HMS ''Samphire'' was a that served in 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 ...

. She was built by

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilder, shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcas ...

, in South Bank-on-Tees, and was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30 June 1941.

Wartime service

''Samphire'' was assigned to the 36th Escort Group and tasked with convoy escort operations between Liverpool and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. On 21 December 1941, she successfully released depth charges with the British sloop resulting in the sinking of the German submarine in the North Atlantic northeast of the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

. All 47 men on board the ''U-567'' were killed. On 8 November 1942, she escorted from the Mediterranean after she had been attacked by German aircraft, which hit the ''Leedstown'' with an

aerial torpedo An aerial torpedo (also known as an airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo) is a torpedo launched from a torpedo bomber aircraft into the water, after which the weapon propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torped ...

in the stern the day earlier. At 12:55 on 9 November, German aircraft attacked again, however ''Samphire'' shot down one attacker and then escorted the ''Leedstown'' to anchor near Cape Matifu, about from Algiers. On 14 December 1942, ''Samphire'' assisted in the rescue of nine survivors from the British merchant ship ''Edencrag'', which had been torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine west of Algiers.

Sinking

''Samphire'' was torpedoed and sunk on 30 January 1943 off Bougie, Algeria by the Italian submarine . ''Samphire'' was escorting convoy TE-14 which was taking part in the North African campaign. The captain, two officers and 42 of the ship's crew perished.

References

External links

HMS ''Samphire'' on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samphire, HMS Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy Ships sunk by Italian submarines World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea 1941 ships Ships built on the River Tees Maritime incidents in January 1943