HMS Loch Alvie (K428)
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS Loch Alvie was a Template:Sclass2 of the Royal Navy, named after Loch Alvie in Scotland. She was ordered by the Royal Navy during World War II, but did not see action with them, having transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy before commissioning. After the war she returned to the Royal Navy and would pass in and out of service until 1963.
Construction and design
Loch Alvie was ordered 2 February 1943.<ref name=uboat>Template:Cite web</ref> She was laid down on 31 August 1943 by Barclay, Curle & Company at Glasgow and launched on 14 April 1944.<ref name=macpherson101>Macpherson & Barrie 2002, p. 101</ref> She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned on 10 August 1944 at Dalmuir, Scotland.<ref name=macpherson101/>
Loch Alvie was Template:Convert long overall and Template:Convert between perpendiculars, with a beam of Template:Convert<ref name="Elliott p234">Elliott 1977, p. 234.</ref> and a draught of Template:Convert.<ref name="Marriott p24">Marriott 1983, p. 24.</ref> Displacement was Template:Convert standard and Template:Convert deep load.<ref name="Fried p321">Friedman 2008, p. 321.</ref> She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engines fed with steam from two Admiralty 3-drum boilers and rated at Template:Convert. This gave a speed of Template:Convert.<ref name="Elliott p234"/> Sufficient fuel was carried to give a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert in tropical waters.<ref name="Fried p321"/>
The ship's main gun armament was a single Template:Convert QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V gun forward, with an anti-aircraft armament of a quadruple 2-pounder (40-mm) pom-pom aft and at least six Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (two twin powered mountings and at least two single mounts). Two Squid anti-submarine mortars were fitted, with 120 rounds carried, backed up by 15 conventional depth charges.<ref name="Elliott p234"/><ref name="Fried p151">Friedman 2008, p. 151.</ref> As built, the ship had a complement of 114 officers and men.<ref name="Elliott p234"/>
Loch Alvie underwent significant modification when under refit from 1952 to 1954, with the ship's gun armament being heavily revised. The 4-inch gun was replaced by a twin Mk XVI 4-inch dual-purpose mount, while the close-in anti-aircraft armament was replaced by an outfit of six Bofors 40 mm guns (1 twin and 4 single mounts), while communications equipment was also upgraded.<ref name="Marriott p25">Marriott 1983, p. 25.</ref><ref name="Critv5 p51"/>
Service history
World War II
After commissioning, Loch Alvie worked up at Tobermory. She joined the 9th Escort Group at Londonderry Port on 19 September 1944. After escorting convoys to and from Gibraltar,<ref name="naval-history.net">Template:Cite web</ref> on 29 November she sailed as part of the escort of Russian Convoy JW 62, arriving at Murmansk on 7 December, and the return convoy RA 62, which left Kola Bay on 10 December, with Loch Alvie leaving the convoy on 17 December.<ref name="Ruegg p69-0">Ruegg & Hague 1993, pp. 69–70.</ref> She then returned to Liverpool for repairs.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>
The ship returned to convoy escort and anti-submarine operations in the English Channel in February 1945.<ref name="naval-history.net"/> The frigate deployed into the English Channel with the 9th escort group from 14 March to 20 April 1945.<ref>Rohwer, p. 400</ref> Later Loch Alvie joined Task Group 122.3 for anti-submarine operations and support duties in the South-Western Approaches and Irish Sea while based at Milford Haven.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>
After the German surrender in May Loch Alvie returned to the Clyde and took part in escorting Convoy JW67 – the last convoy to Russia – before being sent to Trondheim to escort fourteen U-boats to Loch Eriboll as part of "Operation Deadlight".<ref name="naval-history.net"/>
In June 1945 Loch Alvie was returned to the Royal Navy, paid off officially from the Royal Canadian Navy on 11 July and put into reserve at Sheerness.<ref name=macpherson101/><ref name="naval-history.net"/> Lock Alvie and Template:HMCS were the only two Canadian ships of the war never to visit a Canadian port.<ref name=macpherson101/>
Post-war
Loch Alvie was recommissioned in April 1950 to serve in the 6th Frigate Flotilla of the Home Fleet.<ref name="Critv5 p51">Critchley 1992, p. 51.</ref> In 1951 she took part in the search operation to find the missing submarine Template:HMS. The ship was again decommissioned in April 1952 and placed in reserve at Chatham.<ref name="Critv5 p51"/><ref name="naval-history.net"/>
In October 1952, she started a major modernisation and refit at Portsmouth dockyard where her armament was revised, with the refit continuing until January 1954.<ref name="Marriott p25"/><ref name="Critv5 p51"/> On completing the refit she was re-commissioned for service in the Persian Gulf.<ref name="Critv5 p51"/>
In October 1960 Loch Alvie completed another refit before returning to the Persian Gulf. In April 1961, when the passenger liner Template:MV suffered an explosion, Loch Alvie took part in attempts to stop the resulting fires and salvage the ship. Later that year she was deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Vantage, a deployment of British forces to Kuwait in response to Iraqi threats of invasion.<ref name="naval-history.net"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Loch Alvie was decommissioned at Singapore in November 1963. During 1964 she was stripped of equipment, and the hulk sold to Hong Huat Hardware, Singapore, for scrapping on 20 September 1965.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>