H. M. S. D A U N T L E S S
"DRAGON" Class light cruiser ordered under the 1916
Emergency Programme from Palmers Engineering and Shipbuilding Company, Hebbum in September 1916. The ship was laid down in January
1917 and launched on 10th April 1918. Completed in December 1918 she began
operational service in 1919. Whilst serving on the America and West Indies
Station in July 1928 HMS DAUNTLESS ran aground off Halifax, Nova Scotia and
sustained major damage. Her subsequent refit completed in 1930. After further
service in the Fleet the ship was placed in Reserve in August 1936. Laid-up at
Portsmouth she was brought forward for service in 1939. In December 1942 this
cruiser was ‘adopted’ by the civil community of Taunton, Somerset following a successful
Warship Week to promote National Savings.
B a t t
l e H o n o u r s
BALTIC 1854 - BLACK SEA 1855
- ATLANTIC 1939
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Red a dragon,
passant, Gold.
Motto
‘We
yield but to St George'
D e t a i l s o f W
a r S e r v
i c e
1 9 3 9
August
9th Commissioned from Reserve for Royal
Review at Weymouth.
Attended Review
In view of the political
situation she was retained in service and after storing and completion to
war complement sailed with HM Cruiser DANAE to
join 9th Cruiser Squadron in South Atlantic
for
trade defence.
September
3rd Escorted convoy to Capetown from
Gibraltar.
14th Based at Freetown for trade defence and
escorted convoys for part of passage to Cape of Good
Hope
. (Note: Deployed
for interception of German shipping which was attempting
return to European
waters.
For
details of deployment of warships in Atlantic see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE
CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett).
October Transferred to China Station and took passage
via Mediterranean.
10th Sailed from Gibraltar for Singapore.
21st Sailed from Aden for Colombo.
31st Arrived Singapore.
November
2nd Deployed
with 5th Cruiser Squadron for interception patrol and protection of allied
shipping in
Singapore area.
4th Relieved H. M. Cruiser BIRMINGHAM in Sunda Strait.
December Continuation of duties based at
Singapore.
1 9 4 0
January
8th Deployed in Malacca
Straits.
21st Called
at Penang.
February Trade protection role in
continuation.
March
23rd Transferred to British Malayan Force
for surveillance of German shipping
. Deployed off
Batavia to intercept German merchant ships, including NORDMARK,
RENDSBERG and VOGTLAND.
(See ENGAGE
THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY).
April
26th Passage to Hong Kong for refit.
May Under refit
June
4th Passage to Singapore to resume
surveillance and trade defence duties.
July Continuation of trade defence role in
Malacca Straits
to
October
November Passage to Hong Kong for
routine docking.
December
4th Docking at Hong Kong.
15th Passage
to resume duties in Singapore area.
20th Patrol duty in Malacca Straits.
1 9 4
1
January
Deployed for trade defence and interception
patrol based at Singapore.
to
April
May
Under refit in Singapore.
June
9th On completion resumed trade defence
duties.
15th Slightly damaged in collision with HM
Cruiser EMERALD off Singapore.
(Note: HMS EMERALD sustained major
damage
with several casualties.)
Taken in hand for repair at Singapore.
July On completion resumed
patrol and interception duties on completion.
to
October
November Withdrawn from China Station
for refit in UK.
December Passage to Portsmouth
(Note: This ship was therefore not involved in the
operations against Japan).
1 9 4 2
January
On arrival taken in hand for refit by HM
Dockyard..
(Note: Work included
Installation of Radar Type 286 and Radar Type 271. For
details of development and
use of radar in RN see RADAR AT SEA by D
Howse.
AA
armament improved by replacement of the after 4" gun by quadruple
pom-pom and addition of 20mm Oerlikon guns.
February
14th On completion carried out post refit
trials.
Prepared for foreign service with 5th Cruiser Squadron in East Indies.
March Took passage to join 5th
Cruiser Squadron in Indian Ocean.
April On arrival deployed for
convoy defence and interception duties.
27th Joined military convoy WS17 as Ocean
Escort for the passage from Capetown to Durban
with HM Battleship REVENGE.
May
7th Detached from WS17 on arrival at
Durban and trade defence in continuation.
June
5th Deployed with HM Destroyer ANTHONY for
trade defence.
On passage to Diego Suarez. See WAR WITH JAPAN Volume III
(HMSO).
