Eagle-eyed visitors to Hurst Castle may spot a small black-and-white photograph of the naval vessel, HMS Hurst Castle, in the Victorian guardroom. Names can be deceptive, though; in its all-too-short life, the ship never came near Hurst’s waters.
HMS Hurst Castle in the Firth of Tay, 1944 © Imperial War Museum (IWM), FL-10264
One of a series of Castle-class corvettes, all named for British castles, HMS Hurst Castle was built on the River Tay in Dundee by Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company. Of the original 96 Castles ordered from shipyards in the Britain and Canada, only 51 were completed – all of them built in Britain – with 12 sent to Canada, and most of the rest taken on by the Royal Navy.
The Castles were designed as ocean-going convoy-escort vessels, providing protection for Allied merchant ships against U-boat and air attacks. Longer, stronger and better-armed than their naval predecessors, the Flower-class, River-class and Loch-class corvettes, they were 252ft (77m) overall, with a draught of just 10ft (3m). Although fractionally faster, too, they were barely fast enough to follow a surfaced U-boat, yet were considered difficult to handle at low speed.
Hurst Castle was ordered in 1943, launched on 23 February 1944 and went into service with the Royal Navy just four months later. Following training sessions off the Isle of Mull, she joined her first escort convoy in July, successfully completing a round trip to Gibraltar. Weeks later, on 1 September 1944, she left Derry with the aim of hunting down U-482, which had attacked another convoy a couple of days earlier.
On board the U-boat itself, “one of the lookouts reports radar detection on the starboard quarter”. A torpedo was fired at what was believed to be a US escort destroyer, with “a hit after 3 minutes, 13 seconds”.
The “destroyer” was HMS Hurst Castle, which was struck north of Tory Island, Donegal, at 8.25am. Within just six minutes, the ship had sunk, and 17 men were drowned. The 107 survivors, including the captain, Harold Chesterman DSC, RNR, were rescued by HMS Ambuscade. Despite an extensive search, U-482 managed to escape – only to be sunk herself in November that year.
Sixty-seven years later, the wreck of HMS Hurst Castle was found by divers in 80m of water. Then in 2022 the ship’s bell was spotted and recovered by diver Barry McGill and handed to the National Museum of Ireland. It would be a fitting tribute if, as requested by members of the Castle Class Corvette Association, the ship’s bell from HMS Hurst Castle were one day to reside at Hurst Castle.
