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Hello everyone! Today I’m going to suggest one of the three Israeli River-class frigates!
This is the River-class Frigate, INS Misgav (K-30)
Source: File:INSMisgavEntering (cropped).jpg - Wikimedia Commons
History
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Source: File:K30BckUS.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
INS Misgav (K-30) started her life as HMCS Strathadam which was laid down in 1943. In 1947 she was sold to Uruguayan interests, but eventually ended up in the hands of the Israeli navy. She was most likely stripped of her guns when Israel got her.
Misgav would have new guns fitted to her as well as new anti-aircraft autocannons and would be accepted into service in 1950. During her career she would be used for different operations such as carrying the Israeli flag all accross the world. This mostly involved her sailing to the US. During the earthquake of 1953 in the Greek Islands she came to the aid of the island and helped the people of the Islands to get to safety.
After this she made some more trips to South Africa, which at that time was the longest journey any Israeli ship had taken by that time, and the commander of the ship received a medal for it.
Her carreer as an active ship would come at an end in the 1960’s when she was used as a anti-ship missile target. She would be sunk by a Gabriel missile and sink off the coast of Israel.
Source: File:FrigatesVenice17754.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Misgav had all of her original weaponry removed by the time Israel got a hold of the ship, and so new weapons had to be fitted. This included some interesting main weaponry.
When first put back into service in 1950, she would be armed with two 120mm OTO Model 1926 cannons in two single mount turrets. Mostly seen in twin mountings on Italian destroyers. These single 120mm gun mounts can be considered quite powerfull for a ship this size. Most River-class frigates were armed with 4-inch (102mm) guns.
For anti air defence Mivgav was armed with two 37mm Flak 36, and six 20mm Flak 29 Oerlikon guns. As for the Oerlikon guns, Israel can be seen using the surplus of 20mm Flak 29 Oerlikon guns left over from Germany after they lost the war. They are ofcourse identical in performance to the Allied variants. But their mounting is slightly different and it’s a cool little detail I thought I point out.
The photo below might not have the best quality, but it gives a good view of the entire ship where we can spot multible of the secondairy guns. Unlike her sister ships which mostly had 2 to 4 20mm guns onboard, Misgav has 6. Two are present in superfiring positions with one above each main gun, this is the same as on her sister ships.
But on top of these two guns, two more can be seen on the main deck on the fore area of the ship, with one mount on either side of the ship. The same is present on the rear, with two single mounts on either side of the ship.
Specifications
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Displacement: 2360 tons
Length: 301 feet (91.74 meters)
Breadth: 36,5 feet (11.13 meters)
Draught: 12 feet (3.66 meters)
Machinery: 2 x Steam piston engines
Max speed: 17 knots (31,5 km/h)
Complement: 200
Armament:
2 x 1 120 mm OTO Model 1926
2 x 1 37 mm Flak 36
6 x 1 20 mm Oerlikon Flak 29
Source: File:HN-INS-Misgav-K-30-Italian-120mm-gun-1.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Well that is all for today. Many more suggestions like these to come in the future!
See you on the battlefield!
Source: File:K30Washgtn.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
More Photos
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Source: File:K30K20.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:BircatAm2.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:INSMisgavEntering.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:ShipShapeNaples.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:K30Venetia.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:FrgatesVenice1954.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:Israel Navy Frigate Misgav1955.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Source: File:INSMisgavEnterCapetown13031955.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
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Sources
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Main source:
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/אח"י_משגב_(ק-30)Secondairy source:
https://www.amutayam.org.il/?CategoryID=602&ArticleID=1114Extra:
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/שייטת_המשחתות
Category:INS Misgav Q-30 - Wikimedia Commons