13th Deployed for patrol duties with HMS
DANAE between Diego Suarez and Farquar Island
to intercept Japanese
submarines and supply ships. See above reference
July Patrol duties in
continuation.
22nd Diverted to take part in capture of Mayotta (Operation THROAT).
August Indian Ocean deployment in continuation.
Nominated for
support of planned landings in Madagascar (Operation STREAM)
(Note: Practice landing Exercise TOUCHSTONE was carried out
as a preliminary.)
September Allocated to Force M with HM Cruisers
BIRMINGHAM, GAMBIA, CARADOC, MANXMAN,
HM Aircraft
Carrier ILLUSTRIOUS, HM Monitor EREBUS and HM Seaplane
Carrier
ALBATROSS.
10th Took part in landing operations at Majunga.
(Note: No bombardments were required as there was no
opposition
October Indian Ocean trade defence in
continuation,
For details of
naval operations in the Indian Ocean during 1942 see
OPERATION PACIFIC
by E Gray, WAR WITH JAPAN Volume III (HMSO) and ENGAGE THE
ENEMY MORE
CLOSELY
November
9th Joined military convoy WS23
on departure from Durban as Ocean Escort with HM
Armed Merchant Cruiser CARTHAGE.
11th Detached from WS23 on relief
by HM Cruiser HAWKINS.
December
Indian Ocean Trade defence and interception duties in continuation
Passage to Simonstown for refit
1 9 4
3
January
Under refit by
HM Dockyard, Simonstown.
to
February
March
Withdrawn from operational duty. See General Information.
April Passage to UK.
May On arrival deployed at
Chatham pending decision for future use.
Selected for training duties.
June
Under refit at Chatham by HM Dockyard
to July Further dockyard work to
suit new role to be carried out by HM Dockyard at Rosyth.
(Note: Future deployment as a training ship
for Direct Entry “Y” Scheme personnel
required
provision of suitable compartments for instruction and on items
of equipment. Ships displacement was reduced by removal of
equipment not
required for training role.
“Y” Scheme personnel comprised ratings selected for promotion to
commissioned
rank in the RNVR.)
August Passage to Rosyth.
September Under conversion by HM Dockyard.
(Note: Changes included removal of Pom-pom
mounting and installation of additional
20mm close range weapons. Radar Type 273 was installed for training in
use of
this Surface Warning equipment.
October
Joined Training Squadron based at Rosyth on completion of conversion.
November
Deployed at Rosyth for harbour and sea training in Forth area.
to December.
1 9 4 4
January
Training duties in continuation.
to October
November
Taken in hand for routine inspection and essential repairs by HM
Dockyard, Rosyth
December
Resumed duties in Training Squadron on completion.
1 9 4
5
January
Deployed for Squadron training duties
February
Taken in hand for refit by HM Dockyard, Rosyth.
to March (Note: This may have been
for repair work since ship had not been long out of dock.)
April
Resumed training duties,
May Squadron training
duties in continuation.
to August,
P o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS DAUNTLESS continued service in the Training Squadron at
Rosyth until February 1946 when she was
placed in on the Disposal List.
Sold on 13th March that year to BISCO for demolition by TW Ward the ship
was towed to Inverkeithing, near Rosyth during April. This name continued
the association with naval training
when used for the WRNS
Training Establishment at Burghfield, near Reading
when commissioned as an RN
establishment in
1953. It had been nameless since opening in 1947 and was used until the
training was
transferred to
HMS RALEIGH at Torpoint in 1981.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS DAUNTLESS
by Don Kindell
Date convoy Joined
convoy
Convoy
No. Left convoy Date convoy
sailed as escort arrived
02/09/39 02/09/39 AB 001/1 11/09/39 10/09/39
14/09/39 14/09/39 SL 001 21/09/39 01/10/39
28/09/39 28/09/39 SL 003 unknown 15/10/39
08/03/41 13/03/41 BM 004/1 16/03/41 16/03/41
24/08/41 31/08/41 BM 008 03/09/41 02/09/41
03/06/42 03/06/42 KM 001 06/06/42 06/06/42
09/11/42 09/11/42 CM 034 11/11/42 21/11/42
13/11/42 13/11/42 CM 035 21/11/42 23/11/42
14/02/43 14/02/43 CM 039 21/02/43 03/03/43
(Note on Convoys)
