end of the war in Europe Starling was earmarked for duty in the Pacific, but while re-fitting for this the war there ended. In September 1945 Starling paid off, and in October went into reserve. Post-war service In 1946 Starling was re-activated for service with , the Royal Navy's Navigation Training School. She was modified as a Navigation training ship and remained in service for the next ten years. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. During her last year in commission, she visited the Norwegian fjords and the U-boat base at Kiel. Her final voyage was a call at Bootle Liverpool to attend a farewell celebration provided by the local authority and Captain Walker's widow took passage on the final sailing from Bootle to Portsmouth where she paid off. Battle honours Biscay 1943 Atlantic 1943–45 Arctic 1944 Normandy 1944 Successes Starling participated in the sinking of fourteen U-boats: During the war the Starling was credited, along with the sloops , , , and frigate , with sinking the in the North Channel on 16 January 1945. The British Admiralty withdrew this credit in a post-war reassessment. In popular culture Starlings service in the Arctic convoys (fictionalised as "HMS Sparrow") is described in the prologue to children's adventure novel The Salt-stained Book by Julia Jones (2011). Notes Sources Clay Blair : Hitler's U-Boat War Vol II: The Hunted 1942–1945 (1998) R Gardiner, R Gray : Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 (1985) Arnold Hague : The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945 (2000). (Canada); (UK). Paul Kemp : U-Boats Destroyed (1997) Axel Neistle : German U-Boat Losses during World War II (1998). Warlow, B : Battle Honours of the Royal Navy (2004) Wemyss, DEG : Relentles Pursuit: The Story of Capt. FJ Walker CB.DSO***RN, U-Boat Hunter and Destroyer (2003) Cerberus Publishing (First published in 1955) Burn, Alan (1993). The Fighting Captain. . Publications External links HMS Starling on naval-history.net HMS Starling at uboat.net HMS Starling at britainsnavy.co.uk Black Swan-class sloops World War II sloops of the United Kingdom Sloops of the United Kingdom 1942 ships