HMS Blackpool (J27)

HMS Blackpool was a diesel-powered British that served in World War II. She was paid off and sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1946.

Description

The Bangor-class ships were designed to be mass produced, requiring a minimum of resources and able to be built in small shipyards inexperienced with naval work. The diesel-powered ships had an overall length of, a beam of, and a draught of at full load. They displaced at and at full load. The ships had a pair of nine-cylinder diesel engines that drove the two propeller shafts. The engines were designed to produced a total of which was intended to give the ships a speed of. Their crew consisted of 60 officers and ratings.
The armament of the Bangor-class ships consisted of a 12-pounder gun mounted forward of the superstructure and a quadruple mount for Vickers machine guns aft. They could carry 40 depth charges when serving as convoy escorts.

Construction and career

HMS Blackpool was ordered on 6 July 1939 from Harland and Wolff, and laid down at their Govan shipyard in Glasgow on 19 September 1939. She was launched on 4 July 1940 and commissioned on 3 February 1941. She was the second ship in the Royal Navy to carry that name.

Postwar duties

Blackpool continued mine clearing duties near Plymouth until July 1946, when she was paid off to reserve status, and sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy later that year.

Royal Norwegian Navy

Blackpool was purchased and renamed Tarna by the Royal Norwegian Navy, and remained on the active register of ships until being struck in May 1961.