H.
M. S. D U R B A N
"D" Class cruiser ordered from Scotts of Greenock in July 1917 and laid
down in January 1918. The ship was launched on 29th May 1919 as the
2nd RN ship to carry the name that was previously used by a WW1 Trawler, She was completed on 1st September 1921. Her service between completion and
1936 when she was placed in Reserve, was mainly on foreign stations, in China,
the West Indies and in the Mediterranean.
She was re commissioned before outbreak of
war and after a WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in March 1942
was adopted by the civil
community of Finsbury, London.
B a t t l e H o n o u r s
NORMANDY 1944
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field White, a mealie Gold, the leaves Green.
Motto
Natalis honore: 'For the honour
of our Country'
D e t a i
l s o f
W a r S e r v i c e
1 9 3 9
August
Part of 9th Cruiser Squadron.
September
Deployed on convoy defence between Freetown and Cape of Good Hope.
2nd Took passage from
Gibraltar for trade defence in the South Atlantic.
8th Arrived at Freetown.
28th On arrival at Capetown
taken in hand for repair.
October
Transferred to China Station for service with 5th Cruiser Squadron.
13th Passage to Singapore
with calls at Mauritius and Colombo.
31st Joined Squadron at
Singapore.
November
2nd Passage to Hong Kong
for refit
6th Taken in hand for
refit.
24th Resumed Squadron
duties on completion.
December
Deployed on trade defence and patrol in South China Sea.
21st Transferred to 9th
Cruiser Squadron on China Station.
1 9 4 0
January
Deployed on trade defence in East Indies area.
to
February
March
23rd Joined British Malaya
Force on formation.
Carried out surveillance of German shipping in Dutch East Indies ports.
These included ss BITTERFELD, ss FRANKEN, ss RHEINLAND, ss SONEK and
ss WUPPERTAL.
April
Surveillance and patrol duties in continuation.
May
Deployed in Malacca Strait and Singapore areas on surveillance and trade
defence.
to
June
July
Under refit in Singapore.
August
Post refit trials
10th On completion deployed on trade
protection and surveillance duty in China Sea.
September
20th Joined HM Cruisers CANBERRA (RAN),
CAPETOWN and HM Armed Merchant Cruiser
WESTRALIA (RAN) in Hunting Group
to search for German raider ATLANTIS
October
29th Returned to Singapore for trade
defence in Malacca Straits and Dutch East Indies.
November
Trade protection duty in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 1
January
Trade defence deployment in continuation.
February
Passage to Fremantle for military convoy escort.
12th Escorted Convoy US9 Including rms QUEEN MARY, rms AQUnANIA, rms MAURITANIA
and Dutch liner NIEW AMSTERDAM from Fremantle for passage in Indian
Ocean.
16th Detached to escort rms QUEEN MARY to Singapore.
March
Deployed on trade defence in Malacca Straits and Dutch East Indies.
April
Deployed in Indian Ocean for interception of commerce raiders and trade
defence.
to
May
June
Passage to Singapore.
July
Under refit in Singapore.
to
August
September
Post Refit trials.
October
On completion resumed trade protection and Interception duties.
November
18th Relieved HM Australian Cruiser
SYDNEY as escort for torpedoed troopship ZEALANDIA
from Sunda Strait to Singapore.
December
8th Transferred to 5th
Cruiser Squadron after outbreak of war with Japan.
12th Deployed for escort of convoy
between Suda Strait and Singapore.
19th Escorted troopship taking survivors
from HM Battlecruiser RENOWN and HM Battleship
PRINCE OF WALES to
Colombo.
20th Joined China Force on formation and
took passage to Singapore.
1 9 4 2
January
5th Embarked Naval Staff at Singapore
for passage to Batavia from Singapore.
6th Joined Striking Force.
(See OPERATION
PACIFIC by E Grey, ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by C
Barnett. and WAR
WITH JAPAN (HMSO).)
8th Passage in Indian Ocean with HM
Cruiser EXETER and HM Indian Sloop JUMNA to Addu
Atoll to reinforce
escort of military convoy DM1.
(Note: This was
the first of a series of convoys taking troops to reinforce the Singapore
garrison after the Japanese invasion
of Malaya
. 9th Joined DM1 at Addu
Atoll.
10th Dutch cruiser DE RUYTER, HM
Destroyers ENCOUNTER, JUPITER and VAMPIRE
joined convoy
escort.
13th Detached from DM1 after arrival at
Singapore.
19th Escorted troopship from Singapore
taking survivors from HM Battlecruiser REPULSE and
February
6th Relieved HM Australian Cruiser
CANBERRA off Christmas Island, south of Java, as escort for
Convoy MS3 for
passage to Palembang, Sumatra with HM Cruiser DRAGON.
10th Passage to Singapore with H M
Destroyer JUPITER, H M Destroyer STRONGHOLD and HM
Auxiliary KEDAH to
evacuate RAF personnel.
11th Under air attack on passage to
Singapore.
