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HMS Godetia (K226)

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HMS Godetia
HMS Godetia Ii FL6058.jpg
HMS Godetia underway.
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Godetia, originally Dart
Ordered24 August 1940
BuilderJohn Crown & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, England
Laid down15 January 1941
Launched24 September 1941
Commissioned23 February 1942
DecommissionedOctober 1945
Out of serviceTransferred to the Royal Navy Belgian Section[clarification needed]
ReinstatedReturned to the Royal Navy
FateScrapped in 1947
Belgium
NameHMS Godetia
Acquired12 February 1942
Out of service16 December 1944
FateReturned to the Royal Navy
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeFlower-class corvette
Displacement1,015 long tons (1,031 t) (standard)
Length208 ft 3 in (63.47 m) (o/a)
Beam33 ft 1 in (10.08 m)
Draught13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range3,450 nmi (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement85
Sensors and
processing systems
1 × Type 123A ASDIC
Armament

HMS Godetia (pennant number: K226; originally named HMS Dart) was the second Flower-class corvette with that name built for the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War as part of the Section Belge of the Royal Navy (RNSB). With the liberation of Belgium in late 1944, the vessel was returned to the United Kingdom. In common with other Flower-class corvettes, the ship was named after an eponymous flower.

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Pennant number

Pennant number

In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number. Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a flotilla or type of vessel. For example, the Royal Navy used a red burgee for torpedo boats and a pennant with an H for torpedo boat destroyers. Adding a number to the type-identifying flag uniquely identified each ship.

Flower-class corvette

Flower-class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers.

Corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Free Belgian forces

Free Belgian forces

The Free Belgian forces were soldiers from Belgium and its colonies who fought as part of the Allied armies during World War II, after the official Belgian surrender to Nazi Germany. It is distinct from the Belgian Resistance which existed in German-occupied Belgium.

Belgium

Belgium

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376/km2 (970/sq mi). Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven.

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 242,495 square kilometres (93,628 sq mi), with an estimated 2023 population of over 68 million people.

Clarkia amoena

Clarkia amoena

Clarkia amoena is a flowering plant native to western North America, found in coastal hills and mountains from British Columbia south to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Royal Navy Belgian Section

Service in the Antilles and US Coast

On 12 February 1942, Godetia was transferred by the Royal Navy to the newly formed naval branch of the Belgian forces in exile, the Royal Navy, Section Belge (RNSB).[1] Godetia was allocated to the escort group B5 which normally protected North Atlantic convoy routes. Due to severe losses on the American coasts, the group was relocated to the Atlantic coast of the US and the Antilles in 1942.[2] In 1943, she served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean[1] as part of the escort group B5.

In April 1942 she transferred to the American coast with outgoing convoy ON-87. In May and June she escorted four convoys ( OT-2,TO-2, TO-8 and OT-11 ) between Trinidad and Curaçao. In July and August she escorted five convoys ( TAW-1, WAT-5, TAW-9, WAT-15 and TAW-16 ) between Key West and Trinidad via Curaçao. In September, she escorted two convoys between Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and New York City. [3]

Convoy TM-1

On 29 December, the Godetia set out with two tankers from Trinidad to join up with convoy TM 1. According to U-124,[4] its attacks were frustrated by the Godetia and a PBY catalina flying boat, but according to Gasaway,[5] the U-124 attacked the two lone tankers with four torpedoes that malfunctioned or missed, and was then driven off by the catalina which bombed it.

The Godetia then joined her escort group, the destroyer Havelock and the corvettes Saxifrage and Pimpernel to provide escort for TM 1. The convoy TM 1 was an exclusive fast-tanker convoy, bringing urgent fuel supplies to the newly established front in North Africa. During the voyage to Gibraltar, the convoy was attacked by U-boats. The convoy was nearly annihilated, but Godetia is credited with frustrating an attack by U-575 and damaging U-134.

