HMS Portchester Castle was a Castle-class corvette built in 1943 and scrapped in 1958. She was the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named after Portchester Castle in Hampshire, and was used for the 1952 film The Cruel Sea, in which she played Saltash Castle. Also seen in ‘The man who never was’ when the body was delivered to the submarine.

Construction and career

She was launched on 21 June 1943 at Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Sinking of U-484

On 9 September 1944 Portchester Castle and HMS Helmsdale (K253) sank the GS U-484 in the North Atlantic north-west of Ireland, in position 55.75°N, -11.68333°W.

Sinking of U-1200

As one of four ships in 30th Escort Group under the command of Denys Rayner, Portchester Castle shared in the sinking of the GS U-1200 south of Ireland (in position 50.4°N, -9.16667°W) on 11 November 1944, along with her sister ships HMS Launceston Castle (K397), HMS Pevensey Castle (K449) and HMS Kenilworth Castle (K420).

Decommissioning

She was paid off in 1947.

Film appearances

In 1951 Portchester Castle was employed to represent the fictitious HMS Saltash Castle in the film The Cruel Sea (1953). The ship was also seen in the film The Man Who Never Was (1955) and The Navy Lark (1959). In both Sea and Lark she is shown wearing the pennant number F362 rather than her own K362.

Fate

She was scrapped at Troon, Scotland on 14 May 1958.

Citations

Sources