1
9 3 9
September
Attached to 5th Cruiser Squadron on
the China Station.
3rd
Based at Singapore and deployed in
Indian Ocean and Malacca Straits on
trade
protection.
Search for enemy merchant ships
attempting to
return to Europe.
October
Carried out patrol and
interception duties in East
Indies.
November
4th
Relieved by HM Cruiser DAUNTLESS and
took passage to Hong Kong
10th
Based in Hong
Kong for
contraband control search duties in
Chinese waters.
28th
Escorted French liner ANDRE LEBON.
December
9th
During search for German freighter
BURGENLAND reported on
passage from Kobe
intercepted
Dutch ship and then joined the Armed
Merchant Cruiser MORETON BAY
for patrol
off Japan in an endeavour to find enemy
vessel.
17th
Damaged in collision with Tanker
FRANCOL
when fuelling.
27th
Propeller replaced and bow repaired in
dock at Hong Kong.
1
9 4 0
January
3rd
Transferred to Mediterranean Fleet and
took passage for Alexandria.
22nd
Under refit in Malta.
February
Transferred to Home Fleet.
March
Passage to Scapa Flow to join 18th
Cruiser Squadron in Home
Fleet
27th
Nominated for cover of simulated minelay
off Norway at Bud in Force WB with
HM Destroyers
HYPERION and HERO (Operation WILFRED).
31st
Sailed with the destroyers HMS FEARLESS
and HMS HOSTILE to
ensure security of
simulated
minelay and to capture any German
fishing vessels
in the area.
April
8th
During deployment with HMS RENOWN to
cover minelay ordered
by CinC Home Fleet
to join units
on passage to patrol entrance to Vest
Fjord.
Due to fuel
shortage ordered to return to Scapa
Flow.
10th
Under air attack off Norwegian coast.
13th
Joined escort for military convoy NP1
carrying troops for
landings in Norway,
with HM
Cruisers MANCHESTER and CAIRO screened
by HM Destroyers NUBIAN
SIKH and SOMALI
(Operation RUPERT/R4).
14th
Detached from NP1 with HMS MANCHESTER
and HMS CAIRO screened
by HM Destroyers
HIGHLANDER,
VANOC and WHIRLWIND as escort for Polish
liner CHOBRY and
rms
EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA during
passage to Namsos.
(Operation
MAURICE - See Naval Staff History.)
15th
Destination changed to Lillesjona
where troops were to be transferred to
destroyers for the
remainder of
passage to Namsos.
17th
Passage to Scapa
Flow with HMS
VANOC and HMS WHIRLWIND escorting rms
EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA.
20th
Deployed to reinforce HMS CAIRO and two
French destroyers as escort for French
troopship
VILLE D'ALGER
during final part of
passage to Namsos.
22nd
Return passage to Scapa Flow.
24th
Took passage from Rosyth for delivery of
stores and
reinforcements to SICKLE FORCE at
Andalsnes and
Molde in company with HM Cruisers
MANCHESTER and YORK screened
by HM
Destroyers ACHERON, HMS ARROW and HMS
GRIFFIN.
(Note: Troops
and stores were ferried ashore at Andalsnes
from HMS
BIRMINGHAM
and HMS YORK.
For details see Naval Staff History.)
25th
Retained in Norwegian waters with HMS
MANCHESTER for
interception patrols
26th
Sank the German Trawler SCHELSWIG
(Schiff 37) which had been
wearing a Dutch
Flag. During
this engagement rammed HMS ARROW.
May
1st
Took part in evacuation of allied troops
from Andalsnes
and Molde with HM Cruisers
MANCHESTER
and CALCUTTA, HM Sloop HMS AUCKLAND and
HM
Destroyers DELIGHT,
DIANA, INGLEFIELD, MASHONA and SOMALI.
390 troops were
embarked for return passage.
For full details
of the Norwegian operations see NARVIK
by Donald MacIntyre
THE DOOMED
EXPEDITION by Jack Adams and Naval
Staff History.
2nd
Arrived at Scapa
Flow with passengers.