Service in the North Atlantic

After this convoy disaster, the B5 escort group is reformed and return to the North Atlantic. One of the reinforcements for the B5 group is the second Belgian corvette, the HMS Buttercup.[6]

Convoy ON-168

The first atlantic convoy to escort is ON-168 in February 1943. Convoy ON-168 is lucky to escape battle with the U-boats when it passes a German patrol line through a gap caused by the undetected loss of a U-boat on 5 March 1943.[7]

Convoy SC-122

Only after 3 days rest in the port of St-John's, Canada, the B5 escort group set out to pick up the Mid Ocean escort for the next convoy SC-122, which was part of one of the major convoy battles of the war. [8]

On March 16, before the battle really started, Godetia was detached to scuttle a disabled escort trawler HMS Campobello and rescue its crew. It took more than a day before she could catch up with the convoy and Godetia was absent during the first night of U-boat attacks. [9]

As soon as the Godetia rejoined the convoy during the day of the 17th, there was a submerged daylight attack of U-338 which resulted in 1 merchant ship being sunk. Together with another escort, the USS destroyer Upshur, the Godetia retaliated with 3 full pattern depth charge attacks on the boat but without succes. These attacks however drove off the U-338 and also another boat in the vicinity, the U-666. [10]

During the night of the 17th, the U-305 made a successful attack and sank 2 ships. Since the rescue ship of the convoy was still lagging behind the convoy after picking up survivors of the previous night attacks, the Godetia was ordered to pick up survivors. During rescue work, the radar of the Godetia picked up the surfaced U-305, and the Godetia gave chase. The U-305 however could dive before Godetias deck gun could engage her, and since the asdic was out of order by this time, a depth charge attack could not be mounted neither and the U-boat escaped unscathed.[11]

Convoy SC-126

After the dramatic passage of SC-122, the next convoy SC-126 in April 1943 was quite uneventfull : thanks to good intelligence it could be rerouted and avoid the german patrol lines. [12]

Convoy ONS-7

This was the last convoy escorted during the height of the battle of the Atlantic. It is attacked but after the U-boats sink one ship from the convoy, they lose two of their number to the convoy escort and 2 more to air patrols. This convoy battle is a clear defeat for the German U-boats and it is one of the factors that made the Germand call off their U-boat offensive on the North Atlantic convoy lanes. [13] [14]

Service in the Mid Atlantic

Godetia is in Augustus 1943 detached from EG B5 to help with the escort of convoy UGS-13. [15]

In september she is part of the escort of the small convoy XK-11. [16]

With the Escort Group B5, in October 1943 she takes part in operation Alacrity : the occupation of the Azores Islands. [17]

Service in the English Channel

She was involved in the operations in the English Channel during Operation Overlord.[1] On D-day she was part of force L, the escort group for the follow-up waves on the Britisch-Canadian beaches Juno,Gold and Sword.[18]

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Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force

Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) referred to the organisation of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and Newfoundland, and the British Isles. The allocation of United States, British, and Canadian escorts to these convoys reflected preferences of the United States upon their declaration of war, and the organisation persisted through the winter of 1942–43 despite withdrawal of United States ships from the escort groups. By the summer of 1943, United States Atlantic escorts were focused on the faster CU convoys and the UG convoys between Chesapeake Bay and the Mediterranean Sea; and only British and Canadian escorts remained on the HX, SC and ON convoys.

Antilles

Antilles

The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east.

Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies 11 km (6.8 mi) off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmost island in the West Indies. With an area of 4,768 km2 (1,841 sq mi), it is also the fifth largest in the West Indies.

Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about 65 km (40 mi) north of the Venezuela coast. It is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Together with Aruba and Bonaire, it forms the ABC islands. Collectively, Curaçao, Aruba, and other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean. It is the largest of the ABC islands in both area and population as well as the largest of the Dutch Caribbean.

Key West

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, is a United States military base located on 45 square miles (117 km2) of land and water on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It has been permanently leased to the United States since 1903 as a coaling station and naval base, making it the oldest overseas U.S. naval base in the world. The lease was $2,000 in gold per year until 1934, when the payment was set to match the value in gold in dollars; in 1974, the yearly lease was set to $4,085.

