HMS ''Wren'' (U28) was a ''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 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 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 five

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. Members of the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the World War I, First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in ...

(Wrens) contributed a day's pay each to a memorial fund for the 22 Wrens killed during the torpedoing of in 1941, and the fund, in turn, contributed £4,000 towards the sloop's construction. The sloop was popularly identified with the Wrens throughout its war service, and received frequent visits from them when in por

Construction

''Wren'' was ordered on 13 April 1940 under the 1940 Building Programme; she was laid down 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. ...

on 27 February 1941. Launched on 11 August 1942 she was completed on 4 February 1943, with a build time of 23 months and 5 days. The ''Black Swan'' class sloops were subject to numerous modifications during the building process, so much so that the design was revised, later ships (of the 1941 Programme and onwards) being described as the Modified ''Black Swan'' class. Although ''Wren'' was laid down under the original design, she was completed later than some of the Modified class ships, and with the modifications during her build was indistinguishable from the later Modified ''Black Swan'' vessels. She was adopted by the Civil community of Knutsford and Northwich in Cheshire, as part of the

Warship Week Warship Weeks were British National savings campaigns during the Second World War, with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy not only had lost many capital ships but ...

National Saving programme in 1942.

Service history

''Wren'' was commissioned on 4 February 1943 and, after working up, was assigned to F. J. Walker's 2nd Support Group, the most successful

unit of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. In February, ''Wren'' and the 2nd Support Group were on support duty in the Atlantic, although they saw little action. In June, the group was assigned to 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 ...

in support of

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 ...

's Operation Musketry, a programme of RAF 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 ...

air patrols over the area. On 24 June, ''Wren'', with others, located and destroyed ''U-449'' off

Cape Ortegal Ortegal is a ''comarca'' in the north of the Galician Province of A Coruña, Spain. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian Sea to the north, the Province of Lugo Lugo is a province (Spain), province of northwestern Spain, in the nor ...

. On 30 July, the group engaged three U-boats already under air attack. All three were destroyed, with ''Wren'' sharing credit for the sinking of ''U-504''. Following a refit in autumn 1943, ''Wren'' rejoined the group and provided support to inbound convoy SL 147/MKS 38, which was under attack by the Igel group, and to Atlantic convoys HX 278 and ON 224, which were under attack by the Hai group. In late March 1944, ''Wren'' and the group escorted JW 58, an

Arctic convoy The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

, which saw four U-boats destroyed during a five-day running battle. In May, back in the Atlantic, ''Wren'' took part in the destruction of ''U-473'' after a prolonged search and a "hunt to exhaustion". During June and July, ''Wren'' and the 2nd Support Group operated in the

Channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

as 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 ...

, providing protection for the Allied invasion force against U-boat attack. In August, ''Wren'' and others destroyed ''U-608'' off the French coast. After a further refit, ''Wren'' was reassigned in January 1945 to the 22nd Escort Group, conducting anti-submarine patrols off the British coast. In March 1945, ''Wren'' was nominated to join the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. It was formed from aircraft carriers, other surface warships, submarines and supply vessels of the RN and British Commonwealth ...

, but had not done so by August, when the war in the Far East ended. She was paid off, but re-commissioned in 1946 for service in the Middle East. In April 1949, she commenced a refit at Malta Dockyard. This involved the removal of the anti-submarine equipment on the quarterdeck, which was replaced with additional accommodation. She was eventually paid off in 1955 and sold for scrap, arriving at

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 ...

for breaking up on 2 February 1956.

Battle Honours

During her service Wren was awarded four battle honours.Warlow p *

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 *Biscay 1943-44 *

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 *

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

Successes

During her service ''Wren'' was credited with the destruction of five U-boats.

Notes

References

* * * * * * Warlow, B : ''Battle Honours of the Royal Navy'' (2004)

External links

HMS ''Wren'' at navalhistory.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wren 1943 ships Black Swan-class sloops World War II sloops of the United Kingdom