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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