USCGC Chelan was a Lake-class cutter belonging to the United States Coast Guard launched on 19 May 1928 and commissioned on 5 September 1928 .

[2] After 13 years of service to the Coast Guard, she was transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the Lend-Lease Act, and named HMS Lulworth (Y60) .

[1] In 1931, Chelan was at Squaw Harbor in the Territory of Alaska when she received word that the captain of the 21-Gross register ton motor vessel Gladiator had arrived at a lighthouse and reported that his vessel had drifted ashore and been wrecked on the coast of Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) northeast of Cape Sarichef (58°24′20″N 157°31′15″W / 58.40556°N 157.52083°W / 58.40556; -157.52083 (Cape Sarichef)) on 22 September after her steering gear broke in a gale during a voyage from Nome, Territory of Alaska, to Seattle with a crew of three and a 7-ton cargo of oil, Alaska curios, and other items aboard.

[5] She crossed the Atlantic to the Clyde, her crew partyly drawn from the battleship HMS Resolution, then underwent repair in Cardiff including fitting out for RN service as a convoy escort.

On 27 August 1941, Lulworth rescued 27 survivors of the Norwegian motor cargo ship Segundo, which the German submarine U-557 had torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic west of Ireland[note 2][5] in an attack on Convoy OS-4, picking up two of them from life rafts about 30 minutes after Segundo sank, then 23 more from lifeboats, and finally two more clinging to floating debris after about two hours.

[5][7] On 24 September 1941 she rescued five survivors of the British steam cargo ship St. Clair II, also from Convoy SL-87, which the German submarine U-67 had torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic that day west-northwest of the Canary Islands.

[7][8] On 31 October 1941, Lulworth picked up 22 survivors from lifeboats from the Dutch steam cargo ship Bennekom, which the German submarine U-96 had torpedoed and sunk that evening in the North Atlantic about 530 nautical miles (980 km; 610 mi) west of Cape Clear, Ireland[note 5] in an attack on Convoy OS 10.

[7] On 14 July 1942, Lulworth was escorting Convoy SL 115 when she depth charged the Italian submarine Pietro Calvi and forced her to surface.