HMS ''Lady Shirley'' (T464), also known as HMT'' Lady Shirley'', was a

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

requisitioned by the

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 ...

in 1940 and converted for

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

duties. She sank on 4October 1941, capturing 44 of her crew. ''Lady Shirley'' was sunk herself on 11December 1941, by a single torpedo from .

Description

''Lady Shirley'' was a fishing trawler of 472 tons displacement based at Hull. She was built at Beverley in the UK by

Cook, Welton & Gemmell Cook, Welton & Gemmell was a shipbuilder based in Hull and Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. England. They built trawlers and other small ships. History Founding and move to Beverley The firm was founded in 1883 on South Bridge Road, Hul ...

and launched in 1937. She was long and in the beam. She had a engine giving a top speed of .

Service record

She was pressed into service by the

in 1940 and converted into an anti-submarine trawler. Conversion included fitting an

ASDIC Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

anti-submarine dome, a 4-inch naval gun and

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s. She had a complement of 33. ''Lady Shirley'' went into service in January 1941 and served with the 31st Anti-Submarine Group based at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. She was under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Henry Callaway.

Sinking of ''U-111''

On 4 October 1941, while searching for the damaged ''Silverbelle'', ''Lady Shirley'' encountered engaged in a similar mission south-west of

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, at position . Mistaking the trawler for the damaged freighter (though ''Lady Shirley'' was small, the U-boat skipper thought she was far away) the U-boat was caught at periscope depth when ''Lady Shirley'' closed, and was depth charged. Forced to the surface, ''U-111'' was engaged with gunfire until she was abandoned and sunk.Clay Blair, ''Hitler's U-Boat War Vol I '' (1996) pp. 385-6 Of the

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

crew of 52, eight were killed, including her commander,

Wilhelm Kleinschmidt Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm-Josef Kleinschmidt (* 27.January 1907 in Oldenburg (Germany) as Wilhelm-Josef Kleinschmidt, named Josef. † 4.October 1941 Atlantic Ocean) was captain of during World War II. He was Married and He was father of 6 Kids and ...

; 44 survived. ''Lady Shirley'' had one crew member killed and several injured in the battle. This was the first time that

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

(POWs) were captured from a U-boat operating in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

. German survivors claimed that ''U-111'' was the first U-boat to be lost of those operating in that area.

Loss

On 11December 1941, a torpedo from hit ''Lady Shirley'', sinking her in the

Straits of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

at position . All 33 crew were lost with their ship.

References

External links

U 111 versus Lady Shirley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Shirley Anti-submarine trawlers of the Royal Navy Protected wrecks of the United Kingdom 1937 ships Maritime incidents in December 1941 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II