12th Escorted coastal steamers carrying
evacuees from Singapore.
Under air attack
when north of Sunda Strait and hit forward causing
loss of 6" mounting.
16th Withdrawn from area at Batavia.
Escorted merchant
ship for part of passage to Colombo.
17th Detached and took passage for Fremantle.
March
Deployed for trade defence in Indian Ocean.
13th Intercepted German ss DOGGERBANK laying mines off Capetown.
As challenge by
visual signalling was correctly answered using name of British ss
LEVERBANK, ship
was allowed to proceed.
Passage to USA
for repair of bomb damage, with call at Azores.
April
9th Under repair in New York as US Navy
dockyard.
(Note: Work
included preparation for later installation of surface warning Radar Type 273
and
warning radar Type 286, a modified RAF ASV equipment.
For
details of development and use of radar by RN see RADAR AT SEA by D Howse)
June
Carried out Post refit trials
July
Passage to UK.
August
Taken in hand for completion of radar outfit installation and other
outstanding changes not
in USN shipyard.
September
Carried out Worked-up at Scapa Flow for service with 5th Cruiser
Squadron in Eastern Fleet.
October
4th Joined military convoy WS23 in
Clyde as Ocean Escort with HM Cruiser DESPATCH and
HM Armed Merchant
Cruiser QUEEN OF BERMUDA during Atlantic passage.
15th Detached from U523 with Ocean
Escort before arrival at Freetown.
20th Rejoined W323 as Ocean Escort on
departure from Freetown for Durban.
(Note: HM Armed Merchant
Cruiser CARTHAGE and Greek destroyer KANARIS were also
part
of Ocean Escort.)
23rd HMS DESPATCH joined Ocean Escort.
November
5th Detached from WS23 on arrival at
Durban.
Deployed with
Squadron for trade defence in Indian Ocean.
December
Indian Ocean deployment in continuation.
30th Taken in hand for refit and repair
at Bombay.
1 9 4 3
January
Under refit.
to
February
March
On completion of post refit trials resumed Squadron trade defence
duties.
April
Deployed in Indian Ocean for convoy defence duty.
5th Joined military
convoy MS27 in Indian Ocean during its passage from Durban.
Relieved HM
Cruiser FROBISHER as Ocean Escort with HMS CARTHAGE.
9th Detached from WS27
on arrival at Aden.
10th Deployed for defence of Persian Gulf
convoys.
28th At Bahrein
during Persian Gulf convoy defence.
May
Deployed In Persian Gulf for convoy defence and support of military
operations.
June
Resumed Indian Ocean convoy defence based at Kilindini.
to
September
October
Withdrawn from operational service.
23rd Took passage from Seychelles to
UK.
November Arrived at Portsmouth after call
at Plymouth.
December
Reduced to Care and Maintenance.
1 9 4 4
January
Under care and maintenance at Portsmouth.
Nominated for
support of Normandy landings after refit
(Note: Ship to
be sunk as part of 'GOOSEBERRY' No 5 off Ouistreham.
February
Under refit at Portsmouth.
to April (Note Main armament
retained and 24 20mm Oerlikon guns fitted.
May
On completion prepared for use as part of breakwater off Normandy.
Passage to Oban to join Blockships..
27th At Oban
June
2nd Took passage to
Channel under own power with Blockships.
4th Operation
postponed for 24 hours.
Diverted to
Poole.
6th Passage to Ouistreham
9th Sunk as part of
No. 5 GOOSEBERRY breakwater in British Assault Area.
(Note:
Deployed as Senior Officer for CORNCOB to establishment of Blockships
providing shelter
for small craft during the assault (Operation NEPTUNE)
For
full details of naval activities prior to and during the landings see LANDINGS
IN
NORMANDY June
1944 and OPERATION NEPTUNE by Kenneth Edwards).
July
In use as SNO CORNCOB.
August
3rd Hulk hit by German
torpedo during series of attacks off Beachhead.
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of
HMS DURBAN
by Don Kindell
Date convoy Joined
convoy
Convoy
No. Left convoy Date convoy
sailed as escort arrived
02/09/39 13/09/39 AB 001/1 unknown 10/09/39
24/03/40 26/03/40 OA 116 unknown 28/03/40
17/03/41 22/03/41 BM 005 25/03/41 25/03/41
24/03/41 24/03/41 BM 004/2 26/03/41 26/03/41
21/12/41 30/12/41 BM 009A 03/01/42 03/01/42
02/01/42 09/01/42 DM 001 13/01/42 13/01/42
19/01/42 26/01/42 BM 011 28/01/42 29/01/42
15/02/42 15/02/42 SJ 002 22/02/42 22/02/42
31/05/43 31/05/43 PB 043 05/06/43 05/06/43
24/08/43 28/08/43 KR 006 03/09/43 03/09/43
14/09/43 20/09/43 CM 045 22/09/43 27/09/43
21/05/44 21/05/44 WP SP 31 23/05/44 23/05/44
(Note on Convoys)
