HMS Starling (U66)
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HMS ''Starling'',
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
U66, was a Modified ''Black Swan''-class sloop of 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 active in the
Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...
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 ...
and was the most successful
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 ...
vessel of the Royal Navy, being credited with the destruction of fourteen
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 ...
s.


Construction

''Starling'' was ordered on 18 July 1941 under the 1940 Supplementary War Building Programme; she was laid down by
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Na ...
at
Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, on 21 October 1941. She was launched on 14 October 1942, and commissioned on 1 April 1943, with a build time of 17 months and 10 days.


Service history

''Starling'' joined
Western Approaches Command Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...
in April 1943 under the command of Captain Frederic John Walker, leader of the 2nd Support Group (2SG). This was a flotilla of six sloops not tied down to convoy protection, but free to hunt down
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 ...
s wherever found. The other ships of the group were , , , , and . ''Starling''s first patrol in May 1943 was uneventful; There were several major convoy battles during the month, but none involving 2 SG. ''Starling''s first success came on 1 June 1943, when the group's first U-boat was detected: fortuitously on a fine day and identified by Lt. Earl Howe Pitt. This event was dubbed another "
Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was fought on 1 June 1794 between the British and French navies during the War of the First Coalition. It was the first and largest fleet a ...
" by Walker. Over a 15-hour period the group found, tracked and destroyed , in the longest hunt of the Atlantic campaign up to that point. On their return to Liverpool, ''Starling'' and 2SG were assigned to " Operation Musketry", an attempt, in concert with
Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
, to interdict the U-boat transit routes across the
Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...
. On 24 June 1943 the group was successful in destroying two U-boats; ''Starling'' destroyed , but was damaged when she rammed the U-boat to dispatch it. She was forced to return to Britain for repairs, under the temporary command of Cdr. DEG Wemyss of ''Wild Goose'', Walker having stayed with the group. In October, on returning to the group, ''Starling'' was involved in the battle around convoy ON 207. No successes were recorded, though the convoy battle saw three U-boats destroyed, with no ships lost. In November 1943, in operations around HX 264, ''Starling'' and 2 SG accounted for two more U-boats, and . In December, while in support of SL 140/MKS 31, ''Starling'' attacked and damaged , forcing it to abandon its attack. In January 1944, supporting convoy SL 147/MKS 38, ''Starling'' shared in the destruction of . In February she took part in the famous " Six in one trip" episode, where 2 SG destroyed six U-boats over a two-week period. ''Starling'' shared in the destruction of four of these; on 31 January, and on 9 February, and on 19 February. In March 1944, ''Starling'' and 2 SG, accompanied by escort carrier ''Vindex'', sought and destroyed , a U-boat on weather-reporting duty in the North Atlantic. Later that month, while supporting Murmansk
convoy JW 58 Convoy JW 58 was an Arctic convoy sent from Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in March 1944, reaching the Soviet northern ports in early April. All ships arrived safely. JW 58 was attacked by G ...
, ''Starling'' met and destroyed in transit to the North Atlantic. She had no other success, though three U-boats were destroyed in attacks on JW 58. In May the group responded to an attack on by . Though starting from 300 miles away Walker, in an inspired piece of work, divined where to search and after a three-day search gained contact. An 18-hour hunt brought ''U-473'' to the surface, where she was sunk by gunfire. In June ''Starling'' was part of "
Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
" in support of the Normandy landings, and was instrumental in preventing any attacks on the invasion fleet. In all fifteen U-boats were destroyed in attempts to attack the invasion fleet, though ''Starling'' herself had no success. In July ''Starling'' suffered her heaviest blow when Capt. FJ Walker died of a
cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...
, brought on by overwork and exhaustion. Under her new captain, Cdr. NW Duck, ''Starling'' and 2 SG had another successful patrol in the Bay of Biscay in August when four U-boats were destroyed; ''Starling'' took part in three of these actions, against , , and . In September ''Starling'' moved to 22EG, under Cdr. GWE Castens, but the U-boat war had changed character, and ''Starling'' saw little further success. The campaign became a hunt for single raiders operating in the shallow coastal waters, where a U-boat could hide among the wrecks on the sea bottom. Hunts for these "lone wolves" was a slow and tedious business, though merchant ship losses were kept to a minimum. In January 1945 ''Starling'', with ships of 22EG, attacked a promising target in the North Channel: They were credited, following examination of German records in the post-war period, with the destruction of . However this assessment was re-evaluated in 1991, and the credit was withdrawn; the attack was deemed to have been on a non-sub target. With the end of the war in Europe ''Starling'' was earmarked for duty in the Pacific, but while re-fitting for this the war there ended. In September 1945 ''Starling'' paid off, and in October went into reserve.


Post-war service

In 1946 ''Starling'' was re-activated for service with , the Royal Navy's Navigation Training School. She was modified as a Navigation training ship and remained in service for the next ten years. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. During her last year in commission, she visited the Norwegian fjords and the U-boat base at
Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
. Her final voyage was a call at Bootle Liverpool to attend a farewell celebration provided by the local authority and Captain Walker's widow took passage on the final sailing from Bootle to Portsmouth where she paid off.


Battle honours

* Biscay 1943 *
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 se ...
1943–45 *
Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
1944 *
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
1944


Successes

''Starling'' participated in the sinking of fourteen
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 ...
: During the war the ''Starling'' was credited, along with the sloops , , , and frigate , with sinking the in the North Channel on 16 January 1945. The
British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...
withdrew this credit in a post-war reassessment.Blair (2000), 630-631.


In popular culture

* ''Starling''s service in the Arctic convoys (fictionalised as "HMS ''Sparrow''") is described in the prologue to children's adventure novel '' The Salt-stained Book'' by
Julia Jones Julia Jones (born January 23, 1981) is an American actress. She may be best known for playing Leah Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'' film series and Angela Bishop in the television series '' Dexter: New Blood''. Early life and education Jul ...
(2011).


Notes


Sources

* * * Arnold Hague : ''The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945'' (2000). (Canada); (UK). * * * Warlow, B : ''Battle Honours of the Royal Navy'' (2004) * Wemyss, DEG : ''Relentless Pursuit: The Story of Capt. FJ Walker CB.DSO***RN, U-Boat Hunter and Destroyer'' (2003) Cerberus Publishing (First published in 1955) Burn, Alan (1993). The Fighting Captain. .


Publications

* *


External links


HMS ''Starling'' on naval-history.net




{{DEFAULTSORT:Starling Black Swan-class sloops World War II sloops of the United Kingdom Sloops of the United Kingdom 1942 ships