B
a t t l e H
o n o u r s
NORWAY
1940 - ARCTIC 1941-42
H
e r a l d i c
D a t a
Badge:
On a
Field per fess wavy White and Blue,
an
elephant proper.
M
o t t o:
Hamba
Gahle: “ Go in Peace.”
Manning
Division: Devonport
D
e t a i l s
o f S e r v i c e
(for more ship
information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search)
1
9 3 9
January
Contractors trials and
commissioning.
25th
Build
completion and commenced Acceptance Trials
February
On completion of Acceptance
Trials took passage for work-up at Portland.
Work-up exercises
and shakedown in Channel area.
March
Joined
Flotilla to take part in Home
Fleet exercise and visits programme.
Other ships in
Flotilla were:
HM
Destroyers SOMALI (Leader)., ASHANTI, MASHONA,
BEDOUIN,
PUNJABI,
ESKIMO and
TARTAR
April
Resumed Flotilla duties
after Leave period.
May
3rd
Visited Cherbourg with sister
destroyers HMS ESKIMO and HMS ASHANTI of
Flotilla.
12th
Escorted rms
EMPRESS
OF AUSTRALIA during passage in English Channel
with HM King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth
embarked for Royal visit to Canada. To be
confirmed.
June
Diverted from programme to
assist in rescue operations for HM Submarine
THETIS which had sunk
during builder's
trials in Liverpool Bay.
On release from
THETIS diversion resumed Home Fleet programme
with Flotilla.
July
Deployed with Flotilla
in Home waters.
August Took
up Home Fleet war
station and deployed for interception and
anti-submarine patrol in Home
waters.
D e t a
i l s o
f W a r S e r v i c e
September Deployed
for Home Fleet screening
and patrol duties.
Part of screen
for Anglo French warships in NW Approaches.
(Note: Later
duties included interception of German shipping
attempting to return to German
ports and
commerce
raiders on passage to attack British shipping in
Atlantic as
well as patrol for the
interception
of U-Boats
operating in Home waters.)
25th
Deployed with HM Destroyers SOMALI
and MASHONA in Home Fleet search for HM
Submarine
SPEARFISH which
had been badly damaged during patrol in
Heligoland Bight,.
26th
Escorted submarine back to UK with
covered by Home Fleet major warships.
October
Flotilla deployment in North
Sea for patrol to intercept German ships on
passage for attacks on coastal
to
December shipping,
to Atlantic Ocean for
attacks on convoys or for submarine minelayers.
Carried out
screening duties for major Home Fleet warships
as required.
(Note: Sinking
of HM Battleship ROYAL OAK resulted in major
Fleet units being moved from Scapa
Flow
to west coast of Scotland pending improvement of
protection against submarine
attack on
Scapa Flow anchorage.)
1 9 4 0
January
Passage to Plymouth
7th
Arrived at Devonport for repair by
HM Dockyard.
February
Under repair
(Note: Work
included replacement of turbine blades, damaged
due to excess stress during
high
speed
steaming in inclement weather, and installation
of degaussing
equipment for
protection
against magnetic mines. See THE TORPEDOMEN by A
Poland.)
March
9th
On completion of refit resumed
Flotilla duties with Home Fleet
(Note: During
this period Flotilla was used for defence of
North Sea convoys to and from
Norway
and
for screening of major units during interception
operations.)
April
.
6th
Deployed with H M destroyers
SOMALI, MASHONA and TARTAR of Flotilla
during escort of
in-bound
convoy to
Forth from Norway.
(Note: One
record states the ship also included the
Norwegian torpedo boat DRAUG but this
is not
included
in Naval Staff History.).
7th
Passage to join HM Destroyers
AFRIDI, GURKHA, SIKH, MOHAWK, ZULU, COSSACK,
KASHMIR and
KELLY in screen for HM Cruisers GALATEA and
ARETHUSA deployed in search
for
German warships on passage in
North Sea.
(MATABELE, with MASHONA, SOMALI,
TARTAR
may instead of have joined Adm Forbe's main
force on this date)
For details see
NAVAL OPERATIONS OF THE CAMPAIGN IN NORWAY ,
April –June 1940
(HMSO).
9th
Joined Home Fleet ships with HMS
GALATEA and HMS ARETHUSA and destroyer screen.
Detached with HM
Destroyers AFRIDI, GURKHA, SIKH, MOHAWK, SOMALI
and MASHONA
as screen for HM
Cruisers MANCHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON, GLASGOW and
SHEFFIELD to carry
out an attack on
German warships reported at Bergen.
