1 9 4 3
July Contractors trials and commissioning.
13th Accepted into
service on completion of Acceptance Trials in
Clyde area.
Nominated for service with Eastern Fleet based in
Ceylon.
August Passage to Scapa Flow for work-up
with ships of Home Fleet on completion of trials and storing.
3rd Commenced work-up.
12th Present Scapa Flow during visit to Home
Fleet by HM King George VI.
September On
completion took passage to Devonport to prepare for foreign
service.
(Note:
Close Range AA defence armament supplemented by 20mm Oerlikon
guns.)
October
30th Took passage for
Ceylon.
(Note:
Personal baggage of Supreme Commander SEAC embarked)
November Deployed for interception patrol in
Bay of Biscay during passage to Gibraltar
27th Called at Bombay.
December Joined
4th Cruiser Squadron at Trincomalee.
Deployed for Fleet exercises with Squadron and Fleet units in
Indian Ocean.
1 9 4
4
January Deployed
with Eastern Fleet for patrol and convoy defence in Indian Ocean
to For
details of Eastern Fleet activities In 1944-45 see OPERATION
February PACIFIC
by E Grey and WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO)
March
21st Deployed with HM Battleships QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT, HM Battlecruiser RENOWN,
HM
Cruisers LONDON, GAMBIA (RNZN) and CUMBERLAND as part of an Eastern Fleet Task
Force
screened by HM Destroyers QUIBERON (RAN), QUILLIAM, QUALITY,
QUEENBOROUGH,
PATHFINDER, Australian NAPIER, NORMAN, NEPAL and Dutch VAN
GALEN and TJERK HIDDES.
(Operation
DIPLOMAT).
27th Met US Navy aircraft carrier USS
SARATOGA, US destroyers
CUMMINGS,
DUNLOP and FANNING SW of Cocos Islands
(Note:
US Task Group 58 joining Eastern Fleet for a joint RN/USN air attack on
Sumatra.
April
1st Returned to
Trincomalee with RN Task Force and US Navy ships.
16th Joined HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, HMS VALIANT
and French battleship RICHELIEU with
HM Cruisers NEWCASTLE, NIGERIA,
GAMBIA and Dutch cruiser TROMP as Task
Force
69. Destroyer screen comprised
HM Destroyers ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE, PENN,
PETARD, NAPIER, NEPAL, NIZAM,
QUIBERON and Dutch VAN GALEN.
18th Transferred with HM Cruiser GAMBIA to
Task Force 70 to reinforce escort for H M Aircraft
Carrier
ILLUSTRIOUS and USS SARATOGA during joint RN/USN air operations against targets
at Sabang,
Sumatra.
(Operation
COCKPIT – see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by C BARNETT and
above references.)
May
6th Joined HM Battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH
and VALIANT, French battleship RICHELIEU
in Task Force 65 to escort HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and USS SARATOGA
with HMS GAMBIA
for air attacks on targets at Soerabaya
(Operation TRANSOM).
Destroyer
screen comprised HM Destroyers ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE,
PENN,
NAPIER, NEPAL, QUIBERON, QUICKMATCH and Dutch
VAN GALEN.
15th Replenished at
Exmouth Bay in Western Australia with Task Force snips from Task
Force 67.
17th Covered carrier operations off Soerabaya.
18th US Navy ships detached.
27th Arrived in
Ceylon.
June Nominated
for support of air operations by HMS ILLUSTRIOUS.
19th Deployed as Force 60 with HM
Battlecruiser RENOWN, HM Cruisers NIGERIA.
and KENYA screened by HM Destroyers
QUILLIAM, QUALITY, QUICKMATCH,
ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE, RAIDER, RELENTLESS
and ROEBUCK to provide
cover during air attacks on PORT Blair in the Andamans (Operation PEDAL)
(Note:
HM Submarines TANTIVY and CLYDE were deployed for air sea rescue.)
21st Remained with HMS
ILLUSTRIOUS during flying operations.
On
completion of landing of aircraft left area at high speed to reduce
risk of a retaliatory attacks before nightfall.
24th Returned to Trincomalee
with ships of Force 60.
July Convoy
defence with Squadron in continuation.
22nd Deployed with HMS VALIANT, French
RICHELIEU, HMS RENOWN,HM Cruisers
KENYA
GAMBIA, NIGERIA, CUMBERLAND, PHOEBE and Dutch TROMP to
cover
air attacks at Sabang by H M
Aircraft Carriers ILLUSTRIOUS and VICTORIOUS
(Operation
CRIMSON).
