HMS Vervain

HMS Vervain's 4-inch gun crew in action, July 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Vervain
Ordered	8 April 1940
Builder	Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland
Yard number	1101[1]
Laid down	16 November 1940
Launched	12 March 1941
Completed	9 June 1941[1]
Commissioned	9 June 1941
Stricken	20 February 1945
Identification	Pennant number K190
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 20 February 1945
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	925 long tons (940 t)
Length	205 ft (62.48 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft (10.06 m)
Draught	11.5 ft (3.51 m)
Propulsion	single shaft 2 × fire tube Scotch boilers 1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 2,750 ihp (2,050 kW)
Speed	16 knots (29.6 km/h)
Range	3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)
Complement	85
Sensors and processing systems	1 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament	1 × 4-inch (102 mm) BL Mk.IX gun 2 × .50-inch (12.7 mm) Vickers machine gun (twin) 2 × .303-inch (7.7 mm) Lewis machine gun (twin) 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges originally fitted with minesweeping gear, later removed

HMS Vervain was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.

In March 1942, the ship was adopted by the village of Queensbury in West Yorkshire.^[2]

On 28 February 1943 the Liberty ship SS Wade Hampton was torpedoed by German submarine U-405 while sailing in a convoy from New York to Murmansk, Russia. Survivors were picked up by Vervain and HMS Beverley near Greenland.^[3]

On 20 February 1945 at 11.45 hours Vervain was escorting a homeward-bound convoy when she was sunk by a torpedo from a U-boat, U-1276 under Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Wendt, about 25 miles south-east of Dungarvan, Ireland, south of Waterford. Vervain sank after 20 minutes. The commander, three officers and 56 ratings were lost. Three officers and 30 ratings were rescued.^[4] In turn the U-boat, U-1276 was sunk with depth charges by HMS Amethyst. The action resulted in the loss of all 49 of the U-boat's crew.

HMS Vervain is a Designated vessel under schedule 1 of The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012.^[5]

References

1. McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780752488615.
2. "Queensbury Remembers". Queensbury Remembers. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
3. "Wade Hampton". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
4. "WEEKLY RESUME (No. 286) of the NAVAL, MILITARY AND AIR SITUATION from 0700 15th February to 0700 22nd February" (PDF). War Cabinet. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2009 – via The National Archives.
5. "The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012".

Publications

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• National Archives Archived 9 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Vervain". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.

51°47′N 7°6′W