When operation
cancelled by Admiralty took passage to rejoin
Home Fleet ships.
After rejoining
Fleet came under heavy and sustained air attacks
during which sister destroyer
HMS
GURKHA was sunk.
11th
Sailed from Scapa
Flow with HM Destroyers SOMALI, AFRIDI, SIKH,
MATABELE and MOHAWK
to carry out
sweep inshore northward of Alesund to intercept
enemy warship movements prior
to
planned
allied landings in Norway.
12th
Carried out search with same
destroyers.
13th
Under air attacks at Alesund
without damage.
14th
Deployed in support of landings by RM from
cruisers at Namsos (Operation
HENRY)
On completion
took passage to meet troopship convoy
15th
Arrived with troopships.
16th
Under heavy air attacks at
Lillesjona
17th
Deployed with AFRIDI, NUBIAN, SIKH
and MATABELE to ferry troops ashore from
transports after
refuelling.
Under air attacks.
Took passage to
Bodo with HM Destroyer ECHO, HM Cruisers
EFFINGHAM and COVENTRY to
land troops and
equipment embarked in HMS EFFINGHAM
18th
During passage ran aground on Foksen
shoal but managed to re-float with damage to
structure.
(Note:
HMS EFFINGHAM
also ran aground and was seriously damaged.
Had
to be sunk by gunfire three days later. See
reference.)
After assisting
in rescue of troops with other ships and craft
from shore took passage to
return to
Harstad
May
Deployed for support
of operations in Norway
4th
Escorted HM Landing
Ship ROYAL ULSTERMAN to Bodo for landing of
Commando unit.
On release from
operations returned to Scapa Flow
(Note: For
full details of the disastrous operations off
Norway see above reference,
NARVIK
by D Macintyre,
THE DOOMED EXPEDITION by J Adams and
CARRIER
GLORIOUS by J Winton.)
Repair and
refit arranged at Falmouth and withdrawn from
operational use
Pennant Number
for visual signalling purposes changed to G59.
27th
Taken in hand for refit and repair by
Silley Cox shipyard at Falmouth.
June
Under refit
to
July
(Note:
Work included
replacement of twin 4.7in mounting in X position
aft with a twin 4in
HA
mounting to improve defence against air attacks.
August
Post refit trials
19th
On completion of sea trials and
shakedown took passage to Scapa Flow to resume
Flotilla
duties in Home
Fleet.
September
Home Fleet deployment in
continuation.
(Note: Ships of Home Fleet were
extensively deployed for ant-invasion patrols in
North Sea
as
well as search and interception and
anti-submarine patrol in Home waters.
October
Deployed for Home Fleet
duties including offensive operations against
coastal shipping off
Norway.
22nd
Carried out attack on convoy with HMS
SOMALI of Flotilla and sank coaster off
Andalsnes.
November
Deployed
at Scapa
Flow for Home Fleet duties with Flotilla
to
December
Part of screen for
major Home Fleet ships during search for German
armoured cruiser
ADMIRAL SCHEER
reported on passage to attack Atlantic convoys
1
9 4 1
January
3rd
Deployed with HM Destroyers MASHONA,
TARTAR and BEDOUIN as screen for HM
Destroyers
INTREPID and ICARUS during minelay in Norwegian
coastal waters.
(Operation DZ –
See Naval Staff History (Mining) for details.)
(Note: Despite
a series of unfortunate incidents lay was
successful.)
5th
Resumed Flotilla duties on return to
Scapa Flow.
16th
Part of escort for HM Battleship KING
GEORGE V during passage to USA in NW Approaches
with Lord
Halifax and senior defence personnel.
Returned to Scapa
Flow on release from escort..
February
2nd
Deployed with HM Destroyer TARTAR of
Flotilla, HM Cruisers ARETHUSA and
AURORA as
escort for HM Destroyers INTREPID and IMPULSIVE
during minelay off
Trondheim in the
entrance to Fro Havet (Operation EA).
3rd
Returned to Scapa
Flow when operation cancelled due to
deterioration of weather conditions.
March
Deployed with Flotilla
in Western Approaches.
24th
Joined military convoy WS7 in Clyde
with HM Destroyers BEDOUIN, MASHONA and
SOMALI as Local
Escort during passage in NW Approaches.
(Note: HM
Destroyers LEGION, BROADWATER and Polish
Destroyer
ORP
PIORUN were also deployed as part of Local
Escort and HM Cruiser
CAIRO
joined on 25th to provide additional AA defence.
