to Scapa Flow under her own steam. Bickerton was also critically damaged. Kempthorne took off casualties and non-essential personnel, but it was later decided to scuttle Bickerton and she was sunk three hours after being hit. The ships returned to the Clyde on 30 August and Commander MacIntyre was relieved by Commander BW Taylor. The group then returned to defending the Atlantic convoys with the Western Approaches Command in September. In October they were deployed to escort a military convoy from the UK to Naples and on their return in December they were deployed in the North Western Approaches to intercept U-boats that had been forced by the advancing Allied armies to sail from the North German and Norwegian submarine bases to reach the Atlantic convoy routes. Irish Sea In 1945 Kempthorne deployed with the group in the Irish Sea and the South Western Approaches. On 26 January the group was deployed to come to the assistance of the 4th Escort Group which was attacking . Both groups then launched surface attacks, before HMS Aylmer rammed and sank the submarine. They then began to search for another submarine known to be in the area, and posing a threat to the inbound convoy HX 332 as it passed through the Irish Sea bound for Liverpool. The submarine, was detected on 27 January by HMS Keats and then sunk by HMS Bligh, Keats and Tyler. Kempthorne remained deployed with the group in the North Western Approaches throughout February and March 1945, followed by a period off the west of Ireland and the north west of Scotland in April. In May 1945, she was one of two British warships which presided over the surrender of the German U-boats at Trondheim, Norway. She was then nominated to be returned early to the US and was paid off by June. Decommissioning and scrapping Kempthorne was returned to the custody of the United States on 20 August 1945 and was commissioned in the United States Navy the same day for the voyage home. She arrived at Philadelphia on 8 September 1945 and was decommissioned at the navy yard there on 17 October. She was struck from the U.S. Navy list on 1 November 1945 and scrapped by 28 May 1946. References HMS Kempthorne's career Kempthorne at Uboat.net External links Boston Naval Shipyard Production Record - Haze Gray Underway Kempthorne - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships