HMS Castle Harbour
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HMS ''Castle Harbour'' was a civilian harbour vessel of 730 tons that was taken-up from trade (TUFT) during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
by the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda for use by the Royal Naval Examination Service and later armed and commissioned as a warship, providing harbour defence from submarines.


Pre-war civil history

Built by Blythswood Shipbuilding Co. Ltd in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland, for the Bermuda and West Indies Steamship Company as ''Mid-Ocean'' in 1929, she was initially, described as a
tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
,''The Andrew And The Onions: The Story Of The Royal Navy In Bermuda, 1795–1975'', Lieutenant Commander Ian Stranack, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, though other sources describe her as a tender, used to transport passengers between liners at anchorage and the shore. While possibly used in both roles, she was used to service Furness-Withy liners that maintained passenger service between Bermuda and North America. The ship was renamed in 1930 in commemoration of Castle Harbour at the East End of Bermuda where Furness-Withy was building the Castle Harbour Hotel and the Mid-Ocean Golf Course. On the 17 June 1931, the Furness-Withy liner was consumed by a catastrophic fire at Front Street in the City of Hamilton, which threatened to spread to the city buildings. The Hamilton Fire Brigade and the ship's crew were joined by soldiers and marines, and the fire was finally brought under control after sailors from the Royal Naval Dockyard, trained for fighting fires on warships, arrived with asbestos suits and equipment. From the harbour, ''Castle Harbour'' and
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
(RN) tugs ''Sandboy'' and ''Creole'' trained thirty hoses on ''Bermuda''. Another vessel, the tender ''Bermudian'' (originally a Royal Naval vessel named HMS Arctic Whale), was also sent to help. Although heavily damaged, ''Bermuda'' was able to be taken to Belfast in Ireland to be rebuilt, but was destroyed there by a second fire on 19 November 1931, and sold for scrap. She broke loose in a storm while under tow to a
Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...
scrapyard and was wrecked on the Scottish coast in
Eddrachillis Bay Eddrachillis Bay (Scottish Gaelic: Eadar Dà Chaolas- "between two kyles", Kylesku and Laxford) is a bay on the north-west coast of Sutherland, Scotland. It lies north of Assynt and is at the mouth of the Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin, also known as ...
, near
Scourie Scourie (), historically spelled "Scoury", is a village on the north west coast of Scotland, about halfway between Ullapool and Durness. The name comes from the Gaelic word Sheiling or shed, a stone-built place of shelter used during the summer ...
,
Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...
.


Royal Naval Examination Service

With the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in 1939, ''Castle Harbour'' was taken over by the Examination Service of the Royal Navy as an
examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...
. Ships arriving at Bermuda were obliged to stop at Five-Fathom Hole, which had been designated the Examination Anchorage, this body of water lies just within the outer reefline, and ships can travel from it directly into St. George's Harbour. Ships could also follow Hurd's Channel around St. Catherine's Point to reach the Northern Lagoon, enclosed by the barrier reef. From there, they can enter the
Great Sound The Great Sound is large ocean inlet (a sound) located in Bermuda. It may be the submerged remains of a Pre-Holocene volcanic caldera. Other geologists dispute the origin of the Bermuda Pedestal as a volcanic hotspot. Geography The Great So ...
, where the
North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956, with main bases at the Imperial fortresses of Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ...
anchorage was located, at Grassy Bay, east of the Royal Naval Dockyard on
Ireland Island Ireland Island is the north-westernmost island in the chain which comprises Bermuda. It forms a long finger of land pointing northeastwards from the main island, the last link in a chain which also includes Boaz Island and Somerset Island. ...
and west of Spanish Point on the Main Island, where the Admiralty House was located. The Great Sound was also the landing area used by
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
and airline
flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...
s operating from Darrell's Island, and
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...
seaplanes operating from the RNAS Boaz Island. As part of the
destroyers-for-bases deal The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on 2 September 1940, according to which 50 , , and -class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for lan ...
between the US and the UK which granted 99-year leases to the US on parts of the island, the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
began construction of a third flying boat air station, combined with naval docklands, called Naval Operating Base Bermuda, on the Great Sound, prior to the US entry into the war. During the course of the war, when Allied trans-Atlantic shipping was organised into convoys, Bermuda became a forming up point for convoys (coded BHX, these joined at sea with HX-coded convoys from Halifax to complete the passage to Europe), with large numbers of vessels anchoring on the Northern Lagoon and the Great Sound. From the Great Sound, ships could also reach Bermuda's main commercial port, the City of Hamilton, on
Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour (formerly known as Burlington Bay) lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach (south of the Burlington ...
. All of these sites were inviting targets for German naval vessels and their floatplanes, raiding parties, saboteurs, and spies. The RNXS was tasked with sending a naval examiner along with the civil government pilot who would steer arriving vessels through the reefs. Only after the examiner had cleared the vessel would the pilot steer it inwards. St. David's Battery, on the cliffs of St. David's Head, was designated "Examination Battery" during the war, with its gunners ready to fire upon any vessel that attempted to move from the anchorage without authorisation. ''Castle Harbour'', which at this point remained on the civil register, was used to deliver the naval examiner and civil government pilot to arriving ships. She was crewed by a mix of RN, RN Reserve and RN Volunteer Reserve, along with civil Merchant Navy and local Pilot Service personnel.


Royal Navy commission

As the war progressed, and the threat of German
u-boats U-boats are naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the First and Second World Wars. The term is an anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Na ...
became acute, ''Castle Harbour''s role was expanded. She was refitted, armed with a 3-inch gun on the bow, four machine guns and sixteen depth charges, and commissioned as HMS ''Castle Harbour''. Crewed mostly by local-service ratings, she was tasked with anti-submarine patrols within the reefline to prevent attacks like that carried out at
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
by the German u-boat ''U-47'' on 14 October 1939. It was also thought German submarines might be used to land raiding parties, saboteurs, or spies. Outside the reefs, Charles Fairey's similarly converted yacht carried out anti-submarine patrols as .


Loss

Along with the new US Naval Operating Base, the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
had established
Kindley Field Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Forces as ''Kindley Field''. History World War II Prior to American entry into th ...
, and the US took over the ad-hoc anti-submarine air patrols for the UK. The
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
established its own
garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...
, which dwarfed the indigenous British garrison, and the US Navy also deployed its own vessels to patrol the ocean around Bermuda, (where joined by the end of 1942). The
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
(RCN) also established the training facility . Bermuda became the working-up area where newly commissioned US Navy
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
s, as well as
lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...
destroyers obtained by the RN and the RCN, prepared and exercised before deployment. With the concentration of Allied anti-submarine forces that had built-up in and over Bermuda's waters by late 1942, and the resultant diminished threat from enemy submarines inside the reefline, HMS ''Castle Harbour'' was deemed unnecessary at Bermuda and was consequently ordered to the Mediterranean. She was travelling as part of Convoy TRIN-19 from
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
, with a Merchant Navy crew, when at 2120 hours on 16 October 1942, she was torpedoed by the German submarine . The explosion broke her in two and she sank within twenty seconds with the loss of nine of her twenty-two crewmembers.Stranack


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle Harbour 1929 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Merchant ships of Bermuda World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in October 1942 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea Military of Bermuda