Black
Swan-Class Sloop ordered under the 1939 Programme from Furness
Shipbuilders on 21st June 1939 and laid down on 22nd
September that year. The ship was launched on 5th August 1940 by Mrs Furness
and was the 6th RN ship to carry this name.
It was introduced in 1813 for a 6th Rate and had previously been used
for a Trawler sold in 1922 to Spain.
Build was completed on 26th April 1941 but four days later the ship was
badly damaged in an air raid on the shipyard and after repair in a Tyneside
shipyard entered service on 21st June 1942. She was adopted by the
civil community of Bootle, Lancashire following a successful WARSHIP
WEEK campaign for National Savings.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
NORTH AFRICA 1942 - ATLANTIC 1942-45
- SICILY 1943
H e
r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Blue, an erne rising white.
M o t t o
Surtout:
'Above all'
D e t a i l s o f W a r
S e r v i c e
(for more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and type name in Site Search
1 9 4 1
April
Contractors trials and commissioned for service in 43rd Escort Group
26th Build
completion and commenced Acceptance Trials.
30th Sustained
major damage during air raid at Belfast.
May Passage to
Tyne for repair in commercial shipyard
June Under
repair.
to (See
THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC by D Macintyre for details of convoy defence
December tactics and
SEEK AND STRIKE by W Hackmann for weapons data).
1 9 4 2
January Under
repair.
to
May
June Post
repair trials and prepared for work-up.
21st On
completion took passage to Tobermory.
July Took
passage to join 45th Escort Group at
Londonderry on completion of work-up
Sailed from Clyde as part of escort for outward Convoy OS35 with ships of Group
during passage to Freetown
31st Took
part in sinking of U213 with HM Sloops SANDWICH and
ROCHESTER in
position 36.54N 22.50W, east of
Azores in defence of OS35.
None
of the crew of U213 survived.
(For
details see U- BOATS DESTROYED by P Kemp and HITLER’S U-BOAT WAR
by C
Blair.)
August Atlantic
convoy defence in continuation.
Deployed with Group for escort of return convoy from Freetown
September Nominated for
escort of military convoys to
Gibraltar prior to allied landings in North
Africa (Operation TORCH – See Naval Staff History and RELUCTANT ENEMIES by
W
Tute.)
October Deployed as
part of escort for convoy to
Gibraltar.
(Note: Part of preparation for TORCH)
November Transferred to
43rd Escort Group based at Gibraltar for convoy defence.
8th
Deployed for support of allied landings in
North Africa.
(For details see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by
Corelli Barnett
BRITISH INVASION FLEETS by J de Winser and above references )
December Support and
escort duties in western Mediterranean in continuation.
1 9 4 3
January Western
Mediterranean deployment in continuation.
Deployed with escort for Convoy GUF3 from Oran to Gibraltar
February Deployed
with escort for Convoy GUF4 from Oran to Gibraltar.
On
release from Gibraltar deployment transferred to 44th Escort Group.
Took passage to Londonderry.
25th
Deployed with Group as part of escort for outward convoy KMF10A during passage
from Clyde to Algiers.
March
4th
Detached from MKS10A on arrival at Algiers
April Group
deployment in continuation for defence of convoys on Gibraltar route
14th
Sustained structural damage by collision at Gibraltar with mercantile ss EMPIRE
MINNOW.
Taken in hand for repair by HM Dockyard, Gibraltar
May Resumed
convoy defence duties with Group on completion of repair.
June
Nominated for escort of military convoys prior to allied landings in Sicily.
(Operation HUSKY - See above references
26th Deployed
as part of escort for outward Convoy during passage to
Sicily
(Note: This was part of preparation for HUSKY)
July
5th
Detached from KMS18 and joined Support Force East for support of landings
in
Sicily. (See BRITISH INVASION FLEETS and Naval Staff History.)
21st Deployed as part of
escort for US military convoy GUS10X during passage from
Tripoli to
Hampton |Roads, USA.
August
13th
Detached from GUS10X on arrival at Hampton Roads.
September
2nd
Deployed with escort for inward Convoy HX255 during Atlantic passage to
Clyde from Halifax.
Nominated for refit in Belfast commercial shipyard.
12th Taken
in hand for refit.
October Under
refit
to
Nominated for service in 10th Escort Group
November (Note: Fit
of HEDGEHOG anti-submarine mortar and Radar Type 271 during this
period to be confirmed. See RADAR AT SEA by D Howse and above 1941
references for details of development.)
December Carried out
post refit trials on completion of shipyard work
1 9 4 4
January Resumed
operational service for Atlantic convoy defence with Group based at
Londonderry.
February Atlantic
convoy defence with Group in continuation.
to
Nominated for transfer to Mediterranean.
March
April
Passage to Mediterranean for escort of convoys between Gibraltar and Port Said.
May
Mediterranean convoy defence in continuation.
to
June
July Under
repair at Taranto.
to
(Note: This ship appears to have had poor availability which may have been due
to
August structural
damage caused during air raid in 1941).
September
12th On
completion resumed convoy defence duty in Mediterranean.
