HMS Springbank
HMS Springbank was a Royal Navy fighter catapult ship of the Second World War.
History
Originally a cargo ship built in 1926 for Bank Line it was acquired by the Admiralty at the start of the war and converted to an "auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser" by the addition of four twin gun turrets and two quadruple QF [2-pounder naval gun|2 pdr (40 mm) "pom-pom"s].In March 1941 a catapult for a single Fairey Fulmar naval fighter was fitted midships as a means to give further protection for convoys from enemy aircraft.
Springbank was part of the escort for Convoy HG 73 from Gibraltar to Liverpool. Springbanks Fulmar was launched to drive off a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 reconnaissance aircraft; the Fulmar landed at Gibraltar afterwards. The convoy was attacked by Italian and German submarines over the following days. In the night of 27 September 1941 Springbank was torpedoed in the North Atlantic by the. After her surviving crew were taken off by three ships, the ship was sunk by the HMS [Jasmine (K23)|HMS Jasmine] by a combination of depth charges and 4-inch gunfire rather than leave her as a hazard to shipping.