HMS Amberley Castle (K386)

HMS Amberley Castle was a Castle-class corvette of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. She was named after Amberley Castle near Arundel in West Sussex.

Amberley Castle in January 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Amberley Castle
Namesake: Amberley Castle
Laid down: 31 May 1943
Launched: 27 November 1943
Commissioned: 24 November 1944
Identification: Pennant number: K386
Fate: Converted to weather ship in 1957, scrapped in 1982.
General characteristics
Class and type: Castle-class corvette
Displacement: 1,060 tons
Length: 252 ft (77 m)
Beam: 37 ft (11 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion: 2 water tube boilers, 1 four cylinder triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw 2,750 hp (2,050 kW)
Speed: 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) maximum
Range: 9,500 nmi (17,600 km; 10,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 112
Sensors and
processing systems:		 Radar - Type 272 originally, Sonar - Types 144Q and 147B originally
Armament:
  • 1 × 4-inch Quick Firing Mk.XIX High Angle/Low Angle combined air/surface gun
  • 1 × Squid Anti-submarine mortar
  • 1 × depth charge rail, 15 depth charges
  • 2 × 20 mm twin anti-aircraft cannon
  • 6 × 20 mm single anti-aircraft cannon

Construction

Laid down at S.P. Austin & Son Ltd. shipyard in Sunderland on 31 May 1943 she was launched on 27 November 1943 and commissioned on 24 November 1944.

World War II

She served as a convoy escort until the end of the war (escorting 15 convoys in 1945[1]) when she was put into reserve at Portsmouth until 1952.

Weather ship

She was in reserve at Penarth from 1953 until 1957 when she was converted to a weather ship at Blyth in Northumberland and renamed to Weather Advisor in a ceremony on 22 September 1960 at the James Watt Dock, Greenock by Lady Sutton, wife of Sir Graham Sutton, the then director-general of the Met Office.[2] She replaced the ship known as Weather Observer, which had carried out the role since 1947.[3]

She served in this role from 28 September 1960 onwards until she was again extensively updated in July 1976 at Manchester dry docks, and renamed Admiral Fitzroy after the British vice-admiral Robert FitzRoy, the first director of the forerunner to the British Meteorological Office.

Fate

The ship was finally scrapped at Troon in 1982.

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References
  1. "Castle-class corvettes". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  2. "Second Frigate as a Weather Ship". The Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  3. "Ship's 100th trip... two more to go". The Bulletin. Scotland. 15 April 1960. p. 9. Retrieved 27 April 2012.

Publications
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