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H . M . S . B
L E A S D A L E (L 5 0 )
Type III 'HUNT' Class Escort Destroyer built by Vickers
Armstrong at Newcastle under the 1940 War Emergency Programme and ordered as
Job No J4283 on 19th July 1940. The ship was laid down on 31st October 1940 and
was the first RN warship to bear the Name. She was launched on 23rd July 1941
and build was completed on 16th April 1942. Following a successful. 'WARSHIP
WEEK' National Savings campaign in March 1942 HMS BLEASDALE was adopted by the
civil community of Garstang in Lancashire.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
ENGLISH
CHANNEL 1942-44 - DIEPPE 1942 - NORTH
SEA 1943-45 - NORMANDY 1944 - ATLANTIC
1944
H e r a l d i c D a
t a
Badge : On a Field Red, a hunting horn and crozier
in saltire, both Gold.
Details o f W a r
S e r v I c e
1 9 4 2
April Acceptance Trials and
commissioning.
16th Build completion and
commissioned for service.
On completion of
trials and storing took passage to Portsmouth.
May
Joined 1st Destroyer Flotilla for convoy defence and
patrol duties in Channel.
(Note : Other ships in
Flotilla were :
HM Destroyers
ALBRIGHTON, BERKELEY, BROCKLESBY, CALPE, FERNIE, GARTH
and
Polish destroyer ORP SLAZAK.)
June Channel deployment in
continuation.
July Took part in preparatory
exercises for amphibious landing operation,
Nominated for support,
of Dieppe commando landings (Operation JUBILEE)
18th Escorted assault craft to
Dieppe.
19th Remained off beaches
during landings and sustained minor damage.
Provided defence
during return passage of landing craft.
(For details see
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett and Naval
Staff History.
August Resumed convoy defence and
patrol in English Channel.
Channel duty in
continuation.
September Detached for interception and
patrol in Bay of Biscay off French coast based at Plymouth during
this period.
Resumed convoy defence
with Flotilla at Portsmouth on release from detached duty.
October
10th Mined off Nab Tower
causing structural damage.
12th Taken in hand for repair
in HM Dockyard. Portsmouth.
November On completion rejoined Flotilla.
30th Detached for escort duty
with military Convoy to Gibraltar for allied landings
in North Africa
(Operation TORCH).
(For details see
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY and Naval Staff History.)
December
8th Took passage to
Portsmouth to resume Flotilla duties.
Resumed Channel convoy
defence duties.
1 9 4 3
January Deployed in English Channel
for convoy defence and the support of Light Coastal
Forces
to craft during offensive
operations against enemy convoys.
June
July Detached with HM Escort
Destroyer STEVENSTONE to cover return of Light Coastal
Forces
Steam Gunboats which
had been in action with enemy minesweepers off Pointe
Barfleur.
August Channel convoy defence and
patrol in continuation.
to (For details of convoy
operations and naval activities in Channel area see HOLD
THE NARROW
December SEA by P Smith, THE BATTLE OF
THE NARROW SEAS by P Scott and ENGAGE THE
ENEMY MORE CLOSELY)
1 9 4 4
January Channel convoy escort and
support of offensive operations.
to (Note : Additional HUNT Class escort destroyers
joined Flotilla.)
March Deployed as Leader of Flotilla.
April Involved in collision with
a trawler off Portland when escorting military convoy from
Spithead to take part
in amphibious exercise in Lyme Bay.
Sustained structural
damage to bows and returned to Portsmouth for repair.
On completion of
repair resumed escort and patrol duties with Flotilla
May Nominated for attachment to
Assault Force J during allied landings in Normandy.
(Operation NEPTUNE).
On release from
support duties returned to Portsmouth.
On release from
support duties returned to Portsmouth.
(For details of
Operation NEPTUNE see Naval Staff History LANDINGS IN NORMANDY
(HMSO), OPERATION
NEPTUNE by K Edwards and D DAY SHIPS by J de Winser.)
2nd Took part in final
rehearsal for Forces O, S, J and G (Exercise FABIUS)
Landings for Force J
made at Bracklesham Bay, Sussex.
18th Took part in defence
exercise with same Forces off Brighton with simulated air,
E Boat and submersible
craft attacks.
June
4th Deployed with Force J
craft in Solent.
