H. M. S. C E Y L O N
"CEYLON" Class cruiser ordered from Alexander
Stephen, Govan, Glasgow under the 1938 Build Programme and laid down on 27th April 1939. The ship was launched on
30th July 1942 as the 3rd RN warship to carry the name, introduced in 1808 and used
for an Ex East Indiaman taken up for naval service. After a successful WARSHIP
WEEK National Savings campaign in
February 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of the city of Dundee. Although Build Completion
date was planned for 31st December 1942 she did not enter service until 13th
July 1943 due to the higher priority
for manning and completion of convoy escorts.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
DARDANELLES 1915-16
- SABANG 1944 - BURMA
1945
H e r a l d i
c D a t a
Badge: On a Field
White, on a mount green between
two
groves of palm trees proper an elephant
affronte also proper.
M o t t o
Depugnare superbos : 'To
fight the proud'
D e t a i
l s o f
W a r S e r v i c e
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 m
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,
QUEENBOROUCH,
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
H M Cruisers NEWCASTLE,
NIGERIA, GAMBIA and Dutch cruiser TRCMP 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 –S ee 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
19h 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 H M Battleship NELSON, H M Escort Carrier HUNTER and H M
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).
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS CEYLON returned to UK after the Japanese surrender in
Malaya. She re-commissioned and served in the RN Task Group with the United Nations during
the Korean War. The ship was modernised between 1955 and 1956 and served as Flagship for Flag
Officer Flotillas in the Home Fleet. In 1960 she was sold to Peru and renamed CORONEL BOLOGNESI prior to
transfer from the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on 6th February I960.
