HMS Annan (K404)

HMS Annan
History
United Kingdom
Name: Annan
Namesake: River Annan
Operator: Royal Navy
Ordered: 26 December 1942
Builder: Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd., Aberdeen
Laid down: 10 June 1943
Launched: 29 December 1943
Identification: pennant number: K 404
Fate:
  • Transferred to Canada 13 January 1944
  • Returned 20 June 1945
  • Sold to Denmark November 1945
Canada
Name: Annan
Operator: Royal Canadian Navy
Commissioned: 13 January 1944
Decommissioned: 20 June 1945
Identification: pennant number: K 404
Honours and
awards:		 Atlantic 1944, North Sea 1944[1]
Fate: returned to Royal Navy 1945
Denmark
Name: Niels Ebbesen
Namesake: Niels Ebbesen
Operator: Royal Danish Navy
Commissioned: 27 November 1945
Decommissioned: 8 May 1963
Identification: pennant number: F 339
Fate: broken up 1963 at Odense.
General characteristics
Class & type: River-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 1,445 long tons (1,468 t; 1,618 short tons)
  • 2,110 long tons (2,140 t; 2,360 short tons) (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 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Speed:
  • 20 knots (37.0 km/h)
  • 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h) (turbine ships)
Range: 646 long tons (656 t; 724 short tons) oil fuel; 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km) at 15 knots (27.8 km/h)
Complement: 157
Armament:
  • 2 × QF 4 in (102 mm) /45 Mk. XVI on twin mount HA/LA Mk.XIX
  • 1 × QF 12 pdr (3 in / 76 mm) 12 cwt /50 Mk. V on mounting HA/LA Mk.IX (not all ships)
  • 8 × 20 mm QF Oerlikon A/A on twin mounts Mk.V
  • 1 × Hedgehog 24 spigot A/S projector
  • up to 150 depth charges

HMS Annan was a River-class frigate built for the Royal Navy but was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy before commissioning. She served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War and saw action primarily as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was returned to United Kingdom and quickly sold to Denmark, who renamed her Niels Ebbesen. She was primarily used as a training vessel until 1963 when she was broken up in Odense. She was named for the River Annan in Scotland.

Annan was ordered on 26 December 1942 and laid down on 10 June 1943 by Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd. at Aberdeen, Scotland.[2] The vessel was launched on 29 December 1943[2] was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy for commissioning as HMCS Annan on 13 January 1944 at Aberdeen.[3]

War service

After working up at Tobermory, Annan joined escort group EG 6 at Londonderry. With this group she patrolled and escorted convoys in coastal waters around the United Kingdom. On 16 October 1944 while on patrol, EG 6 encountered U-1006 south of the Faroe Islands.[4] Forced to surface, she was sunk by Annan by depth charge.[3][5] She rescued forty-six survivors from the U-boat.[3]

In April 1945, the group EG 6 was transferred to Halifax, Nova Scotia.[3] However the following month, Annan returned to the United Kingdom and was transferred back to the Royal Navy at Sheerness on 20 June 1945.[3][5]

Postwar service

Annan was sold to the Royal Danish Navy on 22 November 1945 as one of two River-class frigates. The two ships were renamed the Holger Danske class.[6][Note 1] She was renamed Niels Ebbesen for the Danish squire Niels Ebbesen. She was used as a training ship for naval cadets, carrying up to 90 trainees.[7]

Niels Ebbesen went through several refits during her service with the Danish navy.[7] She was decommissioned on 8 May 1963[7] and broken up that year at Odense, Denmark.[3]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ uboat.net states it was the 27 November 1945.
Footnotes
  1. ↑ "Battle Honours". Britain's Navy. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 "HMS Annan (ii) (K404)". uboat.net. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron (2002). Warships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-2002 (3 ed.). St. Catharines: Vanwell Publishing Ltd. p. 97. ISBN 1-55125-072-1.
  4. ↑ Rohwer, p.360
  5. 1 2 "HMCS Annan (ii) (K404)". uboat.net. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  6. ↑ Balsved, Johnny E. (12 April 2005). "HOLGER DANSKE Class (1945-1963), Frigates". Danish Naval History. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Balsved, Johnny E. (12 April 2005). "Niels Ebbesen (1945-1963), Frigate". Danish Naval History. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
References

External links

Media related to River class frigates at Wikimedia Commons

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