H.M.S. Springbank
F.50
1941
(Argonaut AR-1223)
- Class: Auxiliary Antiaircraft Vessel (Sea-Going)
- Displacement: 5,150 tons
- Dimensions: 420.25 (pp) 434 (oa) x 54 x 25.75
- Machinery: 2-shaft Diesel motors, B.H.P. 2,500 = 12 knots
- Armament: 8-4 in. A.A. (4x2), 8-2 pdr. A.A. (2x4); 1 aircraft
- Complement:
- Builder: Harland & Wolff (Belfast)
- Launched: 13 Apr 1926
- Commissioned: 1939
- Notes: Springbank was originally a cargo ship built in 1926 for Bank Line. She was acquired by the Admiralty at the start of the war and converted to an auxiliary anti-aircraft vessel. In March 1941 a catapult for a single Fairey Fulmar naval fighter (from 804 Naval Air Squadron) was fitted midships as a means to give further protection for convoys from enemy aircraft. Part of the escort for Convoy HG 73 from Gibraltar to Liverpool. Her Fulmar was launched to drive off a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 reconnaissance aircraft; the Fulmar landing at Gibraltar afterwards. The convoy was attacked by Italian and German submarines over the following days. In the night of 27 Sep 1941 she was torpedoed by the German submarine U201. After taking off her surviving crew, the ship was sunk by the Flower-class corvette HMS Jasmine.
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