Name this Naval Vessel

Your selection was very interesting. I was thinking of a different nation until I took a better look at the photo. I'll abstain for now, and let some others have a chance to play.

My compliments on your choice, since it has given me some ideas for future use.

As always, it is nice to see the lesser known ships getting the spotlight.

 

Thank you, Takao. I kind of figure the better known ships are just too easy around these parts, and I've been collecting merchants and auxiliaries lately, so I they're on my mind. I try to stick strictly to ships actually directly in commission in someone's navy or other, though there are a few I'd be tempted to slip in.

 

My guess would be HMS Forth. A sub with a big P on the conning tower is likely to be a Brit.

 

Indeed. We have a winner. HMS Forth she is.

The floor is yours, TOS.

 

She is above 1000t (1050t from what I found) but could find no pic of her on the net though the plane should help a lot to identify her.

View attachment 13146

 

Hint: her successors got involved in a number of "warm wars" with the Royal Navy after WW2.

 

I was planning to sit this one out, but I must say, I'm at a bit of a loss anyway. You're right that the plane should help. The markings weren't immediately familiar, but felt Norwegian or Danish to me. A little research leads me to believe it's Danish, but records I can find are sketchy at best and unless something got sold off to Argentina, say, your hint would point me away from the Danes. Excellent choice. Genuinely a pleasure to try to riddle this one out.

 

Think "cod wars" not Falklands

 

I'm going to kill thiss one tomorrow if nobody gets it, SymphonicPoet is close but getting the actual name may be impossible. The pic comes from a 1943 naval almanac but while there are some references to her on the net I found no pics. And typing the name may be impossible without a german/danish keyboard .

 

Well, before you close it, I'll take a shot in the dark.

Is it the Hvidbjørnen, a Danish fishery protection vessel?
According to Hvidbjørnen fishery protection vessel (1929) - Danish Fishery Protection Service / Danish Royal Navy (Denmark)
it says she had a seaplane.


Looks good to me, but the seaplane is missing. Image found at http://www.navalhistory.dk/english/theships/h/hvidbjoernen(1929).htm

 

Those Scandinavians take their Cod seriously, I must say. I'd been trying to chase down information on the Icelandic Coast Guard during WWII. That seems another possibility. (The markings, again, would be about right.) But I've not found much yet.

 

Fairly certain of it, AFAIK, there were no sister ships.

The portholes on the stern and aft superstructure match up. Although in TiredOldSoldier's photo, it looks like the two foremost port holes on the stern may have been plated over, you can see their position, but they don't show up as well as the others.

 

It is the Hvidbjørnen, don't ask me how it's pronounced but I think it means "polar bear". AFAIK she had no true sister though the slightly larger Ingolf (1180t) was very similar. AFAIK at the beginning of WW2 there were no Icelandic naval forces distinct from the Danes but I may be wrong.

 

The wikipedia article on the Icelandic Coast Guard, Icelandic Coast Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, says this:

"Origins of the Icelandic Coast Guard (Landhelgisgæsla Íslands or Landhelgisgæslan) can be traced to 1859, when the corvette Ørnen started patrolling Icelandic waters. In 1906, Iceland's first purposely built guard-ship, Islands Falk, began operation. Iceland's own defense of its territorial waters began around 1920 and the Icelandic Coast Guard was formally founded on July 1, 1926."

Now, that isn't to say it's not a department of the Danish military in some sense, but it seems to have been at least nominally independent by WWII.

Anyway, darn interesting choice, TOS. I look forward to seeing what challenges await from Takao.

 

That was a toughie! My compliments to TiredOldSoldier on his choice.

My next offering is this ship, should be fairly obvious as to her nationality.

 

She looks like a CAM ship, Empire Day ?

 

Japanese maybe?

 

I think you're pretty darn close, TOS. I'm tempted to say Empire Darwin, just because she doesn't seem to have had the odd jiblike things. (Not sure what their actual purpose was.) But in any case, it's surely a CAM ship.

 

SymphonicPoet,

Your temptation is correct, she is the Empire Darwin. The Empire Day had a wider funnel and more air vents surrounding it, not to mention that odd attachment on the bow.

Excellent job to both of you! I thought that would certainly last longer than an hour. Guess I really underestimated the competition

 

Imagine being a pilot assigned to a CAM with the protect of having to ditch in the North Atlantic. Brrrrr!