BEGONIA HMS 1941.

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aukepalmhof
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BEGONIA HMS 1941.

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:08 am

Palau issued in 2004 a set of stamps for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.
Why the HMS BEGONIA is depict, she never was used at D-Day and at that time of D-Day she carried the name USS IMPULSE (PG-68)

She was one of the Flower Class corvettes of which 225 were built during the war...
13 March 1940 laid down on the yard of Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Hull for the Royal Navy.
18 September 1940 launched under the name HMS BEGONIA (K66)
Displacement 925 ton, dim. 205.2 x 33 x 14.7ft (draught).
Powered by one 4-cyl reciprocating steam engine, 2.750 hp. manufactured by C.D.Holmes & Co. Ltd., Hull, one screw speed 16 knots.
Armament 1 - 4 inch, 1 - 2pdr AA and 4 MG AA. Two racks at the stern for depth charges.
Crew 85 men.
03 March 1941 commissioned.

The Flower class design was made after the whaler SOUTHERN PRIDE, the hull design was lengthened by 30 feet to give extra space and improve sub-division. Used as an escort vessel the intention was to use the class for protection of coastal convoys, but she was also used to protect convoys across the North Atlantic.

10 March 1942 at London was she transferred to the US Navy and commissioned as USS IMPULSE (PG-68) under command of Lt. C.M. Lyons. She was one of a group of 10 corvettes transferred to the U.S. Navy under reverse Lend-Lease.15 April 1942 she sailed from Londonderry, Northern Ireland as a convoy escort across the North Atlantic.04 May 1942 she arrived at New York, and then she moved to Norfolk before she began her regular operations as a coastal escort vessel from Norfolk to Key West..
25 August 1942 she returned to New York, thereafter used as escort for the important supply line between New York and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next three years she made repeated escort voyages to and from Cuba, to protect the shipping against the German U-boat attacks.

06 July she arrived at Boston for return to the Royal Navy.01 August 1945 she sailed for Harwich, where she arrived 15 August.22 August 1945 decommissioned and handed back to the Royal Navy, was renamed HMS BEGONIA.

22 July 1946 sold for mercantile use to Wheelock, Marsden & Co., Hong Kong and renamed BEGONLOCK.

05 March 1947 the BEGONLOCK was found abandoned and adrift in the Cantábrico (Spanish North coast, Gulf of Biscay) by two Basque trail net fishing vessels, which took her in tow for Bilbao. The towline broke and part of the towline got caught in the propeller of one of the vessels, they needed now herself help. After assistance arrived they were able to tow the vessel to Bilbao.
Sold during a public auction to the shipyard Astilleros Luzuriaga in Pasajes.
.

1949 Sold to Adrilleros Luzurinaga S.A., Pasajes, Spain, renamed FUNDICIONES MOLINAO.
1951 renamed ASTILUZU. October 1953 sold to Naviera Compostela S.A., Bilbao, registered at Corunna.
1956 Renamed RIO MERO by owners.

21 January 1970 while in route from the Canary Islands loaded with 900 tons of ammonia to Valencia, she ran aground on rocks off the Southern coast of Spain off Punta de las Entinas in position 36 41N 02 46W.

She was sold for scrap and broken up "in situ", another source gives, she was refloated and broken up.
She is then given as 993 gross 551 net,. dim. 189.11 x 33.0 x 16.1ft.Two decks.

Source: http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4718.html Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/shi ... pulse.html.
British Escort Ships by H.T. Lenton. Sold East by Dick & Kentwell. Info received from Mr. Edge. .Modern Shipping Disasters 1963-1987 by N. Hooke.
Palau 2004 50c sg?, scott?
Attachments
Begonia_(K66)_IWM_A_5483.jpg
2004 begonia hms.jpg

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