25th Bombarded shore installations at Sabang with HM Battleships QUEEN ELIZABEETH
and VALIANT, HM Battlecruiser RENOWN, French battleship
RICHELIEU and ships of
Squadron
August
19th Deployed with Eastern Fleet ships to
provide air sea rescue facilities during US air attacks
on NW Sumatra (Operation BOOMERANG).
24th Bombarded Sabang
with HM Battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT, HM
Battlecruiser,
RENOWN, French RICHELIEU, HM Cruisers CUMBERLAND, NIGERIA,
KENYA and GAMBIA. HM destroyers RELENTLESS, ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE,
ROCKET
and RAPID also took part and other destroyers entered the harbour and made
torpedo attacks on shipping (Operation BANQUET).
September Convoy defence duty in continuation.
October Passage
to Durban for refit.
November Under refit.
27th Re-organisation of Eastern Fleet on
formation of British Pacific Fleet
December On
completion of post refit trials took passage to rejoin 4th Cruiser Squadron.
1 9 4 5
January Deployed
as part of covering force for air attacks on oil refineries at Pangkalan
Brandan,
4th Sumatra by m Aircraft Carriers
INDOMITABLE, VICTORIOUS and
INDEFATIGABLE with HM Cruisers SUFFOLK, ARGONAUT,
BLACK PRINCE.
Fleet
destroyer screen comprised HM Destroyers KEMPENFELT, WHELP,
WAGER, URANIA, UNDAUNTED, UNDINE and URSA (Operation LENTIL).
13th Joined exercises with Eastern Fleet for planned FAA
operations on Sumatra.
17th Sailed with HM Destroyer
WESSEX to join ships of British
Pacific Fleet which had
taken passage on 16th for Australia to join 5th US Fleet for
operations in the
Pacific.
Carried spares and mail for Task Force 63 ships.
20th Detached from Task Force 63 with m
Destroyer URCHIN and HMS WESSEX for escort
of HM Fleet Auxiliary Tankers ECHODALE,
WAVE KING and EMPIRE SALVAGE
as Task Force 69
(Note:
This was a Replenishment Group) for support of Task Group 63 during air
operations against oil refineries at
Palembang and Soengi-Gerong by aircraft
carriers. (Operations
MERIDIAN I and II).
30th On completion of
MERIDIAN operations resumed Eastern
Fleet duties and took passage
to rejoin Squadron.
February Passage
to Ceylon.
After
arrival deployed with Squadron for convoy defence and support of military
operations.
March Squadron deployment in continuation.
April
29th Part of Task Force
63, Eastern Fleet covering Rangoon landings.
(Operation
DRACULA - See Naval Staff History and above references)
30th Escorted HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, FS
RICHELIEU, H M Escort Carriers SHAH and
EMPRESS
with HM Cruisers CUMBERLAND, SUFFOLK and Dutch TROMP screened
by Fleet Destroyers during air attacks on Car Nicobar and Port Blair in Andaman
Islands.
On
completion bombarded shore installations with ships of TF63 (Operation BISHOP)
May
1st Support
bombardment duty in continuation.
3rd Joined Task Force 63 with FS
RICHELIEU, HMS CUMBERLAND, HMS EMPRESS,
HMS
SHAH. HMS ROTHERHAM, HMS ROEBUCK and HMS REDOUBT.
4th Deployed with Task Force 68 for
interception of evacuation convoys between
Mergui
and Victoria Point, Burma.
Refuelled from Fleet Auxiliary OLWEN escorted by HM Destroyer
PALADIN.
6th Rejoined TF 63 and covered further air
strikes in Andamans.
9th Resumed Squadron
duties.
June
1st Deployed on offensive patrols off
Burma with HM Cruiser PHOEBE and
six Royal Indian
Navy frigates as Task Force 69.
16th Returned from
patrol duty when cruiser support no longer needed.
July Preparation
for Malayan coast landings (Operation ZIPPER) and covered passage of
military convoys between Ceylon and Rangoon.
August Passage to Rangoon with Eastern
Fleet for execution of ZIPPER landings.
(Note:
Planned assault postponed at US insistence and delayed until after VJ Day.
See
above references and Final Report by SEAC (HMSO) )
28th Passage to Penang with HM Battleship NELSON, HM
Escort Carrier HUNTER and HM
Escort
Carrier ATTACKER.
September
2nd At
Penang for formal surrender of
Japanese forces by Vice Admiral Hirose.
9th Covered landings of allied troops on
Malayan coast with HMS NELSON, FS RICHELIEU,
HMS
NIGERIA, HMS GAMBIA and ROYALIST, HM Escort Carriers HUNTER,
STALKER,
KHEDIVE, EMPEROR, PURSUER and TRUMPETER
with 15 Fleet
destroyers. (See above references and Naval Staff History).
