Modified Black Swan-class Sloop, HMS Crane (U23/F123) - "Veteran Dancer"

Headnaught · January 22, 2025, 9:07pm

Would you like to see HMS Crane (U23/F123) in game?

Yes, as a tech tree vehicle
Yes, as a premium vehicle
Yes, as an event vehicle
Yes, as a squadron vehicle
No, I would not like to see HMS Crane (U23/F123) in game.

0 voters

If you had to choose one, what refit would you like to see added (see specifications section)?

As built
1944 refit
1951 refit (recommended)
Doesn’t matter to me
None; I would not like to see HMS Crane (U23/F123) in game.

0 voters

🇬🇧 HMS Crane (U23/F123) 🇬🇧

Crane can be seen here underway with her post-war pennant number and armament, presumably in 1958. The exact date of this picture is unknown to me, but it provides a good side profile of the ship. She might not show it through weathering or bullet holes in the photo but Crane was a veteran of intense action from World War II to beyond.

Introduction

Sometimes a warship has such an explosive career that it’s hard to believe it actually happened. A ship like Enterprise or Warspite comes to mind. While I’m not going to lie to you and suggest that a little sloop named Crane has a record of that caliber, especially because she started service over halfway through the war, what she did accomplish is extraordinary for a ship her size. Crane was designed specifically to fight aircraft and U-boats and in both of these arenas she distinguished herself as well above average. Not only that, Crane served as a silent observer to some of the more momentous occasions in naval history and survived the postwar cuts where many others did not. This tenacious machine and her crew punched well above their weight and deserve due respect.

TL;DR

Convoy escort vessel built in World War II
Rapid firing 4" cannons for main armament
Heavy 40mm Bofors secondary battery
Depth charges and Hedgehog mortar for ASW
Fitted with anti-aircraft search/ranging radar
Mediocre but acceptable speed
Less ready use shells available for ‘B’ turret

Why it should be in the game: Crane has both historical significance and the firepower to actually be worth playing. She has a better main battery than some destroyers and a better anti aircraft fit than most, but she is a little slow and like most smaller ships does not have dedicated armor. While not quite on par with the main armament of Leopard or the speed of Blackpool, Crane is a versatile all-rounder which can engage surface and air targets equally well. Notably she has an excellent secondary battery in her 1951 fit compared to pretty much everything in her weight class as well as many ships above, making her a solid short-range anti-aircraft support ship. On paper the 4" ammunition is not much worse than the 4.5" either, though its much slower turret rotation speed is an evident weakness. All things considered the 1951 refit would be an excellent 3.7 coastal vessel with other earlier members of her class potentially fitting well at 3.3.

History

Crane looking smart in interesting camouflage with her original pennant number (U23) shortly after being commissioned in May of 1943. In this photo she has the original Type 271 search radar in its obvious tower at the back of the ship and a much more traditional mast. As commissioned she was already quite capable in the anti-aircraft role with her main battery of 3 twin 4" guns and twelve 20mm Oerlikon cannon for close in defense, those being more clearly visible in other photographs.

You may have read the title and wondered what a sloop is anyway. The term had gone through a variety of meanings from the age of sail to the interwar period but the common thread was a small, relatively inexpensive vessel with good endurance. Their armaments were usually not as strong as main fighting vessels but in lower intensity conflicts were quite potent making them excellent patrol vessels for the British colonies. During and after the Great War sloops specifically referred to long-range ships which could perform minesweeping duties or engage in anti-submarine warfare among other things. This multipurpose vessel idea fell out of favor with minesweeping sloops giving way to pure ASW ships. Part of the requirements for the later interwar sloops was being able to carry out long range convoy escort missions and for this they would be fitted with the new (at the time) dual purpose 4" guns for anti-aircraft use and attacking surfaced U-boats. While this was a good idea, short range air defense would be an issue that would plague all vessels during the war and sloops were no exception. The original Black Swan-class consisted of four ships laid down from 1938-1939. Since World War II and the naval battles associated with it began soon thereafter a whopping 27 modified Black Swan-class sloops were laid down from 1941-1944, including Crane which was laid down on June 13, 1941 along with her sister Chanticleer. These ships were further distinguished between each other by their intended use, with some (like Crane) being “pure” anti-aircraft ships with a dedicated radar system while others had Hedgehog mortars for better ASW capability.

