HMS Itchen (K227)

HMS Itchen (K227) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). Itchen was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River-class frigate. She served in the North Atlantic during World War II.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Itchen.
History
United Kingdom
Name: Itchen
Namesake: River Itchen, Hampshire
Builder: Fleming & Ferguson Ltd., Paisley
Laid down: 14 July 1941
Launched: 29 July 1942
Commissioned: 28 December 1942
Fate: Sunk 23 September 1943 at 53°25′N 39°42′W
General characteristics
Class and type: River-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 1,370 long tons (1,390 t)
  • 1,830 long tons (1,860 t) (deep load)
Length:
  • 283 ft (86.26 m) p/p
  • 301.25 ft (91.82 m)o/a
Beam: 36.5 ft (11.13 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load)
Propulsion: 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Speed: 20 knots (37.0 km/h)
Range: 440 long tons (450 t; 490 short tons) oil fuel; 7,200 nautical miles (13,334 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement: 107
Armament:

As a River-class frigate, Itchen was one of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts, named after rivers in the United Kingdom. The ships were designed by naval engineer William Reed, of Smith's Dock Company of South Bank-on-Tees, to have the endurance and anti-submarine capabilities of the Black Swan-class sloops, while being quick and cheap to build in civil dockyards using the machinery (e.g. reciprocating steam engines instead of turbines) and construction techniques pioneered in the building of the Flower-class corvettes. Its purpose was to improve on the convoy escort classes in service with the Royal Navy at the time, including the Flower class.

After commissioning in December 1942, Itchen participated in anti-submarine warfare exercises off Tobermory, Mull and Lough Foyle until mid September 1943 where she was assigned as convoy escort.[1]

On 19 September 1943, Itchen was involved in the U-boat attack on Convoys ONS 18/ON 202. At 21:51 on 20 September, HMCS St. Croix was hit and sunk, with 81 survivors being picked up by Itchen. During this, at 22:53 on 20 September, the German submarine U-305 fired a torpedo at Itchen but missed and HMS Polyanthus was sunk screening the rescue. At 02:01 on the morning of 23 September, U-666 fired a torpedo at Itchen which hit the ship after 70 seconds. The frigate blew up with loss of 230 lives and 3 survivors. [2] These ships were some of the first victims of the newly developed GNAT torpedo. The survivors were picked up by SS Wisła.[3][4]

References
  1. "HMS Itchen (K 227) of the Royal Navy - British Frigate of the River class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  2. "HMS Itchen (K 227) (British Frigate) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  3. "HMCS St. Croix (I 81) (Canadian Destroyer) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". www.uboat.net. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  4. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. 1991. p. 293.
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