HM Cruiser
EDINBURGH
, HM Battleships REVENGE and NELSON provided
cover
against
surface attack.)
28th
Detached from WS7 with BEDOUIN,
MATABELE and SOMALI for return
passage to
Clyde.
April
Nominated for refit
at Barrow-in Furness.
11th
Taken in hand for refit and
modifications by Vickers-Armstrong shipyard.
May
Under refit.
(Note: Work
carried out included removal of mainmast and top
of after funnel to
improve
arcs of fire for close range weapons. Type 286M
radar was also
fitted.
This
was a modified RAF air-surface equipment but had
serious
shortcomings
when
used on board a ship. For details of development
and use of radar
by the
Royal
Navy see RADAR AT SEA by D Howse.)
27th
On completion commenced post refit
trials and prepared for operational use.
June
5th
During departure from Barrow to
rejoin Flotilla for service in Home Fleet, ship
grounded and
sustained major damage to underwater fittings
including shaft
brackets and
propellers.
10th
Under repair at Barrow,
August Under
repair
15th
Carried out post refit trials before
taking passage to rejoin Flotilla.
After arrival
at Scapa Flow nominated for special operation.
30th
Deployed with HM Aircraft Carrier
ARGUS, HM Cruiser SHROPSHIRE,
HM
Destroyers PUNJABI and SOMALI for
transport of HURRICANE aircraft,
RAF equipment
and personnel to North Russia for support of
Soviet military
operations
after Russia entered WW2 (Operation STRENGTH).
30th
(Note: Cover was provided by HM
aircraft Carrier VICTORIOUS, HM Cruisers
DEVONSHIRE
and
SUFFOLK screened by HM Destroyers
ECLIPSE,
ESCAPADE
and INGLEFIELD).
September
7th
Aircraft despatched and ships took
passage to Murmansk.
15th
On return to Scapa Flow resumed
Flotilla duties.
October
Flotilla deployment for
Home Fleet screening and patrol including
offensive
to
December
operations off Norway and
interception patrol for ships on passage in
North Sea
and NW
Approaches. See Naval Staff History.
(Note: No
record of duty for escort of Russian convoys
traced.)
1
9 4 2
January
Nominated for escort of
Russian convoy.
Took passage
with HMS SOMALI as screen for HM Cruiser
TRINIDAD to
join Russian
Convoy PQ8 on passage from Iceland to Murmansk.
11th
Joined HM Minesweepers HARRIER and
SPEEDWELL in escort for PQ8.
16th
PQ8 under threat of submarine attack.
17th
Hit by torpedo from
U454 and sank almost immediately after explosion
in position
69.21N 35.24E with loss of 238 of ship’s
company, of
whom only two survived
and were rescued
by HMS HARRIER. Many who were able to leave the
stricken ship
succumbed
in the
ice-cold water before rescue was possible.
(Note: For
details of all Russian convoy operations see
CONVOYS TO RUSSIA
by
RA Ruegg, THE RUSSIAN CONVOYS by B Schoefield,
CONVOY !
by
P Kemp and ARCTIC CONVOYS by R Woodman
Casualty
List TIMES 9 March 1942.)
Addendum
CONVOY
ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
MATABELE
by
Don Kindell
These
convoy lists have not been cross-checked with
the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date
convoy sailed
|
Joined
convoy as escort
|
Convoy No.
|
Left
convoy
|
Date
convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
26/11/39
|
27/11/39
|
ON
003/1
|
30/11/39
|
30/11/39
|
30/11/39
|
30/11/39
|
HN
003
|
04/12/39
|
04/12/39
|
05/12/39
|
05/12/39
|
ON
004/1
|
08/12/39
|
08/12/39
|
08/12/39
|
08/12/39
|
HN
004
|
11/12/39
|
12/12/39
|
10/12/39
|
unknown
|
TC
001
|
17/12/39
|
17/12/39
|
22/12/39
|
28/12/39
|
TC
002
|
30/12/39
|
30/12/39
|
31/03/40
|
02/04/40
|
ON
024/1
|
04/04/40
|
04/04/40
|
04/04/40
|
04/04/40
|
HN
024
|
07/04/40
|
07/04/40
|
16/04/40
|
23/04/40
|
FS
001
|
27/04/40
|
27/04/40
|
08/01/42
|
11/01/42
|
PQ
008
|
17/01/42
|
17/01/42
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note
on Convoys)
|