1. Design

2. Service

3. References

4. Publications

HMS Berkeley Castle was a Castle-class corvette of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. She was named after Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Design

The Castle-class corvettes were an improved and enlarged derivative of the earlier Flower-class corvettes, which was intended to be built by shipyards that could not build the larger and more capable frigates. The greater length of the Castles gave made them better seaboats than the Flowers, which were not originally designed for ocean escort work. Large numbers (96 in total) were ordered in late 1942 and early 1943 from shipyards in the United Kingdom and Canada, but Allied successes in the Battle of the Atlantic meant that the requirement for escorts was reduced, and many ships (including all the Canadian ones) were cancelled.^[1][2]

The Castles were {{convert|252|ft|0|in|m}} long overall, {{convert|234|ft|0|in|m}} at the waterline and {{convert|225|ft|0|in|m}} between perpendiculars. Beam was {{convert|36|ft|6|in|m}} and draught was {{convert|13|ft|5|in|m}} aft at full load.^[3] Displacement was about {{convert|1060|LT|t}} standard and {{convert|1590|–|1630|LT|t}} full load.^[4] Two Admiralty Three-drum water tube boilers fed steam to a Vertical Triple Expansion Engine rated at {{convert|2750|ihp|kW}} which drove a single propeller shaft. This gave a speed of {{convert|16.5|kn|mph km/h}}.^[5] 480 tons of oil were carried, giving a range of {{convert|6200|nmi|mi km}} at {{convert|15|kn|mph km/h}}.^[6]

The ships had a main gun armament of a single QF 4-inch Mk XIX dual-purpose gun, backed up by two twin and two single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon.^[6] Anti-submarine armament consisted of a single triple-barrelled Squid anti-submarine mortar with 81 charges backed up by two depth charge throwers and a single depth charge rail, with 15 depth charges carried. Type 272 or Type 277 surface search radar was fitted, as was high-frequency direction finding (HF/DF) gear. The ships' sonar outfit was Type 145 and Type 147B.^[7]used in the film Up The Creek

Service

Berkley Castle was one of five Castle-class corvettes ordered on 2 February 1943. She was laid down at the Barclay Curle shipyard in Glasgow on 23 April 1943, launched on 19 August and commissioned on 18 November 1943.^[8] She served as a convoy escort until the end of the Second World War. {{cnspan|She was the first ship in the Indian Ocean war theatre to discover the Second World War had ended in Europe. Telegraphist Kenneth Bromwich received the message whilst stationed off the coast of Ceylon.|date=September 2018}}

She was then placed in reserve at Harwich. She suffered serious damage when she capsized in dock at Sheerness during severe flooding in February 1953 but was refloated and repaired. She was in reserve at Sheerness until 1956. She arrived at Thos W Ward Grays in Essex on 29 February 1956 for scrapping.

References

Publications

• {{cite book|last=Brown|first=David K.|title=Atlantic Escorts: Ships, Weapons & Tactics in World War II|year=2007|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location= Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84415-702-0|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Brown|first= David K. |title=Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development 1923–1945|year=2012|location= Barnsley, UK|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|isbn=978-1-84832-149-6|ref=harv}}.
• {{colledge|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Critchley |first=Mike |title=British Warships Since 1945: Part 5: Frigates|year=1992| publisher=Maritime Press|location=Liskeard, UK|isbn=0-907771-13-0|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Elliott|first=Peter|title=Allied Escort Ships of World War II: A Complete Survey|year=1977|publisher=Macdonald and Jane's|location=London|isbn=0-356-08401-9|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After|year=2008|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-015-4|ref=harv}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Gardiner|editor-first1=Robert|editor-last2=Chesneau|editor-first2=Roger|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|year=1980|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-146-7|ref=harv}}

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