Bangor West Probus Club
Lagan Legacy presentation at Bangor Probus Club, Crawfordsburn Inn.
Charlie Warmington spoke to the Bangor West Probus members about Belfast's nautical heritage, and outlined the ships that were launched or handed over today, down the years.
He began with three that were launched - HMS Armeria, HMS St. Bride's Bay the oil tanker, British Skill.
1941 Ship No: 1098 HMS Armeria. Flower Class Corvette. 800 tons.
Armeria was one of 34 Flower class corvettes ordered from Belfast by Churchill himself.
HMS Armeria.
Picture courtesy of FCC and WWII Royal Navy Forums.
HMS Armeria served as escort to numerous convoys and on the 28th June 1941 under A/T/Lt.Cdr. H.M. Russell, DSC, RNR she picked up 12 survivors from a British merchant ship that had been torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the German submarine U-123 west-southwest of the Canary Islands.
Later that year, on 1 Dec, 1942 HMS Armeria picked up 27 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Scapa Flow that was torpedoed and sunk south-west of the Cape Verde Islands by the German submarine U-134.
After the War she was sold in 1947, and became the merchant Deppie in 1948.
1945 Ship No: 1250 HMS St Bride’s Bay was launched. She was a 1,400 ton Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after St Brides Bay in Pembrokeshire. She was originally laid down as the Loch-class vessel Loch Achilty. She served in Korean War, and on the Far East station for the greater part of her life until the last commission of 1960/61 when she was brought home to Portsmouth to end up in the breakers yard. The St Brides Bay Association has hundreds of members worldwide, former crew men who loved their ship and still stay in contact.
1952 Ship No: 1425 British Skill , an Oil Tanker of 18,550 tons. H&W built almost 60 ships called “British – British Crown, British Explorer, British Ranger and one named after a potato called British Queen!!
Three vessels were handed over to their owners today, 16th January, down the years.
1913 Ship No: 428 Drina. A passenger ship for Royal Mail of 11,483 tons
Drina, one of 3 sisters built in H&W, served as a hospital ship, and Prince Albert was apparently a patient on her for quite some time until transferred with his Surgeon to another Hospital Ship in Scapa Flow.
Serving as a Hospital ship, Drina was torpedoed off Skokholm Island near Pembroke, by German Submarine UC 65 on the 1st. of March in 1917. 15 of her crew died, and the ship sits at 60 metres upside down, and is visited by divers. Records are emerging that Drina was hit by 2 torpedoes, one a considerable time after the initial strike. With lifeboat capacity far in excess of the 320 people on board, survivors were rescued; most of those lost seem to have been in the engine room. An image of Drina was used for an Australian postage stamp.
1923 Ship No: 560 Bompata, a ‘B’ Type Cargo Ship for Elder Dempster of 5570 tons
Sold in 1934 and renamed Tower Dale. Can’t get much more about her.
1931 Ship No: 840 Warwick Castle, a passenger ship for Union Castle of 20,440 tons
At 08.44 hours on 14 Nov, 1942, the Warwick Castle was hit by one of two torpedoes from U-413 about 200 miles northwest of Cape Espichel, Portugal. The U-boat hit her with two bulls eyes at 08.57 hours, that caused the ship to sink about one hour later. The master, 61 crew members and 34 service personnel were lost. 201 crew members, 29 gunners, 5 naval personnel and 131 service personnel were rescued. Prior to this The Warwick Castle had been in convoy KMF-1 for Operation Torch and landed her troops on 10 November.
In 2007 Warwick town council planted memorial trees to this vessel and her crew, and she appears on an old and very collectible postcard.