During World War I, 145 were built in the United Kingdom for the Admiralty. The names of the vessels were derived from the official crew rosters of ships at the Battle of Trafalgar.[5] Non-standard ships included in the class varied between 236GRT and 276GRT, with dimensions varying between 35.8 and 38.3m (117 and 126ft) length and 6.71 and 7.17m (22.0 and 23.5ft)beam. The first standard vessel, Nathaniel Cole, was delivered in May 1917. After the war 52 further ships on order were completed as fishing vessels and many of the minesweepers were converted for commercial use. 20 ships were also cancelled, but many were completed by the shipbuilders for commercial owners.
The Admiralty also ordered 60 Castle-class trawlers from Canadian shipyards, the TR series, which were loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy for seaward defence of the east coast of Canada. Some entered service with the United States Navy. Nine ships were also built in India with teak planking on steel frames.[1]
Second World War
HMT Thomas Alexander as HMT Ben Dearg during World War II
Many Castle-class trawlers were among the civilian trawlers requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use in World War II. The majority were employed as minesweepers, with others serving as auxiliary patrol vessels, boom defense vessels, danlayers, Essos (fuel carriers), torpedo recovery vessels and water carriers. Many had multiple roles over the course of the war. After the end of the war, most of those that had survived were either sold or returned to their owners.[6]
German captured
Early in World War II, ten Canadian-built trawlers that had been sold into commercial service after World War I with a number of European countries were captured by the Germans when they overran France, Belgium and Norway and put in Kriegsmarine service.
New Zealand additions
In 1940, the New Zealand Government, facing a requirement for minesweepers to operate in home waters, directed the building of 13 Castle-class naval trawlers in New Zealand to add to the two vessels, James Cosgrove and Wakakura, they had previously purchased. The Castle-class design was chosen over more modern alternatives because it was simple enough to be built with the country's limited ship construction facilities.[7][8]
Sunk April 1941 by German aircraft in North Evoicos.
Samuel Drake (FY3683)
Bow McLachlan
5 November 1918
26 November 1918
Sold 1924. Scrapped 1946 at Paull.
Southcoates (4.140)
Samuel Green (FY3791)
George Brown
30 April 1919
July 1919
Completed as fishing vessel, sold 1919 and converted to yacht; used as floating restaurant Cruz at Leith.[41] Was "abandoned" from 2007 to 2018, restored into a 1920s style luxury hotel and renamed to Ocean Mist, permanently docked at 14 The Shore, Leith.[41]
The Isles-class trawlers were a class of naval trawler used by the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II.
The TR series were minesweeping naval trawlers built during World War I. Ordered by the Royal Navy, they were loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy for seaward defence of the East Coast of Canada. The total number of vessels that entered service is unknown with 60 hulls constructed by eight Canadian shipyards. Based on the British Castle class, some entered service with the United States Navy during the war. Following World War I, they were sold for commercial use to replace the fishing vessels lost during the war. In World War II many of them were taken over by the Royal Navy as auxiliary minesweepers and two of them returned to the Royal Canadian Navy.
Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company.
Fleming and Ferguson was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1877 and 1969.
HMNZS Wakakura (T00) was originally a First World War Castle-class naval trawler built in Canada. Ordered by the Admiralty, the vessel, named TR 1, was loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy for use on the East Coast of Canada. She was purchased by New Zealand in 1926 and transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy when it was established in 1941.
The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to protect coastal Britain and convoys.
Commissioned minesweepers and danlayers of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from its formation on 1 October 1941 to the present. The RNZN was created two years into World War II. For coherence this article covers the war years from the start, and thus includes also the New Zealand minesweepers operating from the beginning of the war.
Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some, known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers", were purpose-built to naval specifications; others were adapted from civilian use. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust vessels designed to work heavy trawls in all types of weather, and had large clear working decks. A minesweeper could be created by replacing the trawl with a mine sweep. Adding depth charge racks on the deck, ASDIC sonar below, and a 3-inch (76 mm) or 4-inch (102 mm) gun in the bow equipped the trawler for anti-submarine duties.
Naval trawlers were purpose-built or requisitioned and operated by the Royal Navy (RN), mainly during World Wars I and II. Vessels built to Admiralty specifications for RN use were known as Admiralty trawlers. All trawlers operated by the RN, regardless of origin, were typically given the prefix HMT, for "His Majesty's Trawler".
A naval drifter is a boat built along the lines of a commercial fishing drifter but fitted out for naval purposes. The use of naval drifters is paralleled by the use of naval trawlers.
HMS Sir Galahad was a trawler built for the British Royal Navy in 1941. Post war it was sold into civilian service and was wrecked in 1957 after running aground off the Isle of Mull.
HMAS Durraween (F93) was an auxiliary minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. The ship was built as a trawler by Collingwood Shipbuilding Company at Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, and launched in 1918 as Seville. The ship served briefly in the Royal Canadian Navy during the last months of World War I, before being laid up and sold to a British company. In 1928, she was sold to Sydney-based fishing company and operated in Australian waters until she was requisitioned by the RAN in mid-1940 for use as an auxiliary minesweeper during World War II. Durraween operated in the Bass Strait as part of Minesweeping Group 54, and was responsible for clearing mines laid by German merchant raiders, and then later operated around the Torres Strait. She was returned to civilian service after paying off in late 1945, and was broken up in 1952.
HMAS Korowa was an auxiliary minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. She was laid down in 1919 by Cochrane and Sons Ltd at Selby as the Edward McGuire. The ship operated in Australian waters from 1937, and was requisitioned by the RAN in September 1939. She was returned to her owners in 1945 before being scrapped in 1954.
HMT Richard Bacon (FY3587) was a British Castle class naval trawler completed in 1918. She served through both world wars under two different names and also had a lengthy career as a civilian fishing trawler. For a short while, she functioned as a support vessel for a famous transatlantic flight by a group of Italian bombers. She was scrapped in 1954 after her boiler failed during a storm.
HM Trawler Alvis was a British trawler that was taken up from trade and used by the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was returned to the fishing industry at the end of hostilities in 1945.
Edinburgh Castle was a Union-Castle Line steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship that was launched in 1910 and sunk in 1945. In peacetime she was in liner service between Great Britain and South Africa.
HMS Rosemary was an Arabis-class minesweeping sloop of the British Royal Navy. Built by the Teesside shipbuilder Richardson, Duck and Company from 1915–1916, Rosemary carried out minesweeping and anti submarine operations during the First World War. She was used for fishery protection duties during the 1930s, and served through the Second World War, finally being sold for scrap in 1947.
HMNZS Manuka was one of three composite New Zealand-built Castle-class trawlers commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II.
HMNZS Tawhai was a New Zealand-built composite Castle-class trawler built for the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II for the intention for use as a minesweeper, later being converted into a fishing trawler.
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