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Allied Warships

HMS La Malouine (K 46)

Corvette of the Flower class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeCorvette
ClassFlower 
PennantK 46 
Built bySmiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.) 
Ordered25 Jul, 1939 
Laid down13 Nov, 1939 
Launched21 Mar, 1940 
Commissioned29 Jul, 1940 
End service 
Loss position
 
History

Laid down as La Malouine for the French Navy, but completed as HMS La Malouine for the Royal Navy after France was invaded by Germany.

Scrapped at Galleswick Bay on 22 May 1947.

Commanding Officers:
???

Lt.Cdr. Ronald William Keymer, RN (retired)
5 August 1940 – 3 July 1941
Promoted to Cdr. on 11 February 1941

T/Lt. Vivian Dickinson Hamlin Bidwell, RNR
3 July 1941 – 10 May 1943

Lt. William Arthur Ives, RNR
10 May 1943 – 20 September 1944

T/Lt. Christopher Pawley, RNVR
20 September 1944 – still in command in April 1945 according to the Navy List

HMS La Malouine is not listed as active unit in the July 1945 Navy List 


Noteable events involving La Malouine include:

22 Sep, 1940
HMS La Malouine (Lt.Cdr. R.W. Keymer, RN) picks up 62 survivors from the British merchant Canonesa that was torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the German submarine U-100 about 340 nautical miles west of Bloody Foreland in position 54º55'N, 18º25'W.

HMS La Malouine also picks up 48 survivors from the British merchant Dalcairn that was also sunk by U-100 but in position 55º00'N, 19º00'W.

HMS La Malouine also picks up 32 survivors from the British tanker Frederick S. Fales that was also sunk by U-100 but in position 55º30'N, 13º40'W.

23 Sep, 1940
HMS La Malouine (Lt.Cdr. R.W. Keymer, RN) picks up 4 survivors from the British merchant Empire Airman that was torpedoed and damaged the previous day by the German submarine U-100 about 340 nautical miles west of Bloody Foreland in position 54º00'N, 18º00'W. The Empire Airman sank while under tow in position 55º11'N, 15º07'W.

5 Aug, 1941
HMS La Malouine (T/Lt. V.D.H. Bidwell, RNR) picks up 59 survivors from the British merchant Kumasian that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-74 west of Ireland in position 53º26'N, 15º40'W.

9 Jul, 1942
HMS La Malouine (Lt. V.D.H. Bidwell, RNR) picks up 30 survivors from the American merchant John Witherspoon that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-255 about 20 nautical miles from the shore of Novaya Zemlya in position 72º05'N, 48º30'E.

2 Apr, 1943
HMS La Malouine (Lt. V.D.H. Bidwell, RNR) picks up survivors from the British merchant Katha that was torpedoed by the German submarine U-124 and sunk about 320 nautical miles west of Oporto, Portugal in position 41º02'N, 15º39'W.

16 Apr, 1944
HMS La Malouine (Lt. W.A. Ives, RNR) picks up 72 survivors from the American merchant Meyer London that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-407 about 17 nautical miles off Derna in position 32º51'N, 23º00'E.


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