Built as a frigate by the W. Pickersgill yard in Sunderland for the Royal Navy under the intended name LOCH KILBIRNIE.
23 Oct. 1944 keel laid down.
08 June 1945 launched under the name MOUNTS BAY, named after a bay in the UK. Mounts Bay is near Penzance in Cornwall.
Displacement 1.580 tons standard, 2.420 maximum, dim. 93.6 x 11.8 x 3.9m. (draught).
Powered by 4 cyl. triple expansion steam engines, 5.500 ihp., twin screws, speed 19½ knots. 2 Admiralty three-drum boilers supplied steam.
Bunker capacity 720-ton oil, radius 9.500 mile against 12 knots.
Armament: 4 – 4 inch AA and 6 – 40mm AA guns. 1 Hedgehog multiple spigot mortar. Depth charge throwers and rails, could carry 50 depth charges.
Crew 157.
11 April 1949 commissioned.
When in 1944 the war at sea moved more to the Far East, the requirement arose for an escort vessel with heavy anti-aircraft guns, to accompany the warships in the Japanese waters.
At that time a large number of Loch class frigates were built, and it was decided to modify the plans of this class. 26 vessels were modified to this new class, the Bay class, but only 8 were finished when World War II ended, the other were in a advance state of construction, only one of the class was cancelled.
The MOUNTSBAY was completed by the yard of J.I Thornycroft at Woolston, Southampton in 1949.
After commissioning based at Far East Station, and she took part in the Korean War.
1954 Returned to Chatham, U.K.
1956 Based on the South Atlantic station and West India station.
Between 1957 and 1961 she served in the Indian Ocean and the Far East.
She visited the Solomon Islands in August 1959.
By the mid-1950s the usefulness of the class as a front line warship was declining, due to outdated armament and slow speed, and most of the class were put in reserve or broken up. Several were sold abroad, and after a refit by J.I. Thornycroft the MOUNTSBAY was sold to the Portuguese Navy on 09 May 1961 and renamed VASCO DA GAMA.
02 December 1971 sold for breaking up.
Solomon Islands 1981 8c sg430, scott?
Source: Royal Navy Frigates since 1945 by Leo Marriott. Some web-sites.