8th
Transferred to Nore Command with HMS
MANCHESTER and HMS
SHEFFIELD for
interception
duties in southern North Sea.
9th
Sailed from Rosyth with HM Destroyers
JANUS, HAVOCK,
HEREWARD and HYPERION
for duty in
Nore Command.
Diverted on passage
to join search with destroyers for
ships
reported in Little Fisher Bank area.
Under air attacks.
For details see Naval Staff History.
(Note: During
this search HM Destroyer KELLY was badly
damaged in action with E-Boats
and had to be
towed to Tyne for repair covered by this
ship
10th
Deployed with HM Cruiser SHEFFIELD to
cover the tow by HM Destroyer BULLDOG
of the
damaged destroyer KELLY to Tyne Estuary.
12th
Arrived at Harwich on completion and
deployed in support of
Dutch military
operations at
Terschelling.
June
Based in Humber estuary with ships of
1st Cruiser
Squadron for patrol duty
in North
Sea.
July
Remained in North Sea for anti-invasion
patrol.
August
31st
Transferred to Sheerness for
anti-invasion patrols.
Deployed with HM
Cruisers MANCHESTER and SOUTHAMPTON
screened by three
Fleet destroyers
in search for invasion craft.
September
Under refit at Liverpool.
Type 286M surface warning radar fitted.
to
(Note:
This was the first ship borne radar
capable of detection of surface
November
craft and was a modified RAF type
equipment fitted in aircraft for ship
detection.
For details of the development and use
of Radar
by the RN
see RADAR AT
SEA
by D Howse.)
December
Post refit
trials.
27th
On completion returned to Scapa Flow to
resume Home Fleet duties.
Deployed with
18th Cruiser Squadron in Home Fleet for
escort and patrol duty
in NW
Approaches. One of the objectives of
this was the
interception of enemy
commerce
raiders and blockade runners.
(Details of
Contraband Control in Northern waters
are given in ARMED MERCHANT
CRUISERS by K.
POOLMAN).
1
9 4 1
January
24th
Relieved HM Cruisers AURORA and NAIAD
with HM Cruiser
EDINBURGH and three
Fleet destroyers
as escort for the merchant ships
ELIZABETH BURKE, TAURUS and TAI
SHAN which had
escaped from Gotenberg
carrying essential commodities
obtained
in Sweden
(Operation RUBBLE).
February
Nominated for Ocean Escort of
Middle East military convoy and took
passage
to Clyde to
join.
9th
Joined Convoy WS6A with HM Cruiser
PHOEBE and HM Armed
Merchant Cruiser
CATHAY
as Ocean Escort during
passage to Freetown.
15th
HM Battleship RODNEY screened by HM
Destroyers ECLIPSE AND ELECTRA joined
escort.
17th
HMS RODNEY and screen detached and
replaced by HM
Battlecruiser RENOWN and
HM Aircraft
Carrier ARK ROYAL.
21st
HM Battleship MALAYA joined.
March
1st
Arrived at Freetown with WS6A
6th
Sailed from Freetown as Convoy WS6 Ocean
Escort during
passage to Cape
Town
with
HMS PHOEBE and HMS
CATHAY.
21st
Detached from WS6 on arrival at Cape
Town.
Joined 18th Cruiser
Squadron for trade defence duties in South
Atlantic.
April
Nominated for return to
Home Fleet duties and took passage to Scapa Flow.
May
Deployed
with Home Fleet.
6th
Ocean Escort for minelay in Northern
Barrage by 1st
Minelaying Squadron
(Operation
SN9A).
7th
Diverted with HMS EDINBURGH, HMS
MANCHESTER, HMS SOMALI and
three
other Fleet
destroyers to intercept German Weather
Ship
MUNCHEN known to be on
station in
North
Atlantic. This
operation was intended to obtain the
ENIGMA Coding
machine with
its associated documentation. MUNCHEN
scuttled
but these vital
items were
recovered by the boarding party before
enemy
vessel sank.
19th
Deployed with HMS MANCHESTER for
interception patrol between Faeroes
Islands
and Iceland.
