HMS ''Stork'' (L81) was a 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 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 ...

, serving in convoy escort groups, and was a 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, being credited with the destruction of four

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 ...

Construction

''Stork'' was laid down on 19 June 1935 by

William Denny & Brothers William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being buil ...

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

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 ...

, one of a series of general purpose vessels that could be employed as escort vessels in time of war. She was launched on 21 April 1936 and commissioned on 10 September the same year. She was completed as an unarmed survey ship, but with provision for an armament of

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

and

weapons. After commissioning ''Stork'' was sent to join the

Commander-in-Chief, China The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1 ...

, and operated in Malayan waters until 1939. With war in Europe looming she returned to Devonport in early 1939 for refit and for installation of her main armament and anti-aircraft guns.G Mason
navalhistory.net
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Service history

At the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939 ''Stork'' was still refitting; by November she had completed trials and was assigned to convoy escort duty in the

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, on the east coast routes. In April 1940 ''Stork'' took part in the Norwegian Campaign and at

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

came under air attack, assisting later in the rescue of survivors from the transport . In September 1940 ''Stork'' was damaged by air attack on an east coast convoy and spent the next six months in dock. ''Stork'' completed repairs and trials in June 1941 and in August, under the command of Cdr FJ "Johnnie" Walker, was assigned to lead the 36th Escort Group (36 EG), employed escorting convoys to and from

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and the South Atlantic. In December 1941, while off Gibraltar, ''Stork'' and ''Samphire'' attacked ''U-568'', which was damaged and forced to return to base. Later that month ''Stork'' and 36EG escorted HG 76 from Gibraltar homeward, augmented by the new

escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraf ...

and other ships. During the journey five U-boats were sunk, four by ships of 36 EG, with ''Stork'' taking part in the destruction of , and , which was depth-charged and rammed by ''Stork''. ''Stork'' continued with 36 EG until mid-1942. On 14 April, while with OG 82 ''Stork'' and the corvette sank . In June, HG 84 came under attack by Endrass group; Five ships were sunk, but Walker and 36EG were commended for their vigorous defence. During this action ''Stork'' and ''Gardenia'' attacked and damaged ''U-132'', forcing it to retire. In August Walker took command of 20th Escort Group, with ''Stork'' as senior ship. 20EG designated as a support group, but after two trips (with ON 132 and SC 102) the group was disbanded to provide escorts for

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

. While escorting Torch convoy KMS 1 in the

Mediterranean 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 ...

''Stork'' was torpedoed by off

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on 12 November. She was towed to Gibraltar for temporary repairs and then taken to Falmouth for further repairs. In June 1943, under new command, ''Stork'' joined the 37th Escort Group and on 30 August 1943, while escorting SL 135, she and the corvette sank in the North Atlantic east of the Azores. In 1944 she was part of the 116th Escort Group supporting

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 January 1945, with the war in Europe drawing to a conclusion, ''Stork'' was docked for refitting at

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prior to joining the

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, but the work was delayed and not completed before the Japanese surrender, and the war's end. ''Stork'' was put in reserve but in January 1946 was re-commissioned as the Senior Officer's ship in the

Fishery Protection Squadron The Overseas Patrol Squadron (known as the Fishery Protection Squadron until 2020) is a front-line squadron of the Royal Navy with responsibility for patrolling the UK's Extended Fisheries Zone, both at home and around British Overseas Territori ...

where she served for two years before being put in reserve again. She was decommissioned and broken up in 1958.

Battle honours

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

1940 * North Sea 1940 *

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 ...

1940-44 *

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

1942 *

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 ...

1944HMS ''Stork'': Battle Honours
at britainsnavy.co.uk; retrieved 8 July 2020

Successes

During her service ''Stork'' was credited with the destruction of four U-boats:

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * Warlow, B : ''Battle Honours of the Royal Navy'' (2004) * DEG Wemyss : ''Walker's Groups in the Western Approaches'' (1948)

External links

– naval-history.net

– uboat.net

– britainsnavy.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Stork 1936 ships Bittern-class sloops Survey vessels of the Royal Navy World War II escort ships of the United Kingdom