SLNS Gajabahu
{{Other ships|SLNS Gajabahu (P626)}}
{{short description|River-class frigate of the Sri Lanka Navy}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Hallowel.jpg |Ship caption=HMCS Hallowell }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|naval-1911}} |Ship name= Hallowell |Ship namesake= Hallowell, Ontario |Ship owner= |Ship operator= Royal Canadian Navy |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= 1 February 1943 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=178 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=22 November 1943 |Ship launched=28 March 1944 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=8 August 1944 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=7 November 1945 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Pennant number:K666 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Atlantic, 1944-45.{{cite web|title= Battle Honours | url=http://www.britainsnavy.co.uk/Battle%20Honours/A%20Battle%20Honour%20Date.htm#1900|work=Britain's Navy|access-date=22 March 2014}} |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold to Uruguayan interests 1946; resold to Palestinian firm, turned into ferry Sharon 1949 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Israel |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Israel|naval}} |Ship name= Miznak |Ship namesake= name means "jet branch" |Ship acquired=1952 |Ship commissioned=1952 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship struck= |Ship fate=Sold to Ceylon, 1958 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country={{nowrap|Ceylon ⁄ Sri Lanka}} |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Ceylon|naval}} {{shipboxflag|Sri Lanka|naval}} |Ship name= Gajabahu |Ship namesake=King Gajabahu I |Ship acquired=1958 |Ship commissioned=1958 |Ship renamed=SLNS Gajabahu, 1972 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=yes |Ship decommissioned=1978 |Ship struck= |Ship homeport=Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Cadet officer training & accommodation ship }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|River|frigate}} |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=*1,445 tons (1,470 tonnes);
|Ship length=*{{convert|283|ft|m|abbr=on}} p/p
|Ship beam={{convert|36.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|9|ft|m|abbr=on}} ; {{convert|13|ft|m|abbr=on}} full load |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, {{convert|5,500|ihp|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed= |Ship range=646 tons oil fuel; {{convert|7,500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h|adj=on}} |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=107 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=* 2 × QF 4 in (102 mm) /40 Mk.XIX guns, single mounts CP Mk.XXIII
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
SLNS Gajabahu (named after Gajabahu, a former king of Sri Lanka) was a {{sclass2|River|frigate|1}} of the Sri Lanka Navy. She has since been converted to a training ship for the Naval & Maritime Academy, Trincomalee. She was originally HMCS Hallowell of the Royal Canadian Navy, built during the Second World War and then saw service as INS Miznak of the Israeli Navy. The Royal Ceylon Navy purchased her in 1958 from Israel.
Construction and career
=Royal Canadian Navy and Israeli Navy=
HMCS Hallowell was ordered on 1 February 1943 as part of the 1943-44 River-class building program by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).{{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Ken |last2=Burgess |first2=John |year=1981 |title=The ships of Canada's naval forces 1910-1981 : a complete pictorial history of Canadian warships |publisher=Collins |location=Toronto|isbn=0-00216-856-1}}{{cite web |url=http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/198.html |work=uboat.net |title=HMCS Hallowell (K 666) |access-date=22 March 2014}} She was laid down by Canadian Vickers Ltd. aT Montreal on 22 November 1943 and launched 28 March 1944. She was commissioned into the RCN on 8 August 1944 at Montreal.
After working up at Bermuda, Hallowell was assigned to the Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) escort group C-1 as the Senior Officer's Ship. From late November 1944 until June 1945, she was continuously employed as a convoy escort on North Atlantic convoys. In June 1945 she returned to Canada and from July to August transported troops from St. John's to Canada. She was paid off at Sydney, Nova Scotia on 7 November 1945 and placed in reserve at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
After the war she was sold to Uruguayan interests in 1946 before being re-sold to a Palestinian group in 1949 for conversion to a short-service ferry in the Mediterranean Sea. She was renamed Sharon and remained in service until 1952, when she was purchased by the Israeli Navy, rearmed and commissioned as INS Miznak and given the designation K-32. She remained in service until 1958.
=Royal Ceylon Navy=
Purchased from the Israeli Navy in 1958–3 years after another River-class frigate, HMCyS Mahasena—she was commissioned as HMCyS Gajabahu into the Royal Ceylon Navy. She participated in many flag-showing missions in various countries, including a cruise to Japan. Gajabahu also took part in many international naval exercises.
Following the failed military coups d'état in 1962 in which the former Captain of the Navy (as the Commander of the Navy was known then) was implicated, the government undertook a program of downsizing the military. As a result, Gajabahu became the flagship of the fleet and only major warship of the Royal Ceylon Navy after Mahasena and Parakram were sold off and Vijaya was lost in a storm. During the 1971 Insurrection she could not be deployed to sea since her crew were dispatched for ground duty due to personnel shortages. "HMCyS Gajabahu" became "SLNS Gajabahu" when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. In the 1980s she was taken out of active service to be converted to a training ship for the Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.navy.lk Sri Lanka Navy]
{{River class frigate|others}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gajabahu}}
Category:Ships built in Montreal
Category:Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy
Category:Frigates of the Israeli Navy