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HMS Lawford at Liverpool, 13 February 1944
History
United States
Name	USS Lawford (DE-516)
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy under Lend-Lease
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Lawford (K514)
Launched	13 August 1943
Fate	Sunk by Aerial attack during Normandy Landings, 8 June 1944
General characteristics
Class and type	Evarts-class destroyer escort (modified to HQ vessel)
Displacement	1,140 long tons (1,158 t)
Length	289.5 ft (88.2 m)
Beam	35 ft (11 m)
Draught	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion	Four General Motors 278A 16-cylinder engines GE 7,040 bhp (5,250 kW) generators (4,800 kW) GE electric motors for 6,000 shp (4,500 kW) Two shafts
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Range	5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement	156
Sensors and processing systems	SA & SL type radars Type 144 series Asdic MF Direction Finding antenna HF Direction Finding Type FH 4 antenna
Armament	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 Mk.22 guns 15 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns Mark 10 Hedgehog antisubmarine mortar Depth charges

HMS Lawford (K514) was a Royal Navy converted Captain class frigate (pennant DE-516), built in the US in 1944. She was converted into an HQ ship for the Normandy landings. On 8 June 1944, whilst operating off Juno Beach, she was hit by enemy fire during an air attack and sunk. Thirty-seven of her crew died. The Royal Navy's damage summary report states that the ship was hit by an "aerial torpedo", which has been taken to mean a torpedo dropped from an aircraft. However, a survey of the ship undertaken as part of the Channel 4 TV series "Wreck Detectives" found evidence that the vessel was broken up and sunk by an internal explosion, indicating a hit from one or more bombs or from an early guided missile such as an Hs-293 or (less likely) a Fritz X.

Further consideration suggests that the term "aerial torpedo" used in the RN damage summaries was actually intended to refer to guided missiles.

The wreck lies in 21 meters of water at 49°25′43″N 00°23′47″W / 49.42861°N 0.39639°W / 49.42861; -0.39639.

See also

• List of Captain class frigates
• List of Allied warships in the Normandy landings
• List of ships sunk by missiles

References

1. Collingwood, Donald (1998). The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War : an operational history of the American built Destroyer Escorts serving under the White Ensign from 1943-1946. London: Leo Cooper. pp. 152–153. ISBN 9780850526158.
2. ^ "Channel4.com - Wreck Detectives - The wrecks - HMS Lawford - Introduction". Channel 4. Retrieved 23 February 2008.

v t e Evarts-class destroyer escorts
United States Navy	Completed Evarts Wyffels Griswold Steele Carlson Bebas Crouter Brennan Doherty Austin Edgar G. Chase Edward C. Daly Gilmore Burden R. Hastings LeHardy Harold C. Thomas Wileman Charles R. Greer Whitman Wintle Dempsey Duffy Emery Stadtfeld Martin Sederstrom Fleming Tisdale Eisele Fair Manlove Greiner Wyman Lovering Sanders Brackett Reynolds Mitchell Donaldson Andres Decker Dobler Doneff Engstrom Seid Smartt Walter S. Brown William C. Miller Cabana Dionne Canfield Deede Elden Cloues Lake Lyman Crowley Rall Halloran Connolly Finnegan O'Toole John J. Powers Mason John M. Bermingham Cancelled Register / Creamer Ely Delbert W. Halsey Keppler Lloyd Thomas William C. Lawe Willard Keith DE-315 (Unnamed)
Royal Navy Part of Captain class	Completed Bayntun Bazely Berry Blackwood Burges Capel Drury Cooke Dacres Domett Foley Gardiner Garlies Goodall Goodson Gore Gould Grindall Hoste Inglis Inman Keats Kempthorne Kingsmill Lawford Lawson Pasley Loring Louis Manners Moorsom Mounsey
Republic of China Navy	Tai Kang (ex-Wyffels) Tai Ping (ex-Decker)
Preceded by: None Followed by: Buckley class
List of destroyer escorts of the United States Navy List of frigates of the Royal Navy

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in June 1944
Shipwrecks	1 Jun: USS Herring 3 Jun: U-477, WBS 2 Coburg 5 Jun: V 622 Almuth, USS Osprey 6 Jun: USS Corry, USS LCI(L)-93, Minazuki, USS PC-1261, HNoMS Svenner, V 421 Rauzan, HMS Wrestler 7 Jun: HMS Centurion, Empire Defiance, Hayanami, USS Susan B. Anthony, USS Tide, U-629, U-955 8 Jun: Audacious, Harusame, James Iredell, Kazagumo, HMS Lawford, USS Rich, U-373, U-441, U-970, West Grama 9 Jun: Courbet, Dover Hill, HMS Durban, Empire Bunting, Empire Flamingo, Matsukaze, USS Meredith, HNLMS Sumatra, Tanikaze, Z32, ZH1 10 Jun: USS Glennon, Innsbruck, Mistral, Ro-111, U-821 11 Jun: USS Partridge, Ro-42, U-980 12 Jun: Kainan Maru, HMS Sickle, U-490, V 206 Otto Bröhan, V 212 Friedrich Busse 13 Jun: HMS Boadicea, I-33, Ro-36, U-715 14 Jun: USS Golet 15 Jun: HMS Blackwood, M 507, PA 1, PA 2, Shiratsuyu, U-860, U-987, V 202 Franz Westermann 16 Jun: I-6, Ro-44, U-998 17 Jun: Ro-114, Ro-117 18 Jun: Albert C. Field, U-767 19 Jun: I-184, Shōkaku, Taihō 20 Jun: Hiyō, HMAS Matafele 21 Jun: Bolzano, HMS Fury 22 Jun: Eurydice, I-185, Sirène 24 Jun: Derrycunihy, I-52, U-971, U-1225 25 Jun: U-269 26 Jun: Aquileia, U-317, U-719, Harugiku Maru 27 Jun: Kizugawa Maru 28 Jun: V 213 Claus Bolten, Kondor, Nerissa 29 Jun: Toyama Maru, Tsugaru, U-988, USS Valor 30 Jun: SS Nikkin Maru, U-478, V 422 Kergroise Unknown date: Bosna, USS LCT-209, U-740
Other incidents	7 Jun: USS Meredith 11 Jun: HMS Halsted 16 Jun: U-998 18 Jun: USS Hawkbill 23 Jun: HMS Scylla 25 Jun: HMS Glasgow, HMS Goodson 26 Jun: Gorizia Unknown date: HMS Sickle, Sonderburg
1943 1944 1945 May 1944 July 1944

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