HMS Swale (K217)

HMS Swale (K217) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN) from 1942 to 1955, loaned to the South African Navy for six months at the end of the Second World War.

Construction
Swale was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River-class frigate. She was laid down at Smiths Dock Co., South Bank-on-Tees on 19 August 1941 and launched on 16 January 1942. The ship was commissioned into the RN on 24 June 1942 as K 217 and named for the River Swale in Yorkshire, England.

Early days
Swale saw extensive service on convoy escort missions and experienced some of the worst days of the Battle of the Atlantic. In March 1943 she was SO (Senior Officer's ship) of the Escort Group (EG) B5, escorting the slow convoy SC 122 from New York to Liverpool. Of the 51 merchant ships in the convoy, 10 returned to port unable to ride a violent storm; three days later another eight were sunk by U-boats.

Swale was to have better fortunes two months later. Escorting slow convoy ONS 7 bound for Halifax, Canada, she sank the GS U-657 off Cape Farewell, Greenland on the night of 17 May. The U-boat had earlier torpedoed the steamer Aymeric,  the last British cargo ship in the Atlantic to be sunk that month, claiming the lives of 53 men. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander John Jackson, DSC, RNR, Swale moved 6000 m astern of the doomed Aymeric and made ASDIC (sonar) contact. After a succession of depth charge and Hedgehog attacks, she was rewarded with the sound of several loud explosions and the appearance of burning oil on the surface. The convoy continued to Canada without further loss.

Convoy Faith episode
On 10 July 1943 Swale sailed Gibraltar to rendezvous with the small, fast Convoy Faith (one of the 'Winston Specials') en route from Greenock in Scotland to Freetown, Sierra Leone. The convoy had comprised two troopships, the SS California (1923) and the Canadian Pacific liner SS Duchess of York (1928), and the transport MV Port Fairy, (which was carrying ammunition), escorted by three warships. At about 2000 hrs on 11 July while 300 mi west of Vigo, the convoy was subjected to a devastating air attack by three Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft from Merignac airfield near Bordeaux. By the time Swale arrived at 2235 hrs, both California and Duchess of York had been hit, set on fire, and abandoned, to be sunk later by torpedoes from their escorts. Swale too was attacked by the Condors, bombs falling just 20 yd astern. After making an A/S sweep, Swale was ordered to escort Port Fairy, which had escaped unscathed, to Casablanca, ahead of the other escorts which were still searching for survivors. On the evening of the next day, the two ships were attacked by two Fw 200s returning from a reconnaissance mission off the Portuguese coast. Despite the interception and strafing of the Condors by two US Navy PBY Catalinas Port Fairy was hit on her port quarter by a 50 kg bomb which started a fire next to her magazine. Swale came alongside, took off 64 survivors from the two troopships together with eight passengers, and helped extinguish the blaze with her hoses. Port Fairy was repaired at Casablanca and remained in service until 1965.

Last success
On 6 April 1944, while escorting the slow convoy SC 156 from Halifax, Canada to Loch Ewe, Scotland, Swale sank GS U-302  with depth charges northwest of the Azores after the U-boat penetrated the escort screen and sank the Norwegian merchantmen  Ruth 1 and South America.

Post-war service
Swale was loaned to the South African Navy on 26 June 1945 as HMSAS Swale but returned to the RN in January 1946. She was scrapped on 26 February 1955.