- Yes - TT
- Yes - Premium
- Yes - Event/BP
- No - I don’t want HMS Black Swan in game.
Background:
HMS Black Swan was the second ship of eight original Black Swan-class ships built for the Royal Navy, and the namesake of her class, with four extra ships being built for the Royal Indian Navy. An extra 25 ships of the Modfied Black Swan-class were built during the war to slightly different specifications.
The Black Swan-class of ships were in effect a lengthened Egret-class sloop, replacing the single 4" turrets at the A, B and Y positions with twin 4" guns, and the turret at X position being replaced by a quadruple pom pom gun.
History:
HMS Black Swan was laid down on the 20th June 1938 by Yarrow Shipyards, launching on the 7th of July 1939, commissioning on the 27th of January 1940. Instead of fitting out with the quad pom pom mount, Black Swan was fitted with two quad .50 Vickers guns.
She was initially deployed on convoy escort missions along England’s east coast, however with the beginning of the Norwegian campaign she was attached to the Home Fleet, where she gave AA support to the landings at Åndalsnes. During this operation on the 27th of April 1940 she was targeted by German aircraft, with a bomb passing though the ship before exploding.
After completing repairs, she returned to escort duty in the North Sea, being damaged by mine on the 1st of November 1940, completing these repairs in May of 1941, she also gained her planned pom-pom during this repair period. Once these repairs were complete she was transferred to Western Approaches command and began escorting convoys in the Irish Sea. She was again damaged by bombing, although in this case lightly. In this repair period she replaced her machine guns single 20mm Oerlikon cannons.
She transferred to Londonberry (now Foyle port) as part of the 37th escort group receiving a hedgehog launcher and two more 20mm cannons. She was escorting convoys to and from Gibraltar during this period. On the 25th of October she rescued 34 survivors from a lifeboat of Empire Star, which had been sunk via torpedo by U-615 two days before, and after a 120nmi search she rescued a further 27 in another lifeboat from Empire Star. In November she escorted convoys in support of Operation Torch.
While escorting convoy OS45 on the 2nd April 1943, Black Swan and the Flower class HMS Stonecrop, sank U-124 on the coast of Portugal. She then saw service near Iceland, before moving to the Mediterranean, again on convoy escort duty without any notes. She was then assigned to the Pacific theatre, passing through the Suez canal, reaching Australia and the Philippines before peace was signed. She also received a further three 20mm cannons, and an extra 70 depth charges during this period.
At the end of the war, she and the cruiser Belfast sailed into Shanghai, liberating POW camps containing British and Commonwealth POWs. In 1949 she took part in the Yangtze incident, where she and others came to the aid of HMS Amethyst, suffering 12 men wounded and severe damage to her superstructure. She also served during the Korean war fighting in the battle of Chumonchin Chan, with the help of the cruisers USS Juneau and HMS Jamacia sinking three KPN torpedo boats.
She was scrapped at Troon in 1956.
General Characteristics:
Dismensions:
Length: 299ft 6in (91.29m)
Draught: 11ft (3.4m)
Beam: 37ft 6" (11.43m)
Compliment: 180
Propulsion:
Type: Oil fired geared turbines providing 3,600hp across two shafts
Speed: 19kt
Range: 7,500 nmi @ 12kt
Armament:
3x2 QF 4 Inch Mk XVI
4x1 QF-2 pounder (Pom-Pom)
8x1 20mm Oerlikon cannon
1x1 Hedgehog launcher
110 depth charges
