Name HMS Blackwood Laid down 22 September 1942 Identification Pennant number K313 Launched 23 November 1942 Draft 2.7 m | Namesake Henry Blackwood Commissioned 27 March 1943 Construction started 22 September 1942 Length 88 m Builder Boston Navy Yard | |
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Fate Damaged by U-764 on 15 June 1944
Sunk under tow on 16 June | ||
HMS Blackwood was a Captain-class frigate of the Evarts-class of destroyer escort, originally commissioned to be built for the U.S. Navy. Before she was finished in 1942, she was transferred to the Royal Navy under the terms of Lend-Lease, and saw service during the Second World War.
Career
Blackwood was built by Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, United States and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 27 March 1943. She saw service on anti-submarine patrols and as a convoy escort. On 23 November 1943 she and the frigates HMS Bazely and HMS Drury sank the U-boat U-648 north-east of the Azores, and two days later on 25 November Bazely and Blackwood sank U-600 north of Punta Delgada.
Blackwood was part of the 4th Escort Group and was on patrol in the western approaches to the English Channel on 15 June 1944, covering ships bound for the allied invasion of Normandy when she was sighted by U-764, which fired a Gnat at her. Blackwood was hit and damaged, killing 57 of the crew. She was taken under tow, but foundered off Portland Bill the following day. The wreck lies in position . in 60 meters (200 ft) of water, and is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.