air and submarine attacks sank three Allied ships. Due to an error in identification St Albans and the minesweeper sank the Polish submarine on 2 May. Five crewmen were killed. The court of Enquiry found that Jastrząb was 100 miles out of position, in an area where U-boats were expected to operate, and no blame could be attached to either commander. However this conclusion is disputed by other sources. Later that month, St Albans joined the Liverpool Special Escort Division. Among the vessels escorted early in June was the Cunard-White Star liner , operating as troopship travelling to the Middle East via the Cape of Good Hope After refitting at Falmouth between July and October 1942, St Albans again operated with the Special Escort Division until the end of 1942. In January 1943, she served as a target vessel for training RAF Coastal Command aircraft. Late in February, she got underway and steamed into the North Sea toward the Scandinavian coast to search for a Norwegian merchantman which was reportedly attempting to escape to sea from German-controlled waters. During this mission, the destroyer was attacked by German aircraft but emerged unharmed. Shifted to the Western Local Escort Force soon thereafter, St Albans was based at Halifax and operated in convoy escort missions in the western Atlantic for the remainder of 1943. Departing Halifax four days after Christmas 1943, St Albans arrived in the Tyne on 10 January 1944, where she was soon laid up in reserve. St Albans was returned to the Royal Navy on 4 February 1944 As Dostoyny On 16 July 1944, the British transferred St Albans to the Soviet Navy, who renamed her Dostoyny (rus. Достойный, "Worthy"). She was returned to the British on 28 February 1949 at Rosyth, Scotland. It was eventually broken up for scrap at Charlestown in April 1949. Battle honours For service in World War II, St Albans was awarded the battle honours Atlantic 1941-43, English Channel 1942, Arctic 1942 and North Sea 1943'' References Bibliography External links NavSource Photos SovietNavy-WW2: Таун ("Town") class U-boat.net: Dostojnyj Wickes-class destroyers Ships built in Newport News, Virginia 1918 ships Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Royal Navy Town-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Town-class destroyers converted from Wickes-class destroyers World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Town-class destroyers of the Royal Norwegian Navy World War II destroyers of Norway Ships transferred from