23rd
Joined by HM Cruiser ARETHUSA.
24th
Patrol line adjusted after loss of HM
Battleship HOOD on
order to cover any
possible
escape by BISMARCK to NE of Iceland.
June
4th
Transferred to South Atlantic as Flagship for ships engaged in trade defence.
Nominated as
Ocean Escort for Middle East WS military
convoy during passage to
Durban
from Clyde.
7th
Joined Convoy WS9A with HM Armed
Merchant Cruiser DUNOTTAR CASTLE.
14th
At Freetown
with Convoy WS9A.
20th
Sailed from Freetown for Cape of Good
Hope with WS9A.
July
2nd
At Cape
Town.
5th
Took passage to Durban
as WS9A Ocean Escort.
9th
Detached from WS9A on relief by HM
Cruiser HAWKINS.
12th
Deployed for commerce raider
interception and trade defence.
August
Interception patrols and
convoy defence deployment in southern
oceans.
to
December.
1
9 4 2
January
Deployed off Falklands with HM Armed
Merchant Cruiser HMS
ASTURIAS after
Japan
entered war to deter any possible
attack.
February
Under refit by HM Dockyard Simonstown,
South Africa.
20mm Close Range
AA armament fitted and Radar Type 284
for 6in main armament
fire control
installed. Surface warning Type 286M
Radar
replaced by improved
RN British
equipment (Type 291) using rotating
aerial instead of 'fixed' type
used with
Type 286.
March
During refit period
transferred to 4th Cruiser Squadron in
Eastern Fleet.
to
April
May
On completion of Post
Refit trials detached for duty at
Alexandria with the
Mediterranean Fleet
with HMS NEWCASTLE.
25th
Took passage via Suez
to Mediterranean.
June
6th
Arrived at Alexandria
for service with 15th
Cruiser Squadron.
11th
Part of escort for passage of Malta
relief convoy from Alexandria with ships
of 15th
Cruiser Squadron and destroyers of
Mediterranean
Fleet.
(Operation
VIGOROUS)
15th
Under heavy air attacks and damaged by
near miss. The
consequential severe
whipping of
structure disabled gun turrets.
16th
Returned to Alexandria when operation
was abandoned due to
threat of surface
intervention
by Italian fleet and continuation of
heavy air
attacks.
Full details of
this disastrous operation which was a
classic case of much
interference
by shore authorities is given in ENGAGE
THE
ENEMY MORE
CLOSELY by
Corelli Barnett, THE BATTLE FOR THE
MEDITERRANEAN by
D MacIntyre, MALTA CONVOYS by R Woodman
and The
Naval Staff History)
July
2nd
Passage to Kilindini to rejoin Eastern
Fleet.
18th
Deployed at Kilindini with HM Battleship
WARSPITE, HM
Aircraft Carriers
FORMIDABLE and
ILLUSTRIOUS.
(Note: This was
part of the revised policy made possible
by the arrival of
reinforcements
in the Indian Ocean and intended to
intensify the RN
contribution
o naval operations in South East Asia
against Japan.
21st
Took passage to Colombo with HM Cruiser
MAURITIUS, HM Destroyers NORMAN,
NIZAM,
INCONSTANT and Dutch VAN GALEN as Force
A
25th
At Colombo and prepared to provide cover
for
passage of three Dummy convoys on
passage in
Bay
of Bengal to
simulate an attack en the Andaman
Islands.
(Operation STAB
- Diversion during US landings on Guadalcanal.
August
2nd
STAB cancelled after CinC
determined that the objective had been
achieved.
(See WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO), Volume HE)
11th
Returned to Kilindini with HM Minelaying
Cruiser MANXMAN.
September
5th
Deployed with Eastern Fleet ships
including HM Cruiser GAMBIA, HM Seaplane
Carrier
ALBATROSS escorted by HM Destroyers
EXPRESS, FORTUNE, HOTSPUR
and
INCONSTANT to Majunga with Netherlands
destroyer VAN HEEMSKERCK for the final
occupation of
Madagascar by 29th Infantry Brigade
(Operation
STREAM).
