HMS Leeds Castle
General Characteristics (original configuration)
Displacement:	1,060 tons
Length:	252 feet (76.8 m)
Beam:	37 feet (11.3 m)
Draught:	10 feet (3.0 m)
Propulsion:	2 water tube boilers, 1 four cylinder triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw 2,750 hp (2 MW)
Speed:	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) maximum, 10 knots (19 km/h) cruising
Range:	9,500 nautical miles at 10 knots (17,600 km at 19 km/h)
Complement:	112
Armament:	One 4 inch (100 mm) Quick Firing Mk.XIX High Angle/Low Angle combined air/surface gun 1 Squid Anti-submarine mortar 1 depth charge rail, 15 depth charges Two 20mm twin anti-aircraft cannon and six 20mm single cannon.
Radar:	Type 272 originally
Sonar:	Types 144Q and 147B originally

The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943. They were equipped with radar as well as sonar.

The Admiralty had decided to cease Flower class construction in favour of the larger River-class frigates as the Flower class had originally been intended for coastal escort work and were not entirely satisfactory for Atlantic convoy service. In particular, they were slow, poorly armed, and rolled badly in rough seas which quickly exhausted their crews. However, many shipyards were not large enough to build frigates and so the Castle class was designed to be built on small slipways.

Appearance was much like the later "long forecastle" variant of the Flowers and they were a little larger (around 1,200 tons — about 200 tons more than the Flowers, and 40 ft (12 m) longer).

The most obvious difference was the lattice mainmast instead of the pole one fitted to the Flowers. There was also a more "square cut" look to the stern although it was still essentially a cruiser spoon type, this difference was only visible from abaft the beam.

Armament was similar except that the depth charge fitment had been replaced by one for the Squid anti-submarine mortar.

Propulsion machinery was identical to the Flowers, and experienced officers felt that they were seriously under powered, having a tendency to turn into the wind despite everything the helmsman could do. The fact that attacks with Squid required a fairly low speed compared to depth charge attacks only made matters worse.

Most had been scrapped by the end of the 1950s, but a few survived a little longer as weather ships. However, the last was the Uruguayan Montevideo, originally Rising Castle and scrapped in 1975.

Most were operated by the Royal Navy, but twelve were assigned to the Royal Canadian Navy and one to the Royal Norwegian Navy. Three Castles were sunk through enemy action, and Castles participated in the sinking of seven U-boats.

Ships

Royal Canadian Navy

• Arnprior (ex-HMS Rising Castle )
• Bowmanville (ex-HMS Hunney Castle )
• Copper Cliff (ex-HMS Hever Castle )
• Hespeler (ex-HMS Guildford Castle )
• Humberstone (ex-HMS Norham Castle )
• Huntsville (ex-HMS Woolvesey Castle )
• Kincardine (ex-HMS Tamworth Castle )
• Leaside (ex-HMS Walmer Castle )
• Orangeville (ex-HMS Hedingham Castle )
• Petrolia (ex-HMS Sherborne Castle )
• St. Thomas (ex-HMS Sandgate Castle )
• Tillsonburg (ex-HMS Penbroke Castle )

Royal Navy

• Allington Castle
• Alnwick Castle
• Amberley Castle
• Bamborough Castle
• Barnard Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Shelter)
• Berkeley Castle
• Caistor Castle
• Carisbrooke Castle
• Denbigh Castle (lost on 13 February 1945)
• Dumbarton Castle
• Farnham Castle
• Flint Castle
• Guildford Castle (to Canada as HMCS Hespeler )
• Hadleigh Castle
• Hedingham Castle (K491) (to Canada as HMCS Orangeville )
• Hedingham Castle (K529)
• Hever Castle (to Canada as HMCS Copper Cliff )
• Hunney Castle (to Canada as HMCS Bowmanville )
• Hurst Castle (lost on 1 September 1944)
• Kenilworth Castle
• Knaresborough Castle
• Lancaster Castle
• Launceston Castle
• Leeds Castle
• Maiden Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Lifeguard)
• Morpeth Castle
• Norham Castle (to Canada as HMCS Humberstone )
• Oakham Castle
• Oxford Castle
• Penbroke Castle (to Canada as HMCS Tillsonburg )
• Pevensey Castle
• Porchester Castle
• Rayleigh Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Rest)
• Rising Castle (to Canada as HMCS Arnprior )
• Rushen Castle
• Sandgate Castle (to Canada as HMCS St. Thomas )
• Scarborough Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Peacemaker)
• Sherborne Castle (to Canada as HMCS Petrolia )
• Shrewsbury Castle (to Norway as HNoMS Tunsberg Castle )
• Tamworth Castle (to Canada as HMCS Kincardine )
• Tintagel Castle
• Walmer Castle (to Canada as HMCS Leaside )
• Woolvesey Castle (to Canada as HMCS Huntsville )
• York Castle (converted to convoy rescue ship Empire Comfort)

Royal Norwegian Navy

• HNoMS Tunsberg Castle (ex-HMS Shrewsbury Castle , lost on 12 December 1944)

Cancelled

• Alton Castle
• Appleby Castle
• Bere Castle
• Caldecot Castle
• Calshot Castle
• Dover Castle
• Dudley Castle
• Monmouth Castle
• Norwich Castle
• Oswestry Castle
• Pendennis Castle
• Rhuddlan Castle
• Thornbury Castle
• Tonbridge Castle
• Warksworth Castle

Castles sunk or destroyed in action

• HMS Hurst Castle was sunk by U-483 northwest of Ireland on 1 September 1944.
• HNoMS Tunsberg Castle was sunk by a mine near Båtsfjord, Norway on 12 December 1944.
• HMS Denbigh Castle was hit by a torpedo from U-992 in the Barents Sea on 13 February 1945. She was towed by Bluebell to the Kola Inlet but later capsized.

U-boats sunk by Castles

• U-744 was sunk by HMS Icarus, HMCS St. Catharines , HMCS Fennel , HMCS Chilliwack , HMCS Chaudiere , HMCS Gatineau and HMS Kenilworth Castle on 6 March 1944
• U-484 was sunk in the north-west of Ireland by HMS Porchester Castle and HMS Helmsdale on 9 September 1944
• U-1200 was sunk south of Ireland by HMS Pevensey Castle, HMS Lancaster Castle , HMS Porchester Castle and HMS Kenilworth Castle on 11 November 1944
• U-387 was sunk in the Barents Sea by HMS Bamborough Castle on 9 December 1944
• U-877 was sunk north-west of the Azores by HMCS St. Thomas on 27 December 1944
• U-425 was sunk in the Barents Sea by HMS Lark and HMS Alnwick Castle on 17 February 1945
• U-878 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by HMS Vanquisher and HMS Tintagel Castle on 10 April 1945

External links

Castle Class Corvette (Frigate) Association