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Allied Warships

HMS Leith (L 36 / U 36)

Sloop of the Grimsby class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeSloop
ClassGrimsby 
PennantL 36 / U 36 
Built byDevonport Dockyard (Plymouth, U.K.): J.S. White & Co. (Cowes, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down6 Feb, 1933 
Launched9 Sep, 1933 
Commissioned12 Jul, 1934 
End service 
Loss position
 
History

Sold and became the mercantile Byron in 1946.
Renamed Friendship in 1948.
Resold to the Royal Danish Navy on 26 August 1949 and renamed Galathea.
Galathea was scrapped at Odense, Denmark in 1955.

Commanding Officers:
Cdr. G.R. Weymouth, RN
1 November 1938 – 2 September 1940

Cdr. Roland Charlton Allen, RN
2 September 1940 – 21 March 1941

Lt.Cdr. M.T. Collier, RN
21 March 1941 – 24 June 1941

Lt.Cdr. E.C. Hulton, RN
24 June 1941 – 30 May 1943

Lt.Cdr. A.W. Preston, RN (retired)
30 May 1943 – 20 March 1945

Lt. R.R. Whalley, RN
20 March 1945 – still listed in the July 1945 Navy List

HMS Leith is not listed as active unit in the October 1945 Navy List 


Noteable events involving Leith include:

28 Aug, 1940
HMS Leith (Cdr. G.R. Waymouth, RN) picks up 27 survivors from the Finnish merchant Elle that was torpedoed and sunk north-east of Ireland in position 57º43'N, 12º18'W by the German submarine U-101.

18 Oct, 1940
HMS Leith (Cdr. R.C. Allen, RN) picks up 19 survivors from the Estonian merchant Nora that was torpedoed and sunk on 13 October 1940 by the German submarine U-103 north-east of Ireland in position 57º02'N, 13º11'W.

19 Oct, 1940
HMS Leith (Cdr. R.C. Allen, RN) picks up 34 survivors from the British merchant Assyrian and 19 survivors from the Dutch merchant Soesterberg that were torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-101 about 100 nautical miles west by north of Barra Head, Outer Hebrides in position 57º12'N, 10º43'W.

29 Aug, 1942
HMS Leith picks up 68 survivors from the Dutch merchant Zuiderkerk that was torpedoed and damaged the previous day by the German submarine U-566 west-north-west of Lisbon, Portugal in position 40º20'N, 16º02'W. The Zuiderkerk was finally sunk with shallow set depth charges by HMS Erne.


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