HMS Stork

Vessel name on Arrival: HMS Stork

Original Builder: William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland

Original Yard No: 1282

Official Number:

Vessel Type: sloop

GRT: 1190

Year Built: 1936

Arrival Date: 03/06/1958

Breakup Started: 23/06/1958

Date First Beached: 10/06/1958

Date Breakup Completed: 23/08/1959

Draught For’d: 7' 6"

Draught Aft: 10' 0"

Name Changes:

Other Information:

 

Bittern-Class Twin-Screw Sloop HMS STORK                    Pennant Nos. L81 / U81

 

01-05-1935  :   Ordered

19-06-1935  :   Laid Down

21-04-1936  :   Launched

10-09-1936  :   Completed

 

Displacement Tonnage  :   1,190 tons

 

Dimensions  :   266 feet  x  37 feet   (81 metres  x  11 metres)

 

Propulsion  :   Geared Steam Turbines driving twin screwshafts

 

Power and Speed  :   3,300 SHP / 18.75 knots

 

Complement  :   125

 

Armaments  :   6  x  4" A.A. Guns   +    4  x  0.5" A.A. Guns

 

 

Wartime Patrols of HMS Stork

HMS Stork was a Bittern class sloop of the Royal Navy which served in convoy escort groups during World War II.  Stork was laid down on 19 June 1935 by William Denny & Brothers of Dumbarton, Scotland and launched on 21 April 1936.  She was completed as an unarmed survey ship and operated in Malayan waters until 1939, when she returned to Devonport for refit including installation of her anti-aircraft guns.

 

In 1940 Stork took part in the Norwegian Campaign and assisted in the rescue of survivors from the transport MS Chrobry.

 

In 1941 Stork, under the command of Cdr FJ "Johnnie" Walker, was assigned to lead the 36th Escort Group (36 EG). The group escorted uneventful convoys to and from Gibraltar and the South Atlantic before being assigned to Convoy HG 76 from Gibraltar in December 1941. The group was augmented by the new escort carrier Audacity and other ships. During the journey five U-boats were sunk, four by ships of 36 EG, including U-574 which was depth-charged and rammed by Stork.

 

Stork continued with 36 EG until mid-1942. She and HMS Vetch sank U-252 on 14 April. She was then transferred to the Mediterranean where she was torpedoed by U-77 off Algeria on 12 November. She was towed to Gibraltar for temporary repairs and then taken to Falmouth for further repairs. She then joined the 37th Escort Group and on 30 August 1943 she and HMS Stonecrop sank U-634 in the North Atlantic east of the Azores. In 1944 she was part of the 116th Escort Group supporting Operation Neptune.  

 

In 1945 she was refitted at Portsmouth but the work was not completed before the war ended. She was put in Reserve but in January 1946 was re-commissioned as the Senior Officer's ship in the Fishery Protection Squadron where she served for two years before being put in Reserve again. She was decommissioned and broken up in 1958.

 

17 Dec 1941
German U-boat U-131 was sunk north-east of Madeira, Portugal, in position 34°12'N, 13°35'W, by depth charges and gunfire from the British escort destroyers HMS Exmoor, HMS Blankney, British destroyer HMS Stanley, British corvette HMS Pentstemon and the British sloop HMS Stork, and by depth charges from a Martlet aircraft (Sqdn. 802) of the British escort carrier HMS Audacity.

 

19 Dec 1941
German U-boat U-574 was sunk in the North Atlantic near Punta Delgada, in position 38°12'N, 17°23'W, by ramming and depth charges from the British sloop HMS Stork.  HMS Stork also picked up 14 survivors from the British merchant Ruckinge that was torpedoed and damaged (finally sunk by gunfire from the British corvette HMS Samphire), by German U-boat U-108, West of Lisbon, Portugal, in position 38°20'N, 17°15'W.

 

14 Apr 1942
German U-boat U-252 was sunk at 2230hrs on 14 April 1942 in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Stork and the British corvette HMS Vetch

 

30 Aug 1943
German U-boat U-634 was sunk in the North Atlantic east of the Azores by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Stork and the British corvette HMS Stonecrop