Papua:

The HMS Papua was a 1,284 or 1,509 GRT Colony Class frigate originally built as the Howett at Walsh Kaiser Emergency Shipyard(Yard No. 1666), Providence, Rhode Island, USA as a Tacoma class patrol frigate. The ship class was to Colony class for ships transferred to the British Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease program.

The Papua was laid down on 07 September 1943, launched 10 October 1943, and completed on 25 July 1944. She was 303-feet 11-inches in length, 37-feet 6-inches in beam, and 13-feet 8-inches in draught.

Proplusion was supplied by 3 boilers feeding 2 turbines (5,500 SHP each) geared to 2 shafts which provided the ship with a 20 knot top speed.

Armament consisted of 3 3-inch 50 AA guns, 4 40-mm guns, 9 20-mm guns, 1 Hedgehog launcher, 8 Y-type gun depth launchers, and 2 depth charge racks.

Standard compliment was 190 officers and crew.
A Colony Class Frigate
The Papua served in the British Royal Navy with the 20th and 23rd Escort Groups between 1944 and 1945 and is best remembered for the sinking of the German U-Boat U-1014 in February 1945.

On 13 May 1946 she was paid off and returned to the U.S. where she was converted for civilian use then sold to Egypt for use by the Khedivial Mail Line and renamed Mabrouk (or Mabruk). One source states that the conversion was abandoned in 1950, but this may be in error. The Egyptian Navy took over the vessel shortly afterwards, re-armed her, and renamed her Misr.

There are conflicts among the various research references as to the final demise of the Papua/Misr. Either she was lost in a collision at sea in the Gulf of Suez 26/27 May 1953, or she was intentionally scuttled as a blockship at the southern end of the Suez canal on 01 November 1956. Another possiblity is that she did indeed sink in a collision in 1953, was raised and hulked, then scuttled in the Suez canal in 1956. If the Misr was indeed scuttled in the Suez Canal, then she was raised and broken up by the UN Salvage team in 1957.
egypt
colonyclass
Shipwrecks of Egypt Custom Products