October
Mediterranean convoy defence in continuation.
to
November
December Taken in
hand for repair in Alexandria.
(Note: One source suggests this repair was needed because of standard of work
done at Taranto).
1 9 4 5
January Passage
to Malta for completion of repair by HM Dockyard.
Ship grounded on arrival in Malta and sustained further damage.
Passage to Falmouth for repair.
February Under
repair at Falmouth.
March On
completion of shipyard work prepared for work-up and took passage to
Tobermory.
April
Work-up at Tobermory for convoy
defence in English Channel.
(Note: German SCHNORKEL fitted submarines were concentrating attacks on focal points
of
convoy routes and additional escorts were deployed to supplement defence of the
re-routed Atlantic mercantile traffic). Deployed at Portsmouth for Channel
convoy
defence. (See HOLD THE NARROW SEA by
P Smith). After VE Day nominated
for
service in Pacific. Prepared for foreign service.
May After VE
Day nominated for service with British Pacific Fleet
Prepared for foreign service
June Took
passage to join British Pacific Fleet.
July Passage
to Mediterranean to work-up for Pacific Fleet duties.
August Passage to
Colombo,
1lth Arrived
at Colombo.
20th Passage
to join Fleet in Japanese waters.
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS ERNE remained with the British Pacific
Fleet assisted in the repatriation of allied nationals in the Far East until
the end of 1945 and returned to Plymouth on 19th
February 1946 to reduce to Reserve. She was selected for use as RNVR Drill Ship for
the Solent Division and was renamed HMS WESSEX at Southampton after conversion by
HM Dockyard Portsmouth for these duties
at Portsmouth. After the RNVR headquarters moved ashore this Sloop was placed
on the
Disposal
List in 1965
and sold to BISCO on 27th October 1965 for breaking-up by General Navigation
and Storage at Antwerp. The ship arrived in tow at the breaker’s yard
later that year.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
ERNE
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date convoy sailed
|
Joined convoy as escort
|
Convoy No. |
Left convoy
|
Date convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
21/07/42
|
22/07/42
|
OS 035
|
12/08/42
|
10/08/42
|
14/08/42
|
14/08/42
|
SL 119
|
05/09/42
|
04/09/42
|
19/09/42
|
20/09/42
|
OS 041
|
01/10/42
|
01/10/42
|
23/09/42
|
04/10/42
|
SL 123
|
10/10/42
|
14/10/42
|
25/10/42
|
26/10/42
|
KMS 002G
|
12/11/42
|
12/11/42
|
21/11/42
|
21/11/42
|
MKS 002
|
24/11/42
|
03/12/42
|
03/12/42
|
05/12/42
|
MKS 003X
|
08/12/42
|
19/12/42
|
30/12/42
|
31/12/42
|
GUF 003
|
01/01/43
|
13/01/43
|
01/01/43
|
05/01/43
|
CF 010A
|
08/01/43
|
08/01/43
|
18/01/43
|
18/01/43
|
GUS 003
|
22/01/43
|
07/02/43
|
07/02/43
|
07/02/43
|
MKS 007
|
14/02/43
|
17/02/43
|
25/02/43
|
02/03/43
|
KMF 010A
|
04/03/43
|
04/03/43
|
06/03/43
|
06/03/43
|
MKF 010A
|
14/03/43
|
14/03/42
|
31/03/43
|
01/04/43
|
KMS 012G
|
12/04/43
|
16/04/43
|
10/04/43
|
14/04/43
|
MKS 011
|
23/04/43
|
16/04/43
|
24/06/43
|
26/06/43
|
KMS 018B
|
06/07/43
|
10/07/43
|
13/06/43
|
07/07/43
|
UGS 010
|
09/07/43
|
10/07/43
|
18/07/43
|
18/07/43
|
KMS 020
|
20/07/43
|
20/07/43
|
27/06/43
|
20/07/43
|
UGS 011
|
21/07/43
|
unknown
|
22/07/43
|
25/07/43
|
GUS 010X
|
27/07/43
|
13/08/43
|
21/08/43
|
21/08/43
|
UT 001
|
21/08/43
|
04/09/43
|
02/09/43
|
08/09/43
|
HX 255
|
15/09/43
|
16/09/43
|
01/02/44
|
01/02/44
|
KMF 028A
|
08/02/44
|
08/02/44
|
03/03/44
|
03/03/44
|
KMF 029A
|
15/03/44
|
17/03/44
|
20/03/44
|
21/03/44
|
MKS 044
|
01/04/44
|
01/04/44
|
17/04/44
|
17/04/44
|
KMS 047
|
23/04/44
|
27/04/44
|
17/04/45
|
17/04/45
|
KMF 043
|
21/04/45
|
23/04/45
|
08/04/45
|
19/04/45
|
HX 349
|
23/04/45
|
23/04/45
|
09/05/45
|
09/05/45
|
VWP 150
|
10/05/45
|
10/05/45
|
11/05/45
|
11/05/45
|
VWP 152
|
12/05/45
|
12/05/45
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note on Convoys)