HMS Denbigh Castle (K696)

Denbigh Castle underway, 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name	Denbigh Castle
Namesake	Denbigh Castle
Ordered	19 December 1942
Builder	John Lewis & Sons, Aberdeen
Laid down	30 September 1943
Launched	5 August 1944
Completed	30 December 1944
Identification	Pennant number: K696
Honours and awards	Arctic 1945
Fate	Torpedoed by U-992, 13 February 1945 Declared a total loss
General characteristics
Class and type	Castle-class corvette
Displacement	1,010 long tons (1,030 t) (standard) 1,510 long tons (1,530 t) (deep load)
Length	252 ft (76.8 m)
Beam	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2,880 ihp (2,150 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 geared steam turbines
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	99
Sensors and processing systems	Type 145 and Type 147 ASDIC Type 277 search radar HF/DF radio direction finder
Armament	1 × single 4 in (102 mm) gun 2 × twin, 2 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns 1 × 3-barrel Squid anti-submarine mortar 15 × depth charges, 1 rack and 2 throwers

HMS Denbigh Castle (K696) was one of 44 Castle-class corvettes built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The ship was completed at the end of 1944 and was assigned to the 7th Escort Group at the beginning of 1945. While escorting her first and only Arctic convoy to Russia, she claimed to have shot down a German torpedo bomber. Denbigh Castle was torpedoed in early 1945 by the German submarine U-992, with the loss of 11 men, near the Soviet coast. The ship was beached in an effort to save her, but she was pulled off by the ebbing tide and capsized. Her wreck was declared a total loss.