HMS Calpe (L71)
HMS Calpe
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Calpe |
| Ordered: | December 1939 |
| Builder: | Swan Hunter (Wallsend) |
| Laid down: | 12 June 1940 |
| Launched: | 28 April 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 11 December 1941 |
| Identification: | pennant number: L43 |
| Fate: | Sold to the Royal Danish Navy in 1952 and renamed Rolf Krake. Scrapped in 1966. |
 Denmark
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| Name: | HDMS Rolf Krake |
| Acquired: | 1952 |
| Commissioned: | 1954 |
| Decommissioned: | 1962 |
| Identification: | pennant number: F342 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Type II Hunt-class destroyer |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 85.34 m (280.0 ft) |
| Beam: | 9.62 m (31.6 ft) |
| Draught: | 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines; 19,000 shp |
| Speed: | 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) |
| Range: | 3,600 nmi (6,670 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 164 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Calpe (pennant number L71) was a British Royal Navy Type II Hunt-class destroyer escort. Built as a result of the outbreak of World War II, Calpe escorted convoys during the war and participated in the Dieppe Raid. Calpe is an old name for Gibraltar. Collaborating with USS Wainwright on 13 December 1943, she assisted in the sinking of German U-boat U-593. Calpe was loaned and then sold to the Danish Navy, remaining active until she was scrapped in Sweden in 1966.
Calpe was ordered in December 1939 from Swan Hunter Wallsend as part of the 1939 emergency program. She was not the first ship of this name as HMS Calpe had been a ship in the Royal Navy from 1800 to 1802. The keel was laid the following year and it was launched and completed in 1941. Following her acceptance on 11 December 1941, the ship set sail for Scapa Flow. The ship was adopted in February 1942 by Abingdon-on-Thames in Berkshire as part of a National Savings campaign called Warship Week.
In 1942 she sailed under the Spanish Ensign as she approached St Jean de Luz. To keep up the pretense, all the crew remained below deck. It was not until before the bombardment took place on 4–5 April that the British Ensign replaced the Spanish jack.
On 18 and 19 August 1942 Calpe was involved in the Dieppe Raid. Her primary function was to act as the command ship for the raid and was used by Major-General Roberts (OC, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division) and Captain John Hugues-Hallet RN (Naval Commander for the raid). She acted as a hospital ship and sustained casualties, losing nearly a quarter of the crew. Despite this, Calpe managed to take on and care for 278 casualties.
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