HMS Stonecrop (K142)

HMS Stonecrop was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War. She was named after the stonecrop flower (Sedum).

HMS Stonecrop in October 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Stonecrop
Ordered	31 August 1939
Builder	Smith's Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.)
Laid down	4 February 1941
Launched	12 May 1941
Commissioned	30 July 1941
Identification	Pennant number: K142
Fate	Sold on 17 May 1947 Became a merchant ship Scrapped 1969
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	925 long tons (940 t)
Length	205 ft (62 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draught	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Installed power	30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
Propulsion	1 × 4-cycle triple-expansion reciprocating engine 2 × Scotch fire-tube boilers 1 × screw
Speed	16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Range	3,500 nmi (4,000 mi; 6,500 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement	85
Sensors and processing systems	1 × SW1C or 2C radar 1 × Type 123A or Type 127DV sonar
Armament	1 × BL 4 in (100 mm) Mk.IX gun 4 × Vickers .50 cal machine gun (2×2) 4 × Lewis .303 cal machine gun (2×2) 2 × Mk.II depth charge throwers 2 × Depth charge rails with 40 depth charges originally fitted with minesweeping gear (later removed)

She was built at Smith's Dock, South Bank-on-Tees and launched on 12 May 1941.

Service history

During the Second World War Stonecrop was a convoy escort and helped to sink two U-boats. On 2 April 1943 she and the sloop Black Swan sank U-124 with depth charges off the coast of Portugal.^[1] Later that year on 30 August 1943 she and the sloop Stork sank U-634 with depth charges in the North Atlantic east of the Azores.

Following the war she was sold on 17 May 1947 and became the merchant ship Silver King.

Notes

1. Blair 2000, p. 207.

References

• Blair, Clay (2000). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-64033-9.
• 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.

External links

• HMS Stonecrop (K 142), uboat.net