LOCH FADA was launched at John Brown Shipyard, Clydebank on 14th December 1943 and was commissioned on 29th March 1944 commanded by Lieut-Commander B.A.Rogers RNR . She was first of the Loch Class Frigates, being a development of the River Class, designed to carry the new anti-submarine weapon “Squid”. She was 307ft overall with a beam of 38ft 6” light draught 14ft plus asdics. Her twin reciprocating steam engines of 5,500 ihp gave a max speed of 19.5 kts. The Squid, being a six barrelled mortar, delivering a ton of explosive some 300 mts ahead to any depth, replaced the usual depth charge armament. Following the acceptance trials and the first of class trials, the ship spent an arduous period being “worked up” to a state of efficiency that would satisfy the Terror of Tobermory, Vice Admiral “Monkey” Stephenson. On completion, and being accepted as “fit for action”, the ship sailed to Liverpool, the headquarters of the Western Approaches Command and the operational base for a number of Escort Groups. The Commander in Chief inspected the ship and was taken to sea for a demonstration of the Squid. Admiral Max Horton had been a successful submariner during WW1 and had been Flag Officer Submarines for the first years of WW2. In November 1942, Churchill appointed him to take over the direction of the Atlantic Battle “set a thief to catch a thief”. He was very impressed by the new weapon.