| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMT Islay |
| Builder: | Smiths Dock Company, South Bank, Middlesbrough |
| Laid down: | 18 November 1940 |
| Launched: | 10 April 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 17 June 1941 |
| Fate: | Sold, October 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Isles class trawler |
| Displacement: | 545 long tons (554 t) |
| Length: | 164 ft (50 m) |
| Beam: | 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft 1 in (3.38 m) (mean) |
| Propulsion: | 1 triple expansion reciprocating engine, 1 shaft, 850 ihp (634 kW) |
| Speed: | 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 40 |
| Armament: | • 1 × 12-pounder gun • 3-4 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns • 30 × depth charges |
HMT Islay (T172) was a British Royal Navy Isles class armed trawler of the Second World War.
While under the command of C H L Clarke RNR, on 28 June 1942, the Islay picked-up 19 survivors from the British merchant steamer [[SS Zealand]] which had been hit by two torpedoes from U-97 to the southwest of Haifa. 14 crew members and gunners were lost[1]. On 10 August 1942 she sank the Italian submarine Scirè in Haifa bay. The Scirè was carrying 11 Decima Flottiglia MAS commandos, who were intending to attack shipping in Haifa harbour by means of human torpedoes[2]. RAF aircraft and coastal artillery were involved in the sinking, which had been facilitated by Ultra inntelligence[3]. The Scirè had previously launched human torpedo attacks on British naval units in Gibraltar and Alexandria.