Banff Class Sloop

Banff Class Sloop

as built

• 1 x 5"/51 caliber gun
• 1 x 3"/50 caliber gun
• 2 x 6 pdr (57 mm)

as Lake class cutter

• 2 x 5"/51 caliber guns
• 3 x 3"/50 caliber guns
• 2 x 6 pdr (57 mm)

as Banff class sloop

• 1 x 5"/51 caliber gun
• 2 x 3"/50 caliber guns
• 4 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
• 4 x .303" (twin)

The Banff-class sloops were a group of ten ships of the Royal Navy. Built as United States Coast Guard Lake-class cutters, in 1941 these ships were loaned to the Royal Navy as anti-submarine warfare escorts. The transfers took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where HMS Malaya was under repair after being torpedoed by U-106. The sloops were manned for transport to England by personnel from the damaged battleship. The sloops were initially used to escort eastern Atlantic trade convoys between England and Sierra Leone, and one was sunk while so employed. The nine surviving sloops were assigned to Operation Torch where two were destroyed attacking Oran in Operation Reservist. The remaining seven escorted Mediterranean convoys in support of the North African invasion and saw varied employment in the Atlantic until assigned to the Kilindini Escort Force in late 1943 and early 1944. They stayed in the Indian Ocean for the remainder of the war escorting trade convoys in the Arabian Sea, and five served in the Bay of Bengal supporting Operation Dracula and Operation Zipper in the last months of conflict with Japan. Six were returned to the United States after the conclusion of hostilities; and one, disabled by mechanical failure, was scrapped overseas.