I recently came across an interesting article about Abergele during World War II. During WARSHIP WEEK, a National Saving Campaign in 1942, Abergele community raised money to adopt two ships. One was a Flower Class Corvette named HMS HOLLYHOCK (launched August 1940) and the other a River Class Frigate named HMS DERG (launched January 1943).
HMS HOLLYHOCK served in the Far East but was unfortunately sunk in April 1942, off Ceylon (Sri Lanka), in an attack by aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carrier SORYU, with the loss of 53 lives.
HMS DERG served through till the end of the war on convoy duties to South Africa. She was renamed to HMS WESSEX in 1951 (later HMS CAMBRIA) and was used as a training ship until she was broken up in 1960.
The town was presented with a plaque by the Admiralty .
The inscription reads;
PRESENTED BY
THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY
TO ABERGELE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL
TO COMMEMORATE THE ADOPTION OF
H.M.S. HOLLYHOCK and H.M.S. DERG
DURING WARSHIP WEEK. MARCH 1942
The above plaque is on view at Abergele Town Hall along with other interesting memorabilia linked to Warship week.
Thank you Delyth. I heard that it was but I wasn’t sure. I’ll have to go and look for myself.
It is interesting to see two ships mentioned on one plaque. The dates I have for Warship Week are 28 Feb to 7 Mar 1942 for Hollyhock. She was lost a month later and will have been replaced by HMS Derg. The plaques were always issued to the council some time later thus the inclusion of Derg. I would be interested to know if thier was further fund raising through government securities after the loss of Hollyhock to pay for Derg. My interpretation is that the original ship adopted was Hollyhock and following her loss HMS Derg was then adopted, not that two ship were adopted in the same Week. Hope this makes sense.