Fun fact: All of the original Black Swan-class and the original order of fourteen modified Black Swan-class vessels were named after birds save for one - HMS Chanticleer. The next eleven (of which the last two were cancelled) did away with this scheme for seemingly random names like Amethyst, Opossum, Alacrity and Hind. The Royal Indian Navy had four Black Swans and two modified Black Swans, all of which were named after rivers in the region.

Crane was completed and commissioned on May 10, 1943. Like other sloops she was intended to function primarily as a convoy escort and so after working up she went to the 7th Escort Group based in Greenock, Scotland to escort Atlantic convoys with her sisters Chanticleer and Pheasant. She did not go north like some ships to defend convoys to and from the Soviet Union but would instead travel south, first defending convoys in July as part of Operation Husky where she received her Sicily battle honour. Before resuming regular escort duties she was briefly dispatched to the Bay of Biscay, a hotbed of U-boat activity for which she was given the associated battle honour despite not having engaged anything in that time. As part of convoy MKS30 she was heading from Gibraltar back home to the British Isles when a force of 29 U-boats attacked in November 1943. Crane’s sister Chanticleer, who had spent a lot of time with Crane, was critically damaged by the highly decorated U-515. While the retaliatory attacks from Crane and other escorts proceeded for several hours and caused damage, it was not enough to sink the submarine which slipped away after the fact. She got her revenge on November 21st against U-538 and in April 1944 she worked with another of her sisters, Cygnet, to sink U-962. After conducting anti-submarine patrols she joined the invasion force at Normandy as an escort to Gold Beach. Her close in anti-aircraft armament of solely 20mm Oerlikon cannons was deemed inadequate by this point in the war and she was due to receive some 40mm Bofors guns. On her way home for this refit a couple months later Crane ran into a merchant vessel necessitating repairs; once she was ready Crane was sent to join the British Pacific Fleet. By the end of 1944 she had honours for service in the Atlantic from 1943-44, the Normandy landings and the English Channel.

Lieutenant Commander Ralph G. Jenkins with his binoculars is the spitting image of a classic naval officer on Crane’s bridge in September 1943. This would be during her anti-submarine patrols in the Bay of Biscay. The guns of ‘B’ turret are visible behind him and in the background there seems to be a corvette.

After stopping at the port of Brest, being one of the first Royal Navy ships to do so since its liberation, along with stops at Malta and Aden, Crane made it to Australia in early 1945 where she was put to work escorting convoys for actions against air bases during the Battle of Okinawa. This would be her final battle honour of World War II as it drew to a close on August 15, 1945. Among the host of battleships including two of her own country’s Crane was present for the formal acceptance of Japanese surrender on September 2. Crane was refit in Brisbane, Australia and spent the first half of 1946 in the Pacific fleet working around Hong Kong. Besides a collision with HMS Cockade (which did not seem to cause serious damage) the service was uneventful and she sailed home in July to be put into reserve. Luckily enough for Crane she was still in reserve and not scrapped by the time the Korean War broke out. This led to swathes of equipment being put back into action including Crane, who after fitting out with an improved secondary battery of eight 40mm Bofors guns, a Hedgehog mortar and an improved search radar was sent to Korea. Crane served as the leader of the Third Frigate Squadron off the coast of Korea and embarked the captain of the squadron. In March of 1952 she was attacked by North Korean shore batteries and sustained one hit but this caused no damage. For bombardment duties she fired 1,756 four inch shells in total. After the war, with a Korean War battle honour in tow she was back to routine patrols in the Far East until 1956.

This photo shows Crane in her 1951 refit. The old mast has been replaced by a lattice mast carrying, among other things, a Type 293 radar which replaced the old Type 271. You can also make out the two single 40mm Bofors guns on her rear deck as well as the twin mounting amidships. The bridge wing single Bofors can also be made out but the Hedgehog installation abaft of ‘B’ turret is not visible.

