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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

DE 571
HMS Whitaker (K.580)

Specifications:
Class: Buckley (lend-lease)
Type: TE (turbine-electric, long hull, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1,400 tons (light), 1740 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 13' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 4,940 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 3-3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1-1.1"/75 Mk2 quad AA (4x1), 8-20mm Mk4 AA (varied by ship), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 , 4-Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2-Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 186
HMS Whitaker (K.580) Building and Operational Data:
  • 20 October 1943: Keel laid at Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Mass.
  • 12 December 1943: Launched
  • 28 January 1944: Transferred to Great Britain, commissioned as HMS Whitaker (K.580)
  • 01 November 1944: Torpedoed at 0210 by U-483 off Malin Head, County Donegal, Republic of Ireland
  • Towed first to Londonderry, and then to Belfast, Ireland, she was inactive for the remainder of the war
  • 19 May 1945: Struck from the Royal Navy
  • 03 December 1945: Returned to U.S. Navy custody, remained in the British Isles
  • 09 January 1947: Sold for scrapping to John Lee, Belfast, Northern Ireland
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    HMS Whitaker
    0657101
    		 62k 01 November 1944: Possibly the only published photo of Whitaker prior to being torpedoed by U-483.

    (Photo credit: Mr. P. Phelps)    		 Nick Tiberio
    Shelton, Conn.
    HMS Whitaker
    0657102
    		 100k undated wartime image: HMS Whitaker showing some of the horrific damage she suffered. In the foreground is a group of her survivors: (left to right) (Front) Able Seamen Stanley and Costello, Leading Seaman Lancaster, Able Seaman Meers and Leading Seaman Northcott. (Rear) Able Seamen Paultor and Rowell, (unidentified), and Able Seaman Brady.

    (Photo from "The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War" by Donald Collingwood)    		 Bob Hurst
    Worksop, Nottinghamshire,
    England, United Kingdom
    View the HMS Whitaker (K.580), ex-DE 571, DANFS history entry
    located on the U.S. Naval Historical Center web site.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Not Applicable To This Ship
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    Page Last Updated: 19 February 2023