10th
Covered landings at Majunga, Madagascar.
12th
Supported landings at Antanarive until
15th September.
18th
Supported landings at Tamatave.
October
Returned to trade protection
duty in Indian
Ocean.
November
24th
Rescued survivors from ss
TILAWA
sunk by Japanese submarine 129 off
Bombay.
December
Deployed with Eastern Fleet for
trade protection duty and offensive
sweeps.
(Eastern Fleet
activities between 1942 and 1945 are
provided in OPERATION
PACIFIC by E. Gray).
1
9 4 3
January
Eastern Fleet deployment in
continuation.
to
February
Nominated for return to UK for refit
after escort of military
convoy during
passage in
Indian
Ocean.
March
1st
Joined Convoy WS26 at Durban with HM
Cruiser CERES as Ocean Escort
during
passage to
Aden.
9th
Detached from WS26 on relief by HMS
HAWKINS.
(Note: HMS CERES
detached on 8th.)
Passage to
Devonport.
April
Taken in hand for repair
and refit by HM Dockyard on arrival.
Nominated for
further deployment with Eastern Fleet.
Additional radar
fitted for AA fire-control (Type 285),
Air warning
(Type 281)
and IFF sets
installed. Radar Type 291 for
surface and air warning replaced
by new 10cm
Type 273- (For details see RADAR AT SEA
by D. Howse).
May
Under refit
to
August
September
On completion carried out post
refit trials at Plymouth.
October
Prepared for foreign
service and work-up with Home
Fleet.
November
18th
On completion of work-up at Scapa Flow
took passage to rejoin Eastern Fleet
via
Mediterranean.
27th
Deployed in eastern Mediterranean.
28th
Sustained major damaged after being hit
by torpedo fired from
U407 off the
coast of Cyrenaica.
Forward magazine flooded and ship
listed 8 degrees. Speed
had to be
reduced to 20 knots.
December
Under temporary repair at Alexandria.
1
9 4 4
January
Under repair.
to
Arrangements
made for permanent repair to be carried
out in US Navy shipyard.
April
.
May
Passage to USA
June
9th
Taken in hand for repair and refit by
US Navy Yard at Norfolk,
Va.
July
Under refit
to
Harbour
trials
October
(Note: Preparatory work for
installation of RN radar and other
equipment
was carried
out
November
On completion of trials took
passage to UK to complete refit work in
UK.
December
Under refit at HM Dockyard,
Portsmouth.
Type 282 AA fire control radar fitted
for Close
Range weapons. X Turret and
aircraft facility removed.
1
9 4 5
January
14th
Joined 10th Cruiser Squadron in Home
Fleet at Scapa Flow.
February
Deployed with Home Fleet and took
part in offensive sweeps against
shipping
to
off
Norwegian coast.
March
(For details of Home Fleet
operations off Norway
between 1944 and 1945
see ENGAGE
THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by Corelli
Barnett and
Naval
Staff History.)
April
3rd
Deployed with HM Cruiser BELLONA to
cover air strikes by HM
Escort Carriers
HMS QUEEN, HMS
SEARCHER and HMS TRUMPETER on Norwegian
coastal
shipping.
This operation had to be cancelled
because of
weather.
Carried out
patrol inside Arctic
Circle till
12th April..
May
5th
Passage to Copenhagen with HM Cruiser
DIDO screened by HM
Destroyers ZEALOUS
ZEPHYR and ZEST
(Operation CLEAVER).
6th
Accepted surrender of German warships
PRINZ EUGEN and NURNBERG.
13th
Relieved by HM Cruiser DEVONSHIRE and
returned to Scapa Flow.
26th
Embarked troops at Rosyth for passage to
Trondheim to assist with capture of
German troops
still not in custody.
28th
Arrived in Trondheim.
June
Deployed as Flagship to
10th Cruiser Squadron, Home
Fleet.
to
Remained
in Home Fleet until the end of
hostilities with Japan.
August
