Repeat SHOREHAM-Class Sloop ordered from HM
Dockyard Devonport under the 1930 Programme in 1931
and laid down on 31st August 1931.
The ship was launched by Viscountess Astor on 19th
April 1932 as the 11th RN ship to carry the name. It had been introduced in
1652 when used for the Prize ROTTERDAM to commemorate the fall of Pendennis Castle
in 1646. Build was completed on 27th
October 1932 and she served as Despatch Vessel for the CinC China
Station until the outbreak of WW2 having been specially modified for this
service. She was adopted by the civil community of Falmouth,
Cornwall after a successful
WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in December 1941.
B a t t
l e H o n o u r s
PORTLAND 1653 - GABBARD 1653
-
CHAGRES 1740 - CARTAGENA 1741 -
SANTA MARTA 1749 - MANILA 1761 - HELIGOLAND 1914
-
JUTLAND 1916
H e r a l d i
c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Red. a two headed eagle Silver,
on his breast a castle Gold.
(Derived from the seal of
Falmouth).
M o t t o
'Fail not'
D e t a i
l s o f W a r S e r v i c e
(for more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and type name in Site Search
1 9 3 9
September Deployed as Despatch Vessel
on China Station.
3rd Carried out patrol
duties for interception of enemy shipping in Hong Kong area.
October Patrol deployment in
continuation.
to (Note: As this ship
had no main armament her contribution must have been very
December limited. Arrangements made
for ship to be re-armed and for submarine
detection equipment
(ASDIC)
to be installed.
1 9 4 0
January Hong Kong deployment in continuation.
to
February
March Under refit at Hong Kong including fit of armament and ASDIC outfit
for convoy defence duties.
April On completion of post
refit trials took passage to Singapore for convoy escort and patrol duty
in East Indies.
May Transferred to East
Indies Station and took passage to Colombo.
Pennant Number for
visual signalling purposes changed to U34.
June Deployed in Persian
Gulf for trade defence.
24th Sank Italian submarine
GALVANI in approaches to Straits of Hormuz.
(Note: This
sinking was made possible by capture of Italian submarine GALILEO GALILEI
off Aden on 19th
June.
The absence of any
Battle Honour Award for this action cannot be explained)
July Persian Gulf duties in
continuation.
to
November
December Passage to Bombay for refit
in HM Dockyard.
Taken in hand on
arrival.
1 9 4 1
January On completion of post
refit trials resumed duties in Persian Gulf
to Nominated for support
of planned British military operations in Persian Gulf.
March
April Escorted military
convoy EM7 for operations in Persian Gulf.
28th Supported military
operations during occupation of Basra.
May Persian Gulf support and
escort duties in continuation.
to
July
August Deployed for support of
military operations in Northern Persian Gulf.
25th Provided support at
Abadan during landings to protect oil installations.
(Operation
COUNTENANCE).
September Released from Persian Gulf
support duties.
4th Towed mercantile
BRONTE from Abadan to Karachi.
October Transferred to
Mediterranean and took passage to Suez.
(Note:
Mediterranean Fleet was desperately short of escorts following the disastrous
operations at in
defence of Crete and the transfer of many ships for the occupation
of Madagascar.
November Deployed in Eastern
Mediterranean for convoy defence and the support of Tobruk garrison.
December Detached service in
Mediterranean terminated after outbreak of war with Japan.
Took passage to
Ceylon from Suez to rejoin East Indies Squadron.
1 9 4 2
January On arrival in Ceylon
deployed for convoy escort in Indian coastal waters.
February Convoy defence in
continuation.
to Nominated for refit
June
July Under refit by HM
Dockyard Bombay.
to
November
December On completion of dockyard
work carried out trials and prepared to resume operational
service.
Deployed for convoy
escort between Persian Gulf and Bombay.
1 9 4 3
January Indian Ocean convoy escort
in continuation.
to Nominated for refit
at Durban in commercial shipyard
May (Note: This is assumed
to be to enable fit of radar equipment as period out of service is
small and ship had
been refitted at Bombay in 1942)
June Passage to Durban.
Under refit
(Note: Radar Type
271 fitted to provide surface warning
See RADAR AT SEA
by D Howse for details of development and use of radar in RN.)
July On completion of
installation and trials, deployed on convoy escort between East Africa and
Aden or India.
August Indian Ocean convoy defence
in continuation.
to November Nominated for routine docking
and fit of additional equipment at Simonstown.
December Under refit at Simonstown.
(Note: Radar Type
291 fitted for surface and air warning. See reference.)
1 9 4 4
January Under refit.
February Carried out post refit
trials.
March Resumed Indian Ocean
convoy defence duties.
April Indian Ocean convoy
defence in continuation.
to December
1 9 4 5
January Indian Ocean convoy
defence in continuation.
to February
March Under refit by HM
Dockyard, Simonstown
to June (Note: Age of the ship
may have contributed to high incidence of defects.)
July Nominated for support
and escort duty off Burma and Malaya.
Passage to Colombo
on completion of trials.
August Passage to Singapore
(Note: Ship did
not take part in support of Operation ZIPPER landings in Malaya but was
diverted to
Singapore for deployment in support of the recovery of the Dutch East
Indies,
repatriation of Allied prisoners of war and civilians held by Japanese in 1942.
See WAR WITH JAPAN
(HMSO) and ALLIED INVASION FLEETS by J de S
Winser for
details of ZIPPER landings and Far East
naval activities in 1945.)
