HMS Loch Achanalt

The Loch class was designed to meet the requirement for large numbers of long-range escorts for the Royal Navy. They were a development of the earlier , but designed for mass production, with pre-fabricated sections to be built by general engineering companies and assembled at shipyards. Anti-submarine armament and sonar was also significantly improved. The ships were long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of , and a draught of . Displacement was standard and deep load. The ships were powered by two 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engines fed with steam from two Admiralty 3-drum boilers and rated at . This gave a speed of . Sufficient fuel was carried to give a range of at in tropical waters. The ships' main gun armament was a single QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V gun forward, with an anti-aircraft armament of a quadruple 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom aft and at least six Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (two twin powered mountings and at least two single mounts). Two Squid anti-submarine mortars were fitted, with 120 rounds carried, backed up by 15 conventional depth charges. Type 147B and Type 144 sonars were fitted, while Type 277 radar detected surface and air targets. As built, the ship had a complement of 114 officers and men. Loch Achanalt was originally ordered from the Henry Robb shipyard as a River-class frigate to be called Naver on 24 July 1942, but the order was changed to a Loch-class frigate and the name changed to Loch Achanalt. The ship was laid down at Robb's Leith yard on 14 September 1943, was launched on 23 March 1944 and completed on 11 August 1944 with the pennant number K424. ==Service history==

As Loch Achanalt (K424) In February 1944, it was decided to loan Loch Achanalt to the Royal Canadian Navy, and the ship was commissioned on 31 July 1944 after initial sea trials. transiting via the Mediterranean, with the four frigates working up at Malta, arriving at Auckland on 5 January 1949 to join the 11th Frigate Flotilla for patrols and exercises. On 25 June 1950 Pukaki was placed at the disposal of the UN Forces in Korea. In August Pukaki and sister-ship arrived at Sasebo to join the UN naval command. Initially attached to Task Group 96.5 for escort duties between Japan and Korea, in September she was transferred to Task Group 90.7 to support of landings by the US 1st Marine Division at Inchon, rejoining Task Group 96.5 in October. In November she was relieved by the frigate and returned to Auckland to refit, after which she was placed in reserve. Recommissioned in December 1952 for service in the 11th Frigate Flotilla, Pukaki was assigned to detached service with the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet 4th Frigate Squadron based at Singapore in September 1953. In January 1954 the frigate was deployed in the Yellow Sea for trade protection and as back-up to UN forces in Korea if required. In May she was transferred to Singapore for anti-terrorist operations in the Malayan Emergency, returning to Auckland in September. She rejoined the 4th Frigate Squadron in the Far East Fleet in June 1955, for trade protection and Korean coast guard ship duties, while also carrying out joint exercises with United States Navy ships, returning to Auckland in May 1956. In December she escorted the supply vessel during the initial stage of the journey to McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. In 1957 and 1958 the ship was deployed as a weather reporting ship during the "Operation Grapple" nuclear tests at Christmas Island. Between 1959 and 1962 she once more joined the Far East Fleet for SEATO exercises and patrols. From 1963 to 1965 she supported the United States "Operation Deep Freeze" Antarctic operations. Pukaki alternated with an American DER picket frigate operating from Dunedin in summer months to track United States Navy Lockheed C-130 Hercules deployments and other flights from Harewood airport in Christchurch to McMurdo Base in the Ross Dependency, offering the potential for search and rescue in the Southern Ocean and service to the weather station on Campbell Island. Sea conditions probably shortened by two years the service life of Pukaki and the other surviving Loch-class frigate, Rotoiti. This forced the United States Navy to deploy two Edsall-class DERs to Dunedin for the final three deployments in 1966–68. Put into reserve in May 1965 Pukaki was sold in October. The ship was towed to Hong Kong and scrapped in January 1966. ==See also==