Convoy TM 1

Convoy TM 1

Convoy TM 1 was the code name for an Allied convoy during the Second World War. Nine tankers, escorted by Royal Navy warships, attempted to reach Gibraltar from Trinidad. The convoy was attacked by a U-boat wolf pack in the central Atlantic Ocean, and most of the merchant vessels were sunk. This was one of the most successful attacks on Allied supply convoys throughout the entire war. The convoy was defended by the destroyer HMS Havelock, and three Flower-class corvettes, HMS Godetia, HMS Pimpernel and HMS Saxifrage. Seven tankers were sunk during the attacks, two surviving to reach Gibraltar. Two U-boats were damaged during the attacks.

Oil tanker

Oil tanker

An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets.

German submarine U-124 (1940)

German submarine U-124 (1940)

German submarine U-124 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She operated in the Atlantic as part of the 2nd U-boat flotilla, both west of Scotland and east of the eastern US coast. She was also present off northern South America.

Consolidated PBY Catalina

Consolidated PBY Catalina

The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. The last military PBYs served until the 1980s. As of 2021, 86 years after its first flight, the aircraft continues to fly as a waterbomber in aerial firefighting operations in some parts of the world. None remain in military service.

Torpedo

Torpedo

A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such a device was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive, or fish torpedo; colloquially a fish. The term torpedo originally applied to a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines. From about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate a self-propelled underwater explosive device.

HMS Havelock (H88)

HMS Havelock (H88)

HMS Havelock was an H-class destroyer that had originally been ordered by the Brazilian Navy with the name Jutahy in the late 1930s, but was bought by the Royal Navy after the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939 and later renamed. She participated in the Norwegian Campaign in May 1940 and was assigned to convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols with the Western Approaches Command afterwards. The ship was briefly assigned to Force H in 1941, but her anti-aircraft armament was deemed too weak and she rejoined Western Approaches Command. Havelock became flotilla leader of Escort Group B-5 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force in early 1942 and continued to escort convoys in the North Atlantic for the next two years. The ship was converted to an escort destroyer and sank one submarine during the war. After the end of the war, she escorted the ships carrying the Norwegian government in exile back to Norway and served as a target ship through mid-1946. Havelock was scrapped beginning in late 1946.

Royal Navy

On 16 December 1944, Godetia was re-transferred back to the Royal Navy.[1] The Belgian crew left the ship in order to go back to the previous task of mineclearing. The port of Antwerp had been liberated in september 1944, but its entrances were heavily mined and needed clearing before the port could be put into use again.

In recognition of the role of Godetia's role during the Second World War, the Belgian navy later operated a ship with the same name. Godetia continued to serve (with a British crew) in a convoy escorting role until October 1945 when she was decommissioned.[1]

From April 1942 to May 1945, Godetia escorted 70 convoys.[3]

In 1947, she was scrapped.[1]

Source: "HMS Godetia (K226)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 17th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Godetia_(K226).

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Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f "HMS Godetia (K226)" (in French). marine-mra-klm.be.
  2. ^ Rohwer, p.124
  3. ^ a b Don Kindell. "Flower-class corvettes, Royal Navy, Part 5 of 10". World War 2 at Sea - Convoy Escort Movements of Royal and Dominion Navy Vessels. naval-history-net.
  4. ^ Rohwer, p.184
  5. ^ Gasaway 1975, p. 230-232.
  6. ^ Rohwer, p.185
  7. ^ Rohwer, p. 196
  8. ^ Middlebrook 1978, p. 121.
  9. ^ Middlebrook 1978, p. 149.
  10. ^ Middlebrook 1978, p. 214.
  11. ^ Middlebrook 1978, p. 237.
  12. ^ Rohwer, p. 206
  13. ^ Rohwer, p.212
  14. ^ Blair 1998, p. 331-332.
  15. ^ Rohwer, p.226
  16. ^ Rohwer, p.230
  17. ^ Rohwer p. 238
  18. ^ Rohwer, p. 281
Books
  • Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War [Volume 2]: The Hunted 1942–1945. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
  • Gasaway, E.B. (1975). Grey Wolf, Grey Sea. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-8600-71367.
  • Middlebrook, Martin (1978). Convoy : the battle for convoys SC. 122 and HX. 229. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-004613-5.
  • Rohwer, jurgen; Hummelchen, Gerhard. Chronology of the war at sea 1939-1945 : the naval history of world War Two. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
Bibliography
External links

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