HMS Albrighton

HMS Albrighton was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer built for the British Royal Navy. She entered service in February 1942, first carrying out an attack on German ships in the English Channel then taking part in the Dieppe Raid, rescuing survivors from the sinking destroyer HMS Broke. Albrighton was next assigned to search for and destroy the German auxiliary cruiser Komet, then escorted a convoy to Gibraltar in prevision of the Allied landings in North Africa. Between December 1942 and April 1943, she participated in the sinking of three more Axis ships with the First Destroyer Flotilla. During the Normandy Landings in June 1944, Albrighton served as a headquarters ship, then sank two German trawlers in the weeks after the invasion. After being converted to a destroyer in early 1945, she was damaged in a collision with a Landing Ship, then was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet. However, the war ended before she was deployed and Albrighton went into reserve.

Albrighton in 1943
History
United Kingdom
NameAlbrighton
NamesakeAlbrighton Hunt
Ordered4 July 1940
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank
Laid down30 December 1940
Launched11 October 1941
Commissioned22 February 1942
IdentificationPennant number: L12
FateSold to West Germany, 11 November 1957
West Germany
NameRaule
Acquired11 November 1957
Commissioned14 May 1959
Decommissioned1968
IdentificationPennant number: F217
FateSold for scrap, 1969
General characteristics
Class and typeType III Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,050 long tons (1,067 t) standard,
  • 1,490 long tons (1,514 t) full load
Length
  • 264 ft 3 in (80.54 m) pp,
  • 280 ft (85.34 m) oa
Beam31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Draught7 ft 9 in (2.36 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range3,700 nmi (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement168
Armament
  • 4 × QF 4 in Mark XVI guns on twin mounts Mk. XIX
  • 5 × QF 2 pdr Mk. VIII (1 × quad mount and 1 × single bow chaser mount)
  • 3 × 20 mm Oerlikons
  • 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
  • 70 depth charges, 4 throwers, 2 racks

In 1957, she was refitted in Liverpool, then sold to the West German Navy and commissioned under then name Raule. She served as a training ship until 1968, when she was decommissioned and sold for scrap metal in Hamburg the next year.

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