1 9 3 9
August
9th Attended Review
of Fleet in
Weymouth Bay.
10th Remained in commission and took passage
to Scapa
Flow
to work up with ships of the
Home
Fleet for operational service
13th Joined 12th Cruiser Squadron for patrol
and interception duties in NW Approaches.
September
3rd Deployed with HM Cruisers EMERALD,
ENTERPRISE,
DELHI,
DUNEDIN and
CARDIFF.
6th Deployed as Flagship for ships of the
5th and 12th Cruiser Squadrons deployed for Northern
Patrol
to intercept German mercantiles attempting to return
to home ports and commerce
raiders on passage to attack Atlantic shipping.
October
2nd Transferred with HM Cruisers EMERALD
and ENTERPRISE for interception of raiders and
for convoy defence in
Atlantic.
Took passage to Plymouth before
departure.
9th Relieved HM Cruiser BERWICK as escort
for Convoy KJ3 from West Indies to
UK.
26th Arrived at Devonport for boiler clean
after detaching from KJ3
November
7th Embarked gold bullion at Devonport for
transfer to
Canada as payment for materials
obtained
from
USA.
17th On arrival at
Halifax deployed as Senior Officer West
Indies Patrol.
24th Took passage from
Halifax to
Bermuda with HM Cruiser
PERTH (RAN) for interception duties
in West Indies.
December
1st Deployed on interception
patrol with HMAS PERTH.
3rd Took passage from
Kingston, Jamaica for Halifax.
6th Arrived at
Halifax
7th Passage to Bermuda.
9th Under repair in Bermuda after condenseritis during patrol.
24th Passage to Halifax.
29th Sailed from Halifax as escort for
convoy to
UK.
1 9 4 0
January
10th Arrived at Portsmouth after arrival
of convoy in Home waters.
11th Taken in hand for
repair by HM Dockyard,
Portsmouth.
February Under repair.
to
March
April Carried
out Post Repair trials.
8th German invasion
of
Norway.
Nominated for service with Home Fleet on completion of trials
(Operation RUPERT/R4).
12th Took passage to Scapa Flow for support
of military operations in Norway.
16th Joined HM Cruisers
YORK and
CALCUTTA screened by HM Destroyer
ASHANTI off Alesund
to search tor German destroyers
reported on passage to
Trondheim.
19th Under attack by
U38 off Harstad which failed due to torpedo defect.
Deployed
on patrol off Harstad with HM Cruiser AURORA, HM Destroyers FAULKNOR,
ESCAPADE
end JUPITER.
20th Deployed as AA Guardship at Harstad, wearing Flag of FO Norway.
21st Relieved by HMS ENTERPRISE
24th Bombarded enemy positions at Narvik with
HM Battleship WARSPITE, HM Cruisers AURORA,
ENTERPRISE and HM
Destroyer ZULU.
Screen
provided by m Destroyers FAULKNOR, ENCOUNTER, ESCORT, HERO, HAVOCK,
HOSTILE, FOXHOUND. Polish destroyers BLYSKAWICA and GROM.
Landing
of troops from VINDICTIVE not carried out because weather conditions made any
assessment of results impossible.
May
1st Bombarded enemy positions at Akenes with HM Battleship RESOLUTION and HM Cruiser
AURORA.
FO
Norway embarked to witness the bombardment.
Carried out reconnaissance of Ofotfjord.
3rd Further bombardment with HM Cruiser
AURORA in support of planned landings
7th Covered landings at Herjangsfjord north of Narvik by French troops with HMS
AURORA
and five destroyers .
12th Embarked FO Norway at Harstad and sailed
for Ballangen.
Collected French Foreign Legion troops at Ballangen
for landing at Herjangs Fjord.
(Note: HMS AURORA also embarked French soldiers.)
13th Passage to Bjervik with
HM Battleship RESOLUTION, HM Cruiser VINDICTIVE and screened
by HM Destroyers HAVELOCK, SOMALI, FAME. BASILISK and WREN.
14th Provided naval gunfire support with HMS
AURORA during landings at Bjerkvik, north
of Narvik.
Returned to Harstad on completion.
16th Embarked South Wales Borderers for
passage to Bodo.,
Took
passage with HM Cruisers COVENTRY and
CAIRO screened by HM Destroyers
MATABELE and
ECHO.
18th Ran aground at 23
knots on Faksen Shoal in Vestfjord,
near Bliksvoer, when taking short cut.
Position 67.17N 13-58E.
Troops
transferred to HMS COVENTRY by HMS
ECHO but equipment including
bren gun
carriers
were lost.
Troops
returned to Bodo with HMS COVENTRY.
(For
details see THE DOOMED EXPEDITION by Jack Adams and Naval Staff History – 2001)
Sunk by HMS MATABELE by gunfire and torpedo.
Crew
used to provide guard for local craft manned by Norwegians.
