HMS Rockingham G58 ex USS Swasey (DD-273)

HMS Rockingham G58 ex USS Swasey (DD-273) a Clemson-class destroyer. USS Swasey was decommissioned at San Diego on June 10th 1922 and assigned to the reserve fleet for the next 17 years. Swasey was reactivated on December 18th 1939, after an overhaul and sea trials she was transferred to Britain and renamed HMS Rockenham on November 26th 1940 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.

HMS Rockingham was modified for trade convoy escort service by removal of three of the original 4-inch guns and three of the triple torpedo tube mounts to reduce topside weight for additional depth charge stowage and installation of the hedgehog. Rockingham was assigned to Escort Group B-1 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force for convoys ON 96, SC 105, SC 119, ON 171, HX 230 and HX 236 during the winter of 1942-43.

In August 1943 she was nominated for use as an Air Target Ship and withdrawn from Atlantic service and taken in hand for refit and conversion in Belfast. On September 27th 1944 during deployment for the training of aircrew, she detonated mine off Aberdeen. She sustained very serious damage that after being taken in tow she had to be abandoned. The mine was probably part of the British East Coast Barrier.