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Allied Warships

HMS Erne (U 03)

Sloop of the Black Swan class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeSloop
ClassBlack Swan 
PennantU 03 
Built byFurness Shipbuilding Ltd. (Haverton Hill-on-Tees, U.K.) : Richardson Westgarth 
Ordered 
Laid down21 Sep, 1939 
Launched5 Aug, 1940 
Commissioned26 Apr, 1941 
End service 
Loss position
 
History

Became a RNVR Drill ship on 4 June 1952 being renamed Wessex.
Scrapped in 1965.

Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. Henry Maxwell Darell-Brown, RN
27 February 1941 - ???

HMS Erne was in Dockyard Control during repairs

Lt.Cdr. Evelyn David John Abbot, RN
17 March 1942 – October / November 1943
DSC awarded on 6 January 1943

HMS Erne in Dockyard Control during refit ???

Cdr. W.J. Hickey, RNR
December 1943 – 18 June 1945

Lt.Cdr. James Arbouin Burnett, DSC, RN
18 June 1945 - still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List 


Noteable events involving Erne include:

30 Apr, 1941
While still at the builders yard (4 days after commissioning) HMS Erne (Lt.Cdr. H.M. Darell-Brown, RN) is heavily damaged by a near miss during a German air attack. Repairs were only completed in June 1942.

31 Jul, 1942
The German submarine U-213 was sunk in the North Atlantic east of the Azores, in position 36º45'N, 22º50'W by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Erne (Lt.Cdr. E.D.J. Abbot, RN), HMS Rochester (Cdr. C.B. Allen, RN) and HMS Sandwich (Lt.Cdr. H. Hill, RNR). (see map)

29 Aug, 1942
HMS Erne (Lt.Cdr. E.D.J. Abbot, RN) scuttles the Dutch merchant Zuiderkerk with depth charges. The Zuiderkerk was torpedoed and damaged by the German submarine U-566 west-north-west of Lisbon, Portugal in position 40º20'N, 16º02'W.


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