official calls in
Kingston, Jamaica and then at Santiago da Cuba where
a party went overland to the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay. Return passage to
Bermuda included a visit to Nassau in the Bahamas early in April and the ship
got back to base on 12th to await arrival for her relief on the West Indies
Station, HMS MOUNTS BAY. Taking passage on 15th she arrived at Portsmouth
on 25th and Paid-off for a Long Refit.
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Under refit, Trials and
consequent repair completed in May when the ship worked-up for operational
service at Portland. Transferred during refit to be based at Plymouth she
arrived there to prepare for foreign service in June and sailed for the West
Indies on 20th, arriving via the Azores on 2nd July. Exercises with the
Squadron preceded visits to Barbados, Port of Spain and Grenada in July. In August the ship went to Dominica to asses the damage caused by a hurricane and then
visited Curacoa and Belize in British Honduras. Whilst at Grand
Cayman in September she returned to Trinidad and embarked
stores needed to provide
aid to the civil power in Trinidad after unrest. This was not required and she
returned to Kingston before going to the Bahamas. On her return passage to Bermuda
she encountered particularly rough weather. Her next duty was associated with
the closure of the America
and West Indies Station, The ship provided the Colour Guard at the laying-up of
the Queen’s Colour in the Cathedral at Hamilton when the CinC’s
appointment lapsed. In future a Commodore was to be appointed as Senior Naval
Officer based at Bermuda from 29th October. The ship took passage to visit
Norfolk, Va and Wilmington, Delaware on 11th November and returned on 7th December
to complete the year’s programme.
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Planned
exercises with HM Canadian Cruiser ONTARIO were carried out off Bermuda but an
intended visit to Baton Rouge, Louisiana was cancelled in the aftermath of the Suez
crisis. A visit to Havana was maintained before sailing to Belize and taking
the Governor for an Official Visit to Guatemala. On completion
the ship returned to Kingston and provided a Guard at the unveiling of Plaques
commemorating the restoration of Port Royal after destruction by an earthquake in the 17th
century. Before return to Bermuda on 12th March she took part in exercises with
the Royal Netherlands Navy off Curacoa and called at Tobago.
Her next duty was
to provide the Guard at Hamilton with HM Survey Ship VIDAL during the visits by
Mr H Macmillan, Prime Minister of Great Britain and the President of the USA,
General Eisenhower. for discussion including the supply of POLARIS missiles to the UK for nuclear submarines.
On 4th of April the ship was despatched to St Lucia to aid the civil power
after unrest, but this was not needed and she returned to Bermuda. Her final
task during this commission was to visit Jamestown, Va
to join the celebrations marking the 350th anniversary of the founding of the
Colony in May. This was followed by a visit to New
York and she returned to Bermuda on 30th May. Sailing for Plymouth on 6th June
she arrived on19th to refit and recommissioned at Devonport in November for
service on the South Atlantic Station and sailed to join the Command art
Simonstown on 27th November after work up at Portland. In December she
called Bathurst, Freetown, Lagos, Takoradi , Port
Harcourt and Cameroons in West Africa.
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The ship sailed from Victoria,
Cameroons on 2nd January and arrived at Simonstown on 17th after further visits to Pointe Noire and Luanda. Soon
after arrival she provided assistance in fire fighting ashore and then took part in exercises with ships of
the Squadron during February. This was followed by a cruise to ports in East Africa, including East London,
Beira with Durban and Port Elizabeth during return. Exercises were carried during sea passages. and the
cruise completed on 26th March Until docking in May she was deployed locally for exercises at Saldahana Bay and visited Walvis Bay. Docking was completed
on 15th June when she resumed service with a
visit by the CinC, South Atlantic to Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban with exercises. After CinC
disembarked the ship took passage to Mombasa and disposed of unwanted ammunition from Durban.
Following the assassination of King Feisal of Iraq this ship as part of the overall naval policy in respect of
the Middle East the ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Station and sailed with despatch to Aden for
patrol duty in the Red Sea. By 30th July she was deployed for patrol in the Tiran Straits with HM Frigate
LOCH RUTHVEN. Ordered back to Aden on 7th August she called at
Kameran
Island in the southern Red Sea and Perim before arrival
on 14th August. Before joining the Mediterranean Fleet for Cyprus patrol the
ship visited Djibouti in French Somaliland and began service based at Limassol
on 7th September. On completion of this duty leave was granted in Malta and she then carried out Guardship duty at Aqaba in October and a further Cyprus duty prior to taking part in a NATO Exercise during November. The decision to
transfer this ship to Reserve having been made she returned to UK with Home Fleet ships which called at Lisbon
on 20th November. Whilst at Lisbon, significantly, the ship was visited by
Portuguese naval officers and arrived at Devonport to Pay-off on 25th of that
month after which she de-stored and reduced to Reserve status.
F i n
a l P h a s e
Placed on the
Disposal List she was sold on 12th May 1959 to Portugal with HM Frigate BURGHEAD BAY for £748,130 and renamed PACHECO PEREIRA. The ship remained on the
Active List of the Portuguese Navy until 1970 and was sold for breaking-up
on 6th July 1970 after 25 years extensive service under two flags
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