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| C l y d e B u i l t | home |
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Type: Type 43 "Duke" Class Frigate |
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Overall Length: 133 m |
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Beam :15 m |
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Displacement: 3,500 tonnes |
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Launched: May 6th 2000 |
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Builders: BAE Systems Scotstoun |
HMS St Albans in the covered assembly bay
Previous Ships of the Name 1687- 1944
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HMS StAlbans is the sixth Royal Navy ship to bear the name. Completed in 1687 as a 50-gun Fourth Rate ship of the line, the first St Albans was present at the action in Bantry Bay in 1689 which led to war between France and England. Defeat on this occasion was avenged three years later by victoryoff Barfleur, in which the StAlbans distinguished herself Between these engagements, she took a 36-gun frigate in the Irish Sea, and off Cherbourg, she and the Happy Return destroyed a French convoy and its three escorts. She was wrecked in 1693, sheltering from a gale in Kinsale harbour
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The next StAlbans was also a Fourth Rate "50, built in 1706. She recommissioned in 1739 for the warwith Spain, blockading until the end of 17401 when she convoyedArmy reinforcements to Jamaica. In 1744, the St Albans and three other warships were wrecked in Kingston harbour during a hurricane.
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Three years later, a new St Albans - a 60-gun Fourth Rate was completed. In 1751, she was sent outto discourage a French naval expedition in WestAfrica and from 1756, when the two countries were once again at war, she blockaded Brest and Toulon. A French frigate was taken in the Mediterranean in 1758 and in 1759 the StAlbans took part in the battle of Lagost. She was sold in 1765.
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A fourth ship of the name had been launched before the third was disposed of. AThird Rate, armed with 64 guns, she saw little service between completion in 1764 and the outbreak of the American War of Independence. She joined the Howe's Deet in 1777 and in the next year was active in the defence of New York and in the Rhode Island campaign, beforejoining the successful expedition to capture St Lucia in 1778. She was engaged in the British victories off St Kitts and The Saints. In her last action of the war in 1783 she took the 44-gun frigate Concorde. Ten years later, HMS St Albans recommissioned to support the occupation of Toulon. In 1794, she picked up a convoy for the West Indies, where she remained for two years before returning to refit for a North America Station deployment which lasted until the peace of 1801. From 1803, the St Albans served as a floating battery in home waters and at Cadiz, and was sold in 1814.
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In 1940, the USS Thomas commissioned in Canada as HMS St Albans as part of the Anglo-US `destroyers-for-bases agreement. In 1941, after convoy and minelayer escort operations, she was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy, under which she achieved the rare distinction of sinking an Allied as weli as an enemy submarine, the latter in theAtlantic and the former (a Polish boat) in theArctic. During 1942 she operated as an RN unit based in Newfoundland, was then placed in reserve. In 1944, the StAlbans was loaned to the Soviet Navy, serving until 1949, when she was returned to Rosyth and scrapped.
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BATTLE HONOURS
Barfleurle92 Lagos 1759 St Lucia 1778
St Kills 1782 The Saints 1782
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