5th Joined escort for
Headquarters Ship for Force J2 and assault craft for passage to beach
head with HM
Destroyers KEMPENFELT and GLAISDALE (Norway) as Convoy J10
6th Deployed with Support
Force "E" for JUNO Beach Head.
Provided AA and A/S
defence as well as naval gunfire support for the assault on JUNO
landing beaches.
Escorted return convoy
to Portsmouth and replenished ammunition.
7th Part of escort for HM
Battleship RODNEY with HM Cruiser SIRIUS and HM Canadian
Frigate
RIOU during passage to beach head.
8th Deployed off beach head
for support and patrol duties.
9th Part of escort for HMS
RODNEY for passage from beach head to Milford Haven.
11th Return passage from
Milford Haven to Portsmouth.
12th Withdrawn from operational
duty for removal of wire from propeller shafting.
Replaced by HM
Destroyer FURY for transport of Army personnel to beachhead.
15th Resumed support duties and
took passage to beach head for patrol duties.
16th Escorted Motor Torpedo
Boats during minelaying operation off Le Havre to protect ships
lying off assault
beaches from submarine attack (Operation KN29).
July In dock at Portsmouth for
examination of shafts.
5th On completion deployed
for patrol off French coast in support of Light Coastal
Force craft
operations against
E-Boats.
6th Deployed with HM
Destroyer CATTISTOCK in support of MTB operations.
(Note : HM Frigate
TROLLOPE deployed as a control ship was sunk by torpedo from
an E-Boat.)
9th Returned to Portsmouth to
replenish.
Resumed patrol duties
in support of coastal force craft and patrol off France.
August Channel patrol in
continuation.
24th In action with enemy craft
evacuating personnel from Le Havre.
September Convoy interception and patrol
duty off French NW coast.
October Transferred to 21st Destroyer
Flotilla based at Sheerness for escort and patrol
duties in North
Sea with support of
military operations in Low countries.
November Defence of Atlantic convoys in
North Sea and Channel as well as interception of submarines
and surface minelaying
craft in Thames estuary and North Sea.
(Note : During this
period ‘Schnorkel’ fitted submarines were attacking convoys in focal
points in SW
Approaches and English Channel.
Atlantic convoys had
then been re-routed and A/S defences were reinforced.
1 9 4 5
January Convoy defence and patrol
based at Sheerness in continuation.
Deployed off east
coast for convoy escort.
February Nominated for foreign service
with 18th Destroyer Flotilla at Trincomalee.
Taken in hand for
refit and modification prior to departure.
Passage to London for
refit in commercial shipyard.
March Under refit.
to
April
May On completion of post refit
trials and storing took passage to Mediterranean.
June Carried out work
up in Malta with ships of Mediterranean Fleet, Destroyer Command.
July Passage to Trincomalee to
join Flotilla
August Prepared with Flotilla for
Malayan coast landings
(Operation ZIPPER) -
Assault landings planned before VJ Day and cancelled before
VJ Day at US
insistence and delayed by implementation of PYTHON release Scheme for
long serving personnel
in SEAC. See THE FORGOTTEN FLEET by J Winton and WAR
WITH JAPAN (HMSO).
September
4th Sailed from Trincomalee
with Eastern Fleet aircraft carriers for ZIPPER landings.
See BRITISH INVASION
FLEETS by J de Winser.
6th Joined escort for assault
convoy JME1F in Malacca Straits
9th Arrived in Assault area.
P o s
t W a r N o t e s
HMS BLEASDALE was at Port Swettenham
for Japanese surrender ceremony and then returned with ships of the Flotilla to
Trincomalee. Deployed briefly in Ceylon, the ship
visited Madras and Calcutta before she returned to pay off into Reserve at
Chatham. Iri February 1946 she was brought forward for
duty in the Nore Local Flotilla and re-commissioned.
During April 1947 she participated in destruction of the German fortifications
at Heligoland. The ship remained in this Flotilla
until 1952 when Paid-off an reduced to Reserve status at Sheerness.
Transferred to Portsmouth in 1953 her
Reserve Category was reduced and the ship was placed on the Disposal List. .She
was sold on 12th September 1956 to BISCO for demolition by Hughes Bolcow at Blyth and arrived in
tow at the Breakers’ yard three days later.
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