LOCHY
Shipbuildervessel built by
Hall, Russell & Company, Limited
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)
Shipownervessel built for
Admiralty
Date30 October 1944
Object NameFRIGATE
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 283' x breadth 36' 6" x depth 17' 6"
Object numberABDSHIP002473
Keywords
Yard Number: 772
Fate: Scrapped at Troon on 29 June 1956.
Propulsion: Steam
Description: River Class Frigate, armament 2 x 4" guns,10 x 20 mm A.A. guns; 1 x hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.
Owners:
1944: Royal Navy, pennant no. K365
Commanding Officer:
05/11/1943: Lt.Cdr. William John Pierce Roberts, RNR
(still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List)
General History:
On 6 June 1944 HMS LOCHY was involved in the anti-submarine screening of the task force for operation Neptune, the Allied landing in Normandy.
From 16 until 29 March 1945 LOCHY docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown, South Africa.
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'HMS LOCHY was to be my home, and that of the 140 crew for several months to come. Her duties were to escort convoys, and hunt U-boats and, as such, she was most successful.
So on the great day we were towed across Aberdeen Harbour to oil up, already having taken on board provisions and ammunition and, when the engines were started up, the ship became alive and independent.
Initially we left harbour to run the 'measured mile' just north of the River Don, and then we were off to Tobermory, Mull.
The LOCHY was going north about through the Pentland Firth. There we hit a ferocious gale. It was a shake down voyage in more than one sense, because anything not lashed securely would soon crash down. With an open bridge, our captain, Lt Commander Roberts RNR decided to stay on the bridge throughout all the time it took to reach our haven. A well-trained ship was worth more than three ill trained, and we were to have sixteen days of intense skill learning and become most proficient. Nobody was to be exempt and our teacher was none less than the fearsome Vice Admiral Stephenson RN through whose organisation ultimately many hundreds of ships were to pass.
Having reached our haven in Tobermory Bay 'hands to breakfast' was piped, the first chance most had had an opportunity to eat anything. But somebody was ringing the ship's bell furiously, and nobody knew what it meant. The Vice Admiral had got aboard without anybody being aware, and was ringing it. He wanted to know why the captain and officers had not met him at the gangway. Furthermore he ordered all the ship's company to fall in on the quarterdeck, and gave us such a dressing down, nobody could forget it.
During our stay all were trained, gunnery, Asdics, Communications, Radar etc.
When we left we were off to war: the Atlantic, Mediterranean, South Africa and ultimately near and Far East. She was to be the first ship up the Rangoon river in Burma. We were at D-day, and as part of the famous EG2 (Captain Walker) HMS LOCHY was part of that skilled hunter-killer group. She was present at the sinking of U-333 (Cremer's famous U-boat) and took part in the saving of USS DONNELL, which had been hit by a GNAT (German Navy Acoustic Torpedo) in the Atlantic and was towed safely to Troon in 1944.'
- Notes by H George Burt of Felixstowe, February 2004.
1841