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS FALMOUTH remained in the East
Indies after VJ Day and after release from Operation ZIPPER was deployed for
patrol duties in the Persian Gulf until the end of 1946. The ship took passage
to pay of into Reserve, but instead of being placed on
the Disposal List was selected for use
as RNVR Drill Ship for the Tyne Division. After refit for that duty she took
passage to Newcastle on Tyne and served as HMS CALLIOPE from January 1952 until 1968 when placed on the Disposal
List. She was sold to BISCO for
demolition by Hughes Blocow at Blyth in 1968 for breaking-up. The
ship arrived at the Breakers yard in tow on 30th April 1968 after 36 years
service.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
FALMOUTH
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date convoy sailed
|
Joined convoy as escort
|
Convoy No. |
Left convoy
|
Date convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
12/04/41
|
16/04/41
|
BM 007
|
17/04/41
|
17/04/41
|
21/04/41
|
28/04/41
|
BP 001
|
29/04/41
|
29/04/41
|
30/04/41
|
03/05/41
|
BP 001A
|
06/05/41
|
06/05/41
|
21/12/41
|
25/12/41
|
BM 009A
|
27/12/41
|
03/01/42
|
23/01/42
|
26/01/42
|
BM 012
|
27/01/42
|
04/02/42
|
12/02/42
|
12/02/42
|
C 001
|
13/02/42
|
13/02/42
|
13/02/42
|
17/02/42
|
BM 013
|
25/02/42
|
25/02/42
|
12/02/42
|
20/02/42
|
SJ 001
|
21/02/42
|
05/03/42
|
18/03/42
|
18/03/42
|
ESCORT
|
20/03/42
|
20/03/42
|
21/04/42
|
21/04/42
|
MB 002
|
25/04/42
|
25/04/42
|
06/06/42
|
06/06/42
|
C 017
|
09/06/42
|
09/06/42
|
01/07/42
|
01/07/42
|
MB 010
|
05/07/42
|
05/07/42
|
09/07/42
|
09/07/42
|
BM 025
|
13/07/42
|
13/07/42
|
17/07/42
|
17/07/42
|
MB 013
|
23/07/42
|
23/07/42
|
16/11/42
|
16/11/42
|
BP 060
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
28/11/42
|
28/11/42
|
PB 014
|
03/12/42
|
03/12/42
|
07/12/42
|
07/12/42
|
BP 062
|
unknown
|
14/12/42
|
16/12/42
|
16/12/42
|
PA 015
|
22/12/42
|
22/12/42
|
26/12/42
|
26/12/42
|
AP 011
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
04/01/43
|
04/01/43
|
PB 020
|
10/01/43
|
10/01/43
|
12/01/43
|
12/01/43
|
BM 037
|
18/01/43
|
20/01/43
|
03/02/43
|
03/02/43
|
C 042
|
07/02/43
|
07/02/43
|
14/02/43
|
14/02/43
|
A 3
|
19/02/43
|
19/02/43
|
17/02/43
|
26/02/43
|
OW 004/1
|
05/03/43
|
05/03/43
|
09/03/43
|
09/03/43
|
PA 028
|
16/03/43
|
16/03/43
|
04/04/43
|
04/04/43
|
PB 034
|
10/04/43
|
10/04/43
|
14/04/43
|
14/04/43
|
BM 049
|
18/04/43
|
18/04/43
|
26/03/43
|
26/04/43
|
AP 026
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
23/05/43
|
23/05/43
|
MC 007
|
02/06/43
|
02/06/43
|
17/07/43
|
17/07/43
|
BC 001
|
20/07/43
|
20/07/43
|
26/07/43
|
26/07/43
|
CB 001
|
06/08/43
|
06/08/43
|
28/09/43
|
28/09/43
|
DKA 002
|
08/10/43
|
19/10/43
|
11/10/43
|
11/10/43
|
AKD 002A
|
15/10/43
|
19/10/43
|
08/10/43
|
20/10/43
|
DKA 003
|
27/10/43
|
27/10/43
|
31/10/43
|
31/10/43
|
AKD 005
|
10/11/43
|
19/11/43
|
06/11/43
|
18/11/43
|
DKA 006
|
26/11/43
|
28/11/43
|
01/12/43
|
02/12/43
|
AKD 007S
|
10/12/43
|
10/12/43
|
06/03/44
|
06/03/44
|
CM 049D
|
13/03/44
|
13/03/44
|
13/03/44
|
13/03/44
|
DKA 014
|
22/03/44
|
22/03/44
|
27/03/44
|
27/03/44
|
AKD 019
|
30/03/44
|
30/03/44
|
11/03/44
|
30/03/44
|
DKA 015
|
01/04/44
|
01/04/44
|
07/05/44
|
07/05/44
|
AK 008/2
|
16/05/44
|
16/05/44
|
26/05/44
|
26/05/44
|
KD 003
|
04/06/44
|
04/06/44
|
06/06/44
|
06/06/44
|
DKA 019
|
17/06/44
|
25/06/44
|
23/09/44
|
23/09/44
|
CM 058A
|
29/09/44
|
29/09/44
|
14/12/44
|
14/12/44
|
MC 014
|
22/12/44
|
22/12/44
|
24/12/44
|
24/12/44
|
MC 014/1
|
30/12/44
|
30/12/44
|
21/01/45
|
21/01/45
|
CM 060
|
28/01/45
|
28/01/45
|
29/01/45
|
29/01/45
|
CM 060/1
|
08/02/45
|
08/02/45
|
14/02/45
|
14/02/45
|
MC 014E
|
21/02/45
|
21/02/45
|
04/03/45
|
04/03/45
|
MC 015A
|
12/03/45
|
12/03/45
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note on Convoys)