HMS Ekins (K552)

HMS Ekins off Harwich, England, on 12 November 1944.
Career
Name: unnamed (DE-87)
Builder: Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts
Laid down: 5 July 1943[1]
Launched: 2 October 1943[1]
Completed: 29 November 1943[1]
Commissioned: never
Fate: Transferred to United Kingdom 29 November 1943[1]
Struck: 25 June 1945[1]
Fate: Nominally returned by United Kingdom June 1945[2]
Sold March 1947 for scrapping[1]
Career (United Kingdom)
Class and type: Captain-class frigate
Name: HMS Ekins (K552)
Namesake: Captain Sir Charles Ekins (1768-1855), British naval officer who was commanding officer of HMS Superb at the bombardment of Algiers in 1816[3]
Acquired: 29 November 1943[1]
Commissioned: 29 November 1943[4]
Decommissioned: 1945[5]
Fate: Constructive total loss after 16 April 1945[1]
Nominally returned to United States June 1945[2]
General characteristics
Displacement:1,400 tons
Length:306 ft (93 m)
Beam:36.75 ft (11.2 m)
Draught:9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:Two Foster-Wheeler Express "D"-type water-tube boilers
GE 13,500 shp (10,070 kW) steam turbines and generators (9,200 kW)
Electric motors for 12,000 shp (8,900 kW)
Two shafts
Speed:24 knots (44 km/h)
Range:5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:186
Sensors and
processing systems:		SA & SL type radars
Type 144 series Asdic
MF Direction Finding antenna
HF Direction Finding Type FH 4 antenna
Armament:3 × 3 in (76 mm) /50 Mk.22 guns
1 x twin Bofors 40 mm mount Mk.I
7-16 x 20 mm Oerlikon guns
Mark 10 Hedgehog antisubmarine mortar
Depth charges
QF 2 pounder naval gun
Notes:Pennant number K552

HMS Ekins (K352) was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy that served during World War II. Originally constructed as a United States Navy Buckley class destroyer escort, she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.

Construction and transfer

The ship was laid down as a U.S. Navy destroyer escort designated "DE-87" by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., in Hingham, Massachusetts, on 5 July 1943 and launched on 2 October 1943. She was transferred to the United Kingdom upon completion on 29 November 1943.[1]

Service history

Commissioned into service in the Royal Navy under the command of Temporary Lieutenant George Graham Bonner-Davis, RNVR, as the frigate HMS Ekins (K552) on 29 November 1943 simultaneously with her transfer, the ship served on patrol and escort duty. On 21 July 1944 she joined the British frigate HMS Curzon (K513) in sinking with depth charges the German submarine U-212 in the English Channel south of Brighton, England, at 50°27′00″N 000°13′00″W / 50.45000°N 0.21667°W.[4]

On 16 April 1945, Ekins struck a mine in the North Sea 13 nautical miles (24 km) northwest of Ostend, Belgium. Although severely damaged, she managed to limp back to port. Damaged beyond economical repair, she was declared a constructive total loss and was decommissioned later in 1945.[4][1]

Disposal

The Royal Navy nominally returned Ekins to the U.S. Navy in June 1945.[2] The U.S. Navy struck her from its Naval Vessel Register on 25 June 1945. She was sold in March 1947 for scrapping in the Netherlands,[1] and she was scrapped at Dordrecht later that year.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive Ekins (DE-87) HMS Eakins (K-552)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Colledge, J. J., Ships of the Royal Navy: he Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-652-X, p. 120.
  3. ↑ Captain Class Frigate Association: HMS Ekins K552 (DE 87)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 uboat.net HMS Ekins (K 552)
  5. ↑ Per uboat.net HMS Ekins (K 552), Ekins was not carried on the Royal Navy‍ '​s October 1945 list, strongly implying that she was decommissioned earlier in 1945.

External links