St Brides Bay's keel was laid down at Messrs. Harland and Wolff's yard on May 30, 1944. After only eight months of hard work she was ready for launching. Like most ships of the era she was launched by a lady and on the January 9, 1945 Mrs. Woodridge with due ceremony, broke Champagne on the ship's bow and named her St Brides Bay. This ship was then the 13th 'Bay' to be converted from '38 Lochs on order.
The first Ship's Company came on board on May 26, 1945 but it was not till June 15 that the ship was completed and ready for sea. One cannot say that the St Brides Bay has graceful lines because she hasn't. She is a craft with a standard displacement of 1,580 tons, being 307 feet 4½ inches long and having a beam of 38 feet 7½ inches, designed primarily for A/A escort duties. The 'Bays' have shown more worth at sea in spite of the considerable top-weight carried, having ridden out China Sea typhoons.
To carry out her duties as prescribed by Admiralty she was fitted with varying types of armament, namely:
4 x 4" Mark 16; 6 x 40mm bofors; 2 x 20mm Oerlikon; 1 Hedgehog and 4 depth charge throwers. Although many consider this to be inadequate for her job it is really quite a heavy punch for a ship of her size to carry.
The engines are Harland and Wolff's reciprocating verticle, triple expansion, (four cylinder), twin screw and forced draught giving an IHP of 5,500 (19.5 knots). The boilers are two in number and oil fired, three-drum type in a closed stoke hold. These engines give her the speed to be escort for a moderately fast convoy. Another thing is that she can very quickly be re-converted to an anti submarine frigate.
| Gross tonnage: | 1,894 tons | |
| Net tonnage: | 1,906 tons | |
| Sea going displacement: | 2,550 tons. | |
| Complement: | Peace | 165 |
| War | 195 |