Castle class corvette

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General characteristics (original configuration)
HMS Leeds Castle
Displacement:	1,060 tons
Length:	252 feet (76.8 m)
Beam:	37 feet (11.3 m)
Draught:	10 feet (3.0 m)
Propulsion:	2 water tube boilers, 1 four cylinder triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw 2,750 hp (2 MW)
Speed:	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) maximum, 10 knots (18.5 km/h) cruising
Range:	9,500 nautical miles at 10 knots (17,600 km at 18.5 km/h)
Complement:	112
Armament:	One 4 inch (102 mm) Quick Firing Mk.XIX High Angle/Low Angle combined air/surface gun 1 Squid Anti-submarine mortar 1 depth charge rail, 15 depth charges Two 20 mm twin anti-aircraft cannon and six 20 mm single cannon.
Radar:	Type 272 originally
Sonar:	Types 144Q and 147B originally

The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943. They were equipped with radar as well as asdic. The Admiralty had decided to cease Flower class construction in favour of the larger River-class frigates as the Flower class had originally been intended for coastal escort work and were not entirely satisfactory for Atlantic convoy service. In particular, they were slow, poorly armed, and rolled badly in rough seas which quickly exhausted their crews. However, many shipyards were not large enough to build frigates and so the Castle class was designed to be built on small slipways. Appearance was much like the later "long forecastle" variant of the Flowers and they were a little larger (around 1,200 tons — about 200 tons more than the Flowers, and 40 ft (12 m) longer). The most obvious difference was the lattice mainmast instead of the pole one fitted to the Flowers. There was also a more "square cut" look to the stern although it was still essentially a cruiser spoon type, this difference was only visible from abaft the beam. Armament was similar except that the depth charge fitment had been replaced by one for the Squid anti-submarine mortar. Propulsion machinery was identical to the Flowers, and experienced officers felt that they were seriously under powered, having a tendency to turn into the wind despite everything the helmsman could do. The fact that attacks with Squid required a fairly low speed compared to depth charge attacks only made matters worse. Most had been scrapped by the end of the 1950s, but a few survived a little longer as weather ships. However, the last was the Uruguayan Montevideo, originally Rising Castle and scrapped in 1975. Most were operated by the Royal Navy, but twelve were assigned to the Royal Canadian Navy and one to the Royal Norwegian Navy. Three Castles were sunk through enemy action, and Castles participated in the sinking of seven U-boats.

1 Ships
2 Cancelled
3 Castles sunk or destroyed in action
4 U-boats sunk by Castles
5 Film Appearance
6 Postwar Conversions
7 References
8 External links

Ships

Royal Canadian Navy

Arnprior (ex-HMS Rising Castle)
Bowmanville (ex-HMS Nunney Castle)
Copper Cliff (ex-HMS Hever Castle)
Hespeler (ex-HMS Guildford Castle) (later SS Chilcotin)
Humberstone (ex-HMS Norham Castle)
Huntsville (ex-HMS Woolvesey Castle)
Kincardine (ex-HMS Tamworth Castle)
Leaside (ex-HMS Walmer Castle) (later SS Coquitlam II)
Orangeville (ex-HMS Hedingham Castle)
Petrolia (ex-HMS Sherborne Castle)
St. Thomas (ex-HMS Sandgate Castle) (later SS Camosun III)
Tillsonburg (ex-HMS Pembroke Castle)

Royal Navy The initial Castle was the Allington Castle, re-ordered on 9 December 1942 (from the previous order placed for a Modified Flower Class corvette named Amaryllis); another 13 vessels were ordered on 19 December, also under the 1942 War Programme.

Allington Castle
Bamborough Castle
Caistor Castle
Denbigh Castle (lost on 13 February 1945)
Farnham Castle
Gorey Castle (K529) - renamed Hedingham Castle (ii) in 1945.
Hadleigh Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Lancaster Castle
Maiden Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Lifeguard)
Norham Castle (to Canada as HMCS Humberstone)
Oakham Castle
Pembroke Castle (to Canada as HMCS Tillsonburg)
Rayleigh Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Rest)

The remaining ships were all ordered under the 1943 War Programme.

Alnwick Castle
Amberley Castle
Barnard Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Shelter)
Berkeley Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Dumbarton Castle
Flint Castle
Guildford Castle (to Canada as HMCS Hespeler) (later SS Chilcotin)
Hedingham Castle (K491) (to Canada as HMCS Orangeville)
Hever Castle (to Canada as HMCS Copper Cliff)
Hunney Castle (to Canada as HMCS Bowmanville)
Hurst Castle (lost on 1 September 1944)
Knaresborough Castle
Launceston Castle
Leeds Castle
Morpeth Castle
Oxford Castle
Pevensey Castle
Portchester Castle
Rising Castle (to Canada as HMCS Arnprior)
Rushen Castle
Sandgate Castle (to Canada as HMCS St. Thomas) (later SS Camosun III)
Scarborough Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Peacemaker)
Sherborne Castle (to Canada as HMCS Petrolia)
Shrewsbury Castle (to Norway as HNoMS Tunsberg Castle)
Tamworth Castle (to Canada as HMCS Kincardine)
Tintagel Castle
Walmer Castle (to Canada as HMCS Leaside) (later SS Coquitlam II)
Woolvesey Castle (to Canada as HMCS Huntsville)
York Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Comfort before completion)

Royal Norwegian Navy

HNoMS Tunsberg Castle (ex-HMS Shrewsbury Castle, lost on 12 December 1944)

Cancelled

15 ships ordered for the Royal Navy from UK shipyards were cancelled:

Alton Castle
Appleby Castle
Bere Castle
Caldecot Castle
Calshot Castle
Dover Castle
Dudley Castle
Monmouth Castle
Norwich Castle
Oswestry Castle
Pendennis Castle
Rhuddlan Castle
Thornbury Castle
Tonbridge Castle
Warksworth Castle

36 ships ordered for the Royal Canadian Navy from Canadian shipyards were cancelled:

Aydon Castle
Barnwell Castle
Beeston Castle
Bodiam Castle
Bolton Castle
Bowes Castle
Bramber Castle
Bridgenorth Castle
Brough Castle
Canterbury Castle
Carew Castle
Chepstow Castle
Chester Castle
Christchurch Castle
Clare Castle
Clavering Castle
Clitheroe Castle
Clun Castle
Colchester Castle
Corfe Castle
Cornet Castle
Cowes Castle
Cowling Castle
Criccieth Castle
Cromer Castle
Devizes Castle
Dunster Castle
Egremont Castle
Fotheringay Castle
Helmsley Castle
Malling Castle
Malmesbury Castle
Raby Castle
Trematon Castle
Tutbury Castle
Wigmore Castle

Castles sunk or destroyed in action

HMS Hurst Castle was sunk by U-483 northwest of Ireland on 1 September 1944.
HNoMS Tunsberg Castle was sunk by a mine near Båtsfjord, Norway on 12 December 1944.
HMS Denbigh Castle was hit by a torpedo from U-992 in the Barents Sea on 13 February 1945. She was towed by Bluebell to the Kola Inlet but later capsized.

U-boats sunk by Castles

U-744 was sunk by HMS Icarus, HMCS St. Catharines, HMCS Fennel, HMCS Chilliwack, HMCS Chaudiere, HMCS Gatineau and HMS Kenilworth Castle on 6 March 1944
U-484 was sunk in the north-west of Ireland by HMS Porchester Castle and HMS Helmsdale on 9 September 1944
U-1200 was sunk south of Ireland by HMS Pevensey Castle, HMS Lancaster Castle, HMS Porchester Castle and HMS Kenilworth Castle on 11 November 1944
U-387 was sunk in the Barents Sea by HMS Bamborough Castle on 9 December 1944
U-877 was sunk north-west of the Azores by HMCS St. Thomas on 27 December 1944
U-425 was sunk in the Barents Sea by HMS Lark and HMS Alnwick Castle on 17 February 1945
U-878 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by HMS Vanquisher and HMS Tintagel Castle on 10 April 1945

Film Appearance

The final third of the film The Cruel Sea is set on a Castle class corvette.

Postwar Conversions

Three were converted to passenger/cargo ships for the Union Steamship Company of British Columbia, and were known as the White Boats (see Twigg). They were operated from 1946 to 1958, but were heavy on fuel and had limited cargo capacity eg could not carry cars in the hold.