Name USS Lovering (DE-272) Laid down 23 April 1943 Length 88 m | Ordered 25 January 1942 Launched 4 June 1943 Draft 2.7 m | |
Namesake U.S. Navy Ensign William Bacon Lovering (1913-1942), killed in action aboard the destroyer USS Hammann (DD-412) during the Battle of Midway on 6 June 1942 Builder Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts | ||
HMS Gould (K476) was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as the United States Navy Evarts-class destroyer escort USS Lovering (DE-272), she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 until her sinking in 1944.
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Construction and transfer
The ship was ordered on 25 January 1942 and laid down as the destroyer escort USS Lovering (DE-272), the first ship of the name, by the Boston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, on 20 May 1943. She was launched on 8 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph S. Lovering, sister-in-law of the ship's namesake, the late Ensign William B. Lovering. The United States transferred the ship upon completion to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease on 18 September 1943.
Service history
The ship was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy as the frigate HMS Gould (K476) under the command of Lieutenant Daniel William Ungoed, RN, on 18 September 1943 simultaneously with her transfer. She served on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic Ocean.
On 26 February 1944, Gould joined the British frigates HMS Affleck (K462) and HMS Gore (K481) in a depth-charge attack that sank theGerman submarine U-91 in the North Atlantic at position 49°45′N 26°20′W.
On 29 February 1944, Gould was operating as part of the First Escort Group when she, Affleck, Gore, and the British frigate HMS Garlies (K475) detected the German submarine U-358 in the North Atlantic north-northeast of the Azores and began a depth-charge attack which continued through the night and into 1 March 1944, the four frigates dropping a combined 104 depth charges. Gore and Garlies were forced to withdraw to Gibraltar to refuel on 1 March, but Affleck and Gould continued to attack U-358. During the afternoon of 1 March, U-358 succeeded in torpedoing and sinking Gould with a G7es – known to the Allies as "GNAT" – torpedo at position 45°46′N 23°16′W. Ungoed, six other officers, and 116 ratings died in the sinking, and only 14 of Gould's crew survived. U-358 was soon forced to surface after 38 hours submerged and was sunk by gunfire from Affleck at position 45°46′N 23°16′W.