HMS Hedingham Castle (K529)

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HMS Hedingham Castle was a built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Completed just after Germany surrendered in May 1945, the ship was reduced to reserve in August, but was reactivated a few months later. She became a training ship in January 1949 until the ship was again placed in reserve in 1956. Hedingham Castle was sold for scrap the following year and was broken up beginning in April 1958.

Design and description

The Castle-class corvette was a stretched version of the preceding , enlarged to improve seakeeping and to accommodate modern weapons. The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of and a deep draught of . They were powered by a four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engine developed a total of and gave a speed of . The Castles carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . The ships' complement was 99 officers and ratings.

The Castle-class ships were equipped with a single QF Mk XVI dual-purpose gun forward, but their primary weapon was their single three-barrel Squid anti-submarine mortar. This was backed up by one depth charge rail and two throwers for 15 depth charges. The ships were fitted with two twin and a pair of single mounts for Oerlikon AA guns. Provision was made for a further four single mounts if needed. They were equipped with Type 145Q and Type 147B ASDIC sets to detect submarines by reflections from sound waves beamed into the water. A Type 272 search radar and a HF/DF radio direction finder rounded out the Castles' sensor suite.

Construction amd career

Named after Hedingham Castle in Essex, Hedingham Castle was ordered on 9 December 1942 under the name Gorey Castle (after Mont Orgueil in Jersey), but was renamed sometime in 1943. The ship was laid down at John Crown & Sons in Sunderland on 2 November 1943 and launched on 30 October 1944 before being commissioned on 12 May 1945, four days after Germany surrendered. Nonetheless, she was assigned to Western Approaches Command's Anti-Submarine Training School at Tobermory, Mull, for three weeks after working up. Hedingham Castle was briefly placed in reserve from August to October at Chatham. She was reactivated that month for air-sea rescue duties under Rosyth Command and was then assigned to the 3rd Escort Flotilla, based at Portland Harbour in 1946. In June 1947 the ship made a port visit to Harwich so she could be visited by the residents of Castle Hedingham who had adopted her. Hedingham Castle was assigned to the 2nd Training Flotilla in January 1949 at Portland.

In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The ship was again placed in reserve in 1956, albeit at Plymouth, and was sold for scrap on 21 October 1957. Hedingham Castle arrived at Granton in April 1958 to begin demolition.