Allied Warships

HMS Erin

ASW Trawler

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeASW Trawler
Class[No specific class] 
Pennant 
Built bySmiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down 
Launched21 Aug 1933 
CommissionedJul 1940 
Lost18 Jan 1942 
History

Completed in September 1933.
Taken over by the Admiralty on 8 June 1940.
Displacement: 394 tons.

Built as a "Football" Class trawler called Sheffield Wednesday and later sold to the Dutch who renamed her Erin. She was taken over by the Royal Navy and served with the Royal Naval Patrol Service.

HMT Erin (T/Lt. William Graham Swanston, RNVR) was sunk in Gibraltar harbour by a Spanish saboteur on 18 January 1942 along with HMS Honjo.

 

Commands listed for HMS Erin

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1T/Lt. William Graham Swanston, RNVR17 Jul 194018 Oct 1940
2A/Cdr. John Owen Davies, RNR18 Oct 1940ca. late41
3T/Lt. William Graham Swanston, RNVRca. late4117 Jan 1942

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Notable events involving Erin include:


26 Sep 1940
HMS H 50 (Lt. G.V. Prowse, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Tobermory with HMS Erin (T/Lt. W.G. Swanston, RNVR) and HMS Asphodel (Lt.Cdr.(Retd.) K.W. Stewart, RN). (1)

2 Dec 1940
HMS Erin (A/Cdr J.O. Davies, RNR) picks up 19 survivors from the British merchant Jeanne M. that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-37 about 230 nautical miles north of Cape Roca, Portugal in position 39°19'N, 13°54'W.

27 Mar 1941
HrMs O 21 (Lt.Cdr. J.F. van Dulm, RNN) carries out exercises off Gibraltar with HMS Alouette (Lt. R.F.R. Yarde-Buller, RNVR), HMS Erin (A/Cdr. J.O. Davies, RNR), HMS Lord Hotham (Skr. J.W. Morris, RNR) and HMS Leyland (Skr. H. Crighton, RNR). (2)

10 Jan 1942
HMS Clyde (Cdr. D.C. Ingram, DSC, RN) conducted attack exercises off Gibraltar with HMS Severn (Lt.Cdr. A.N.G. Campbell, RN).

Also A/S exercises were carried out with HMS Vidette (Lt.Cdr. E.N. Walmsley, RN), HMS Spiraea (T/Lt. R.W. Tretheway, RNR) and HMS Erin (T/Lt. W.G. Swanston, RNVR). (3)

Sources

  1. ADM 173/16332
  2. File 2.12.03.6404 (Dutch Archives, The Hague, Netherlands)
  3. ADM 173/17179

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


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