page_title: Banff-class sloop
section_title: Sebago
hierarchical_section_title: Banff-class sloop / Ships / Sebago
caption_attribution_description: HMS WALNEY, formerly USS SEBAGO, after refit. Underway in coastal waters.
context_page_description: The Banff-class sloop was a group of ten warships of the Royal Navy. Built as United States Coast Guard Lake-class cutters, in 1941 these ships were loaned to the Royal Navy as antisubmarine warfare escort ships. The transfers took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the British battleship Malaya was under repair after being torpedoed by U-106. The sloops were manned for transport to England by personnel from the damaged battleship. The sloops were initially used to escort SL convoys between England and Sierra Leone, and one was sunk while so employed. The nine surviving sloops were assigned to Operation Torch where two were destroyed attacking Oran in Operation Reservist. The remaining seven escorted Mediterranean convoys in support of the North African invasion and saw varied employment in the Atlantic until assigned to the Kilindini Escort Force in late 1943 and early 1944. They stayed in the Indian Ocean for the remainder of the war escorting trade convoys in the Arabian Sea, and five served in the Bay of Bengal supporting Operation Dracula and Operation Zipper in the last months of conflict with Japan.
context_section_description: Originally cutter # 51.  She was named for Sebago Lake, built by General Engineering and Drydock at Oakland, California, and launched on 10 February 1930. She destroyed more derelicts than other ships of the class, and became HMS Walney on 12 May 1941, named after Walney Island. She was lost on 8 November 1942 in Operation Reservist, an attack on Oran that formed part of Operation Torch.
caption: Sebago in service as HMS Walney.
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