HMS Magpie (U82)

HMS Magpie (U82) was a Royal Navy Modified Black Swan class sloop launched in 1943 and broken up in 1959. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to bear the name. The ship was the only vessel commanded by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who took command on 2 September 1950.

Commissioned on 30 August 1943, during October-November 1943 Magpie was part of the 2nd Support Group in the North Atlantic.

On 31 January 1944 on North Atlantic convoy escort duties, the Magpie along with the sloops HMS Starling (U66) and HMS Wild Goose (U45) intercepted and sank, by depth charges, German submarine U-592 which was on its way to France for repairs.

The following month saw Magpie involved in destroying U-238 and U-734. After serving as an escort during the D-Day amphibious Allied landings in Normandy, Magpie served in British coastal waters, operating from Greenock as an escort to the Gibraltar convoys.

Along with others in the Black Swan class she was officially reclassified as a frigate in 1947. Magpie did duty in Trieste following riots there over the city’s future, this being a bone of contention between Italy and Yugoslavia.

She was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander HRH The Duke of Edinburgh from 2 September 1950 until 1952, in the Mediterranean. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On 3 March 1955 Magpie left Portsmouth to steam to the 7th Frigate Squadron at Simonstown, South Africa. Due to be relieved at the Cape Station by her sister ship HMS Sparrow, boiler problems meant the crew were changed. Magpie’s crew returned to the UK on the Sparrow. In 1958 Magpie had her tour of duty at the Cape Station finally completed; she sailed back for the UK for paying off, and was broken up by Hughes Bolkcow, Blyth, Northumberland on 12 July 1959.

HMS Magpie stood in for the moving shots of HMS Amethyst (F116) in the film Yangtse Incident in 1957.