| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Corvette |
| Class | Flower |
| Pennant | K 51 |
| Built by | Charles Hill & Sons Ltd. (Bristol, U.K.) : Richardson, Westgarth & Clark |
| Ordered | 21 Sep 1939 |
| Laid down | 28 Oct 1940 |
| Launched | 26 Jul 1941 |
| Commissioned | 4 Nov 1941 |
| End service | |
| History | Commisioned as Protea into the south African Navy 4 October 1947. |
Commands listed for HMS Rockrose (K 51)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. John Dudley Birch, RNR | 6 Aug 1941 | 6 Jul 1942 |
| 2 | Lt. Edward John Binfield, RNR | 6 Jul 1942 | 16 Oct 1943 |
| 3 | T/Lt. Henry James Makepeace, RNR | 16 Oct 1943 | 8 Jul 1945 |
| 4 | T/Lt. Edward Alexander King, RNVR | 8 Jul 1945 | 11 Jan 1946 |
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Notable events involving Rockrose include:
21 Nov 1941
HrMs O 9 (Lt.Cdr. H.A.W. Goossens, RNN) participated in A/S exercises off Tobermory together with HNoMS Rose, HMS Bluebell (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Sherwood, RNR), HMS Rockrose (Lt.Cdr. J.D. Birch, RNR) and HMS Snowflake (Lt. H.G. Chesterman, RNR). (1)
22 Nov 1941
HrMs O 9 (Lt.Cdr. H.A.W. Goossens, RNN) participated in A/S exercises off Tobermory together with HMS Rockrose (Lt.Cdr. J.D. Birch, RNR), HMS Snowflake (Lt. H.G. Chesterman, RNR), HMS Sluna (Lt.Cdr. E.W. Middleton, RNVR) and HMS Rosalind (Skr. E.G. Littler, DSC, RD, RNR). (1)
8 Oct 1942
HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, RNR) picks up 42 survivors from the American merchant Chickasaw City that was torpedoed and sunk the previous day by German U-boat U-172 about 85 nautical miles south-south-west of Cape town, South-Africa in position 34°15'S, 17°11'E.
HMS Rockrose also picks up 28 survivors from the Panamanian merchant Firethorn that was also torpedoed and sunk the previous day by the same U-boat but about 60 nautical miles north-west of Cape town in position 34°13'S, 17°21'E.
10 Oct 1942
HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, RNR) picks up 5 survivors from the Greek merchant Pantelis that was torpedoed and sunk two days earlier by German U-boat U-172 about 40 nautical miles south-west of Cape town, South Africa.
29 Oct 1942
The British merchant Ross is torpedoed and sunk of Cape Agulhas, South Africa in position 38°51'S, 21°40'E by German U-boat U-159. 39 survivors were later picked up by HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, RNR).
15 Jan 1943
HrMs O 21 (Lt.Cdr. J.F. van Dulm, RNN) conducts A/S exercises off Simonstown with HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, DSC, RNR), HMSAS Vereeniging and HMSAS Sonnebloem. (2)
16 Jan 1943
HrMs O 21 (Lt.Cdr. J.F. van Dulm, RNN) departed from Simonstown for East London. She is escorted by HMS Rockrose (Lt. E.J. Binfield, DSC, RNR). (2)
10 Feb 1945
HMS Shakespeare (Lt. D. Swanston, DSC and Bar, RN) departed Trincomalee for Colombo. She was towed by the corvette HMS Rockrose (T/Lt. H.J. Makepeace, RNR).
For the daily positions of HMS Shakespeare during this passage see the map below.
(3)
Sources
- File 2.12.03.6368 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
- File 2.12.03.6413 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
- ADM 173/19638
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.