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HMS Leith (U36)
Encyclopedia
HMS Leith was a Grimsby-class
Grimsby class sloop
With the realisation that war was approaching, 13 Grimsby class sloops were laid down in the mid to late 1930s. Of these eight were built in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, four in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy and one for India...
sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. She served during the Second World War.
Construction, commissioning and early service
Leith was ordered on 1 November 1932 under the 1931 Programme. She was laid down at Devonport DockyardHMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
on 6 February 1933, launched on 9 September 1933 and commissioned on 10 July 1934. She was initially assigned to the New Zealand Station, manned by the Chatham Port Division. The Leith arrived at Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
on 13 November 1934, and was deployed in the Pacific and locally in New Zealand waters. She was recommissioned in December 1936 in order to continue to serve with the New Zealand Division and was again in July 1939. She had an active career in the Pacific, making numerous visits to Colonial possessions, and on one occasion taking Salote Tupou III
Salote Tupou III of Tonga
Sālote Mafile‘o Pilolevu Tupou III, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DStJ , but usually named only Sālote, was Queen of Tonga from 5 April 1918 to her death in 1965.-Personal history:...
, Queen of Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
on a visit to outlying islands.
The Pacific and return to the UK
The outbreak of the Second World War saw Leith still in the Pacific. In September 1939 she sailed to SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
to carry out contraband control duty on the China Station
China Station
The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....
. During the passage she called at Jervis Bay
Jervis Bay
Jervis Bay is a large bay bounded by the state of New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, and a detached enclave of the Australian Capital Territory. HMAS Creswell is located between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch in the Jervis Bay Territory.-History:...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Leith was deployed at Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
to carry out contraband control, and also to carry out surveillance on enemy ships in Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
ports. She was recalled from these duties in November and was ordered to sail to the UK to carry out convoy defence duties in Home Waters. She sailed from Penang on 7 November, travelling via the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and the Mediterranean. She arrived at Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, where she was diverted to go to Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
to join as an escort for an Atlantic convoy. She joined convoy SL-14 at Freetown on 26 December, escorting it to the UK. On arrival Leith was deployed to escort convoys. On 10 January she was diverted to join the sloops HMS Aberdeen and Bideford, and the destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s HMS Vidette, Wanderer, Warwick
HMS Warwick (D25)
HMS Warwick was a Admiralty 'W' class destroyer built in 1917.She saw service in both the First and Second World Wars, before being torpedoed and sunk in January 1944.-Construction:...
and Witch in escorting the inbound convoy HG-14 into Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Leith was detached on 12 January and took passage for a refit at Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
. The following day she was taken in hand by a commercial shipyard.
Covering the Western Approaches
After the completion of the refit in February she was nominate to serve with the Western Approaches CommandWestern Approaches Command
Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsible for the safety of British shipping in the Western...
. She joined the command at Liverpool on 2 February. On 11 February she joined the outbound convoy OG-18 with HMS Bideford, and the destroyers HMS Active
HMS Active (H14)
HMS Active, the tenth Active , launched in 1929, was an A class destroyer. She served in World War II, taking part in the sinking of four submarines. She was broken up in 1947....
and Versatile. Leith and Bideford were detached on 17 February and joined the inbound convoy HG-19, until 27 February. This pattern of convoy escort duties was followed throughout March to July. In July she was transferred to the Rosyth
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
Escort Force for convoy defence in the North Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
and North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. She was soon withdrawn from operational service to attend to a defect in her No 1 Boiler. She underwent repair at Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. After post repair trials she resumed services with the Western Approaches Command on 12 August with the 41st Escort Group based at Liverpool. Here she covered the final stages of convoys between Gibraltar and Freetown. On 28 August she picked up 27 survivors from the Finnish merchant SS Elle which had been sunk north-east of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
by U-101.
Convoy SC-7
In October she deployed with the sloop HMS FolkestoneHMS Folkestone (L22)
HMS Folkestone was a Hastings class sloop of the Royal Navy that saw action in World War II. She was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. of Wallsend-on-Tyne, laid down on 21 May 1929 and launched on 12 February 1930...
and the corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s HMS Bluebell
HMS Bluebell (K80)
HMS Bluebell was a that served in the Royal Navy during World War II. Ordered from Fleming & Ferguson at Paisley on 27 July 1939, she was launched on 24 April 1940 and commissioned in July 1940. She served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic, escorting several convoys to Russia, and also...
and Heartsease
HMS Heartsease (K15)
HMS Heartsease was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served with both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy during the Second World War, with the latter navy as USS Courage...
for the defence of the Atlantic convoys during the journey to the dispersal point of the outward convoys and for the final stage of the passage of the inward convoys. On 13 October she joined the outbound convoy OB-228 from Liverpool to its dispersal point. On 16 October she came under attack from U-93. Leith sighted the submarine on the surface and forced her to submerge. Leith then carried out an unsuccessful search for her attacker with HMS Heartsease. The escorts were detached from the convoy on 17 October and sailed to join the inbound convoy SC-7
Convoy SC-7
SC-7 was the code name for a large Allied World War II convoy of 35 merchant ships and six escorts which sailed eastbound from Sydney, Nova Scotia for Liverpool and other United Kingdom ports on 5 October 1940. While crossing the Atlantic, the convoy was intercepted by one of the German Navy's...
