HMS Cardigan Bay (K630)

Cardigan Bay in June 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Cardigan Bay
Namesake:	Cardigan Bay
Builder:	Henry Robb
Yard number:	348
Laid down:	14 April 1944
Launched:	28 December 1944
Commissioned:	25 June 1945
Decommissioned:	April 1961
Identification:	Pennant number: K630 (1945-1948) F630 (1948-1962)
Honours and awards:	Korea 1950-53
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 1962
Badge:	On a Field, Barry wavy of 10 White and Blue, a demi-dragon erased rampant red, armed and with pointed tongue Blue.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bay-class frigate
Displacement:	1,600 long tons (1,626 t) standard 2,530 long tons (2,571 t) full
Length:	286 ft (87 m) p/p 307 ft 3 in (93.65 m) o/a
Beam:	38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Draught:	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, 4-cylinder vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Speed:	19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)
Range:	724 tons oil fuel, 9,500 nmi (17,600 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement:	157
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 285 fire control radar Type 291 air warning radar Type 276 target indication radar High Frequency Direction Finder (HF/DF) IFF transponder
Armament:	4 × QF 4 inch Mark XVI guns on 2 twin mounting HA/LA Mk.XIX 4 × 40 mm Bofors A/A on 2 twin mounts Mk.V 4 × 20 mm Oerlikon A/A on 2 twin mounts Mk.V 1 × Hedgehog 24 barrel A/S projector 2 rails and 4 throwers for 50 depth charges

HMS Cardigan Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Cardigan Bay, off the coast of Ceredigion, Wales.

The ship was originally ordered from Henry Robb of Leith in 1943 as the Loch-class frigate Loch Laxford, and laid down on 14 April 1944 as Admiralty Job No. J11861. However the contract was then changed, and the ship was completed to a revised design as a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate, and launched on 28 December 1944 as Cardigan Bay, the first Royal Navy ship to carry the name. She was completed on 15 June 1945.

After sea trials, on 18 August 1945 Cardigan Bay joined the Mediterranean Fleet at Malta under the command of Commander Colin Maud. She was deployed in the Aegean Sea and at Haifa to intercept immigrant ships bound for Palestine. In July 1947 she escorted SS President Warfield (renamed Exodus 1947) to Famagusta, Cyprus, after placing a boarding party aboard, and in August escorted the British merchant ships Ocean Vigour, Empire Rival and Runnymede Park to Port-de-Bouc near Marseille, taking the immigrants from Exodus back to France. In early 1948 she intercepted the Liberty ships Pan York and Pan Crescent on passage from the Black Sea to Palestine with illegal immigrants.

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Wikipedia