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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

Ekins (DE 87)
HMS Ekins (K.552)

Specifications:
Class: Buckley (lend-lease), Royal Navy - Captain Class
Type: TE (turbine-electric drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1400 tons (light), 1740 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 13' 6" (max draft)
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 x 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1-1.1"/75 Mk2 quad AA (4x1), 8-20mm Mk 4 AA (varied by ship), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10, 4 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 186
HMS Ekins (K.552) Building and Operational Data:
  • 05 July 1943: Keel laid by the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Mass.
  • 02 October 1943: Launched
  • 29 November 1943: Transferred to Great Britain as Lend-Lease, commissioned as HMS Ekins (K.552)
  • 16 April 1945: Struck a mine, 13 nm nw of Oostend, Belgium, written off as a total loss
  • 25 June 1945: Struck from the NVR
  • .. March 1947: Hulk sold to Dutch shipbreaker
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    HMS Ekins 39k 12 November 1944: The Captain-class frigate HMS Ekins (K.552) underway off Harwich, England.

    (Royal Navy photo #A 26397, taken by Lt. J.E. Russell, Royal Navy photographer; from the collections of the Imperial War Museums)    		 Bob Hurst
    Worksop, Nottinghamshire,
    England, United Kingdom
    HMS Ekins 68k 12 November 1944: The Captain-class frigate HMS Ekins (K.552) underway off Harwich, England.

    (Royal Navy photo #A 26398, taken by Lt. J.E. Russell, Royal Navy photographer; from the collections of the Imperial War Museums)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    HMS Ekins 61k Ekins at Harwich, December 1944. She was one of the Coastal Forces Control frigates; she has a bowchaser, Headache below the Type SL aerial, and the bridge gunnery control tower added to a number of this class.

    [Imperial War Museum photo, from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)", by Peter Elliott]    		 Edib Krlicbegovic
    Bosnia - Hercegovina
    HMS Ekins 49k The forecastle of Ekins, looking down from the bridge. The bowchaser detail is plain, and the Coastal Forces type rocket flare projectors can be seen on "B" gun. The anchors were stowed level with the main deck, and not in the hawsepipes.

    [P.W. Hayward photo, from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)", by Peter Elliott]
    HMS Ekins 100k The forecastle of Ekins during a towing evolution, looking down from the bridge. Note the bowchaser in the previous photo is gone.

    [uncredited photo, from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)", by Peter Elliott]
    HMS Ekins 144k undated / location unknown

    (photo credit P.W. Hayward)    		 Nick Tiberio
    Shelton, Conn.
    There is NO HMS Ekins (K.552) (ex-DE 87) DANFS history entry
    located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    None
    Note About Contacts

    Contact information is compiled from various sources over a period of time and may, or may not, be correct. Every effort has
    been made to list the newest contact. However, our entry is only as good as the latest information that's been sent to us. We list
    only a contact for the ship if one has been sent to us. We do NOT have crew lists, rosters, or deck logs available. Please see the
    Frequently Asked Questions section on NavSource's Main Page for that information.

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    Page Last Updated: 06 September 2020