1956 was the year of the Suez Crisis and as an able-bodied warship Crane was dispatched to the region. In the Middle East she linked up with HMS Newfoundland as part of Operation Toreador and was ordered to sweep the Gulf of Aqaba for a possible Egyptian frigate. Crane strayed close to the battle at Ras Nasrani on November 3 and while observing the battle saw Israeli Mystere IV jet fighters drop some bombs in the area. The planes then turned towards Crane and got some elevation. The ship’s crew shortly discovered that this was to prepare for an attack run against her in a case of mistaken identity - Israel was looking for the same frigate as the Royal Navy. Crane opened fire once the first attack run commenced but could not stop the fighters from letting loose their payload of SNEB rockets. The rockets hit her rear deck and the shrapnel injured three of the four crew manning the stern Bofors guns. It also damaged various exposed components including the gun mountings themselves. Able Seaman Roy Joseph Loader (ironically not the loader), the uninjured one of the four, quickly instructed another sailor on how to load the Bofors gun and aimed it using the manual traverse backup mechanism in time for the Mysteres’ second attack. The Israeli pilots attempted to attack with cannon fire but their shots were low and landed astern. After one final attack run with small bombs (again missing the ship by a hair) the Mysteres pulled off and left Crane to return to base. Crane is generally credited with destroying one Mystere IV after severely damaging it with gunfire during the third attack run, an incredible feat considering her antiquated fire control systems were hardly capable of dealing with fast swept-wing jet fighters. It is claimed that another Mystere was damaged during the second attack run, that of Major Benny Peled, which was not able to make it back to base. While Peled was shot down in the proper location it is generally credited to Egyptian anti-aircraft fire. In December of 1956 it was stated that the aircraft were “unidentified” during an inquiry to Parliament but Seaman Loader was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal in 1957 “for gallantry during the attack by Israeli aircraft on the frigate Crane,” one of only two issued for actions in the Suez Crisis. The incident exposed the rank inadequacy of existing British close-in defense systems against modern jet aircraft, at least on smaller vessels, but fortunately resulted in no fatalities. However Crane was forced to sail to Singapore for repairs and refitting.

Crane at port in Timaru, New Zealand in 1959. She sailed in for South Canterbury’s Centennial celebration which was held for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the region. Crane’s endurance, decent speed and good firepower was useful on paper for the long-range patrols of the Far East but she was becoming increasingly antiquated by this point.

The refit in Singapore lasted a full year as the ship was “modernized throughout” and made more livable. The crew quarters on the sloops (known as frigates after World War II) to this point were notoriously bad as more equipment piled on to a rather old original design. Apparently they did not decide that adding air conditioning would be part of the livability requirement which was bad news to everyone stationed in the hot and humid Singapore. At this point Crane was the last modified Black Swan-class sloop in active service. Crane briefly visited Japan in July 1958 before returning to Singapore. She then scooted over to Malaya to assist the newly independent Commonwealth nation in fighting insurgents before quickly being diverted to Hong Kong. Her cruise around the Far East took her to New Zealand in January 1959 before returning to Singapore again for another recommissioning. She spent a little more time there but between her age and the downsizing of the Far East fleet’s escort divisions it was only a matter of time before Crane was finally called back to the British Isles. She laid up at Portsmouth in 1962 and was scrapped in 1965 at Queenborough, ending 19 years of service about the best way a tired old warship could hope for besides being turned into a museum ship.

Specifications

HMS Crane (U23/F123)

Dimensions:

Length: 91.3 m (299 ft 6 in)

Beam: 11.7 m (38 ft 6 in)

Draught: 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in) deep load

Displacement:

1,350 tons standard

1,925 tons deep

Propulsion: 2-shafted geared turbine (4,300 shaft horsepower)

Maximum speed: 36.58 km/h (19.75 kt)

Range: 13,890 km (7,500 nmi)

Armament:

As built:

3 x 2 QF 4 inch Mark XVI cannon

4 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon cannon

4 x 1 20 mm Oerlikon cannon

110 x depth charge

1944 refit:

3 x 2 QF 4 inch Mark XVI cannon

2 x 2 Bofors QF Mark V 40 mm cannon

1 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon cannon

2 x 1 20 mm Oerlikon cannon

110 x depth charge

1951 refit:

3 x 2 QF 4 inch Mark XVI cannon

2 x 2 Bofors QF Mark V 40 mm cannon

4 x 1 Bofors QF Mark VII 40 mm cannon

110 x depth charge

Hedgehog mortar

Crew: 192

Additional equipment:

As built, 1944:

Type 271 search radar

1951 refit:

Type 293 search radar

Common to all:

Type 285 ranging radar

Type 291 search radar

Gallery

Sources

FlyingOstridge · April 6, 2025, 4:05pm

Since HMS Spey is a marketplace vehicle and HMS Torridge is a tech tree vehicle of France It’d be nice to have this and other River class ships in the main part of the British tech tree to fill in the 3.3 area of British coastal. I need to get round to finishing my HMS Cuckmere suggestion.