. On 18 October she rescued 19 survivors from the Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n merchant Nora which had been torpedoed and sunk on 13 October by U-103. Together with the sloops HMS Scarborough
HMS Scarborough (U25)
HMS Scarborough was a Hastings-class sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1930. She saw active service during the Second World War, especially as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic.-Construction and commissioning:...
and Fowey
HMS Fowey (L15)
HMS Fowey was a Shoreham-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.-Construction and commissioning:Fowey was ordered on 4 December 1929 under the 1929 Programme. She was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 24 March 1930, and was launched on 4 November that year by a Mrs...
and the corvettes Bluebell and Heartsease they attempted unsuccessfully to fight off the wolf pack attacks of a number of u-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s. Leith picked up survivors from three torpedoed merchants before joining the inbound convoy HX-79
Convoy HX-79
HX 79 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.It suffered major losses from a U-boat attack, and, with the attack on convoy SC 7 the previous day, represents the worst two days shipping losses in the entire Atlantic...
which had also come under heavy u-boat attack. Leith gathered up three merchants and brought them into port.
The Atlantic convoys
She made a full transatlantic crossing and return in November, escorting an outbound and inbound convoy, before returning to her usual pattern in December, covering the Freetown and Gibraltar convoys. On 9 December she was part of the escort for convoy OG-47 on its way to Gibraltar. The convoy came under attack on 20 December by the Italian submarine Mocenigo, which sank the SS Manchester General. Leith was detached from the convoy on its arrival on 25 December and sailed with the an inbound convoy to Liverpool on 29 December. On her arrival she returned covering the convoys through the Western Approaches throughout January to April 1941. On 17 April she began a refit at AvonmouthAvonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...
which lasted until May, when she was nominated for convoy defence based in Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
.
Leith sailed to join the Newfoundland Escort Force based at St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
on 6 June. She deployed with them throughout July and into August. She returned in August to redeploy with the Western Approaches Command. On 20 August she deployed with the destroyers HMS Gurkha
HMS Gurkha (G63)
HMS Gurkha was an L class destroyer in Britain's Royal Navy during World War II. She was originally to be named Larne in line with her class letter...
and Lance
HMS Lance (G87)
HMS Lance was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She entered service during World War II, and had a short but eventful career, serving in Home waters and the Mediterranean Sea. She was damaged in two consecutive air attacks at Malta in 1942. She was towed back to Britain, declared a...
, and the corvette HMS Zinnia
HMS Zinnia (K98)
HMS Zinnia was a that served in the Royal Navy.She was built at Smiths Dock Company, South Bank-on-Tees, launched on 28 November 1940 and commissioned on 30 March 1941....
and the other corvettes of the 5th Escort Group in the defence of the outward convoy OG-71, consisting of 21 ships from Liverpool on passage to Gibraltar. The Norwegian destroyer HMNoS Bath
USS Hopewell (DD-181)
The first USS Hopewell was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Bath , a "Town"-class destroyer.-As USS Hopewell:...
had been sunk the previous day, along with three merchants. The convoy continued to be attacked after the reinforcements arrived, despite constant anti-submarine operations. HMS Zinnia and four other merchants were sunk on 22 August. The rest of the convoy arrived at Gibraltar on 25 August. Leith returned to Liverpool in September, escorting convoy HG-72.
The African coast
In October Leith was at BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, before joining the 43rd Escort Group for escort of convoys between UK and Freetown, being based at Londonderry Port
Londonderry Port
Londonderry Port at Lisahally is a port near Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the United Kingdom’s most westerly port, has capacity for 30,000 ton vessels and accepts cruise ships. The current port is on the east bank of the River Foyle at the southern end of Lough Foyle, by the small village of...
. She spent the next couple of months escorting convoys before sailing on 28 November as an escort for a convoy to West Africa. She returned in January 1942 and from 17 January underwent repairs to her underwater equipment at Londonderry Port. She returned to service on 31 January. Further escort duties took Leith along to African coast to Bathurst
Banjul
-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...
and back again. Her next major engagement came in August, when she was part of convoy SL-119, consisting of 29 merchants. The convoy was detected and its position reported by U-214 on 25 August. The Wolf pack Blücher
Wolf pack Blücher
Blücher was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic from 13 July to 1 August 1942. They attacked the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool convoys SL-118 and SL-119, and sank six ships for a total of , and damaged one...
was ordered to carry out a concentrated attack. Leith carried out searches for u-boats and rescued the crew of the torpedoed merchant SS Zuiderkerk. After the arrival of the convoy, Leith underwent the replacement of her underwater dome for her sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
outfit at Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
. After this was completed by October, she returned to Belfast.
Refits and the English Channel
Also in October Leith was nominated to escort the military convoys for the allied landings in North Africa (Operation TorchOperation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
). She escorted a stores convoy late in October and spent November and December escorting convoys through the western Mediterranean. She carried these duties out until March 1943 when she return with her group to the UK. 1943 and the first half of 1944 was spent on the Freetown route. In August she returned to the Mediterranean, undergoing an extensive refit at Gibraltar in September owing to her deteriorated condition after an extended period in active service in the Atlantic. The refit lasted until December, and in January 1945 she returned to the UK and joined the 38th Escort Group based at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
. She escorted convoys through the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in February and March, and in April escorted the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
minelayer
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
Van der Zaan as she laid mines in the English Channel. After VE Day
Victory in Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
in May Leith was nominated to be reduced to the reserve fleet
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
. She sailed to Rosyth
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
in June where she was paid off, and laid up the following month.
Post war
Leith was placed on the disposal list and sold in 1946 into merchant service. She was renamed Byron, and later Friendship in 1948. She was then acquired by the Royal Danish NavyRoyal Danish Navy
The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters...
in 1949 and renamed HMDS Galathea. She undertook a two-year deep sea hydrographic
Hydrography
Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...
expedition, circumnavigating the world in 1950–52, and was sold for scrapping at Odense
Odense
The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
in 1955.