B a t t l e H
o n o u r s
NORWAY 1940 - ARCTIC 1941-42
H e r a l d i c
D a t a
Badge: On a
Field per fess wavy White and Blue,
an
elephant proper.
M o t t o:
Hamba Gahle: “ Go in Peace.”
Manning Division: Devonport
D e t a i l s
o f S e r v i c e
(for more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and type name in Site Search)
1 9 3 9
January Contractors trials and
commissioning.
25th
Build completion and commenced Acceptance Trials
February On completion of Acceptance
Trials took passage for work-up at Portland.
Work-up exercises
and shakedown in Channel area.
March Joined Flotilla to take part in Home
Fleet exercise and visits programme.
Other ships in
Flotilla were:
HM
Destroyers SOMALI (Leader)., ASHANTI, MASHONA, BEDOUIN,
PUNJABI, ESKIMO and
TARTAR
April Resumed Flotilla duties
after Leave period.
May
3rd Visited Cherbourg with sister
destroyers HMS ESKIMO and HMS ASHANTI of Flotilla.
12th Escorted rms EMPRESS
OF AUSTRALIA during passage in English Channel with HM King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth
embarked for Royal visit to Canada. To be confirmed.
June Diverted from programme to
assist in rescue operations for HM Submarine THETIS which had sunk
during builder's
trials in Liverpool Bay.
On release from
THETIS diversion resumed Home Fleet programme with Flotilla.
July Deployed with Flotilla in Home waters.
August Took up Home Fleet war
station and deployed for interception and anti-submarine patrol in Home
waters.
D e t a i l s o
f W a r S e r v i c e
September Deployed for Home Fleet screening
and patrol duties.
Part of screen
for Anglo French warships in NW Approaches.
(Note: Later
duties included interception of German shipping attempting to return to German
ports and
commerce raiders on passage to attack British shipping in Atlantic as
well as patrol for the
interception of U-Boats
operating in Home waters.)
25th Deployed with HM Destroyers SOMALI
and MASHONA in Home Fleet search for HM Submarine
SPEARFISH which
had been badly damaged during patrol in Heligoland Bight,.
26th Escorted submarine back to UK with
covered by Home Fleet major warships.
October Flotilla deployment in North
Sea for patrol to intercept German ships on passage for attacks on coastal
to December shipping, to Atlantic Ocean for
attacks on convoys or for submarine minelayers.
Carried out
screening duties for major Home Fleet warships as required.
(Note: Sinking
of HM Battleship ROYAL OAK resulted in major Fleet units being moved from Scapa
Flow
to west coast of Scotland pending improvement of protection against submarine
attack on
Scapa Flow anchorage.)
1 9 4 0
January Passage to Plymouth
7th Arrived at Devonport for repair by
HM Dockyard.
February Under repair
(Note: Work
included replacement of turbine blades, damaged due to excess stress during
high
speed steaming in inclement weather, and installation of degaussing
equipment for
protection against magnetic mines. See THE TORPEDOMEN by A Poland.)
March
9th On completion of refit resumed
Flotilla duties with Home Fleet
(Note: During
this period Flotilla was used for defence of North Sea convoys to and from
Norway
and
for screening of major units during interception operations.)
April
. 6th Deployed with H M destroyers
SOMALI, MASHONA and TARTAR of Flotilla
during escort of
in-bound convoy to
Forth from Norway.
(Note: One
record states the ship also included the Norwegian torpedo boat DRAUG but this
is not
included in Naval Staff History.).
7th Passage to join HM Destroyers
AFRIDI, GURKHA, SIKH, MOHAWK, ZULU, COSSACK,
KASHMIR and
KELLY in screen for HM Cruisers GALATEA and ARETHUSA deployed in search
for German warships on passage in
North Sea.
(MATABELE, with MASHONA, SOMALI,
TARTAR
may instead of have joined Adm Forbe's main force on this date)
For details see
NAVAL OPERATIONS OF THE CAMPAIGN IN NORWAY , April –June 1940
(HMSO).
9th Joined Home Fleet ships with HMS
GALATEA and HMS ARETHUSA and destroyer screen.
Detached with HM
Destroyers AFRIDI, GURKHA, SIKH, MOHAWK, SOMALI and MASHONA
as screen for HM
Cruisers MANCHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON, GLASGOW and SHEFFIELD to carry
out an attack on
German warships reported at Bergen.
When operation
cancelled by Admiralty took passage to rejoin Home Fleet ships.
After rejoining
Fleet came under heavy and sustained air attacks during which sister destroyer
HMS
GURKHA was sunk.
11th Sailed from Scapa
Flow with HM Destroyers SOMALI, AFRIDI, SIKH, MATABELE and MOHAWK
to carry out
sweep inshore northward of Alesund to intercept enemy warship movements prior
to
planned allied landings in Norway.
12th Carried out search with same
destroyers.
13th Under air attacks at Alesund
without damage.
14th
Deployed in support of landings by RM from cruisers at Namsos (Operation
HENRY)
On completion
took passage to meet troopship convoy
15th Arrived with troopships.
16th Under heavy air attacks at
Lillesjona
17th Deployed with AFRIDI, NUBIAN, SIKH
and MATABELE to ferry troops ashore from transports after
refuelling.
Under air attacks.
Took passage to
Bodo with HM Destroyer ECHO, HM Cruisers EFFINGHAM and COVENTRY to
land troops and
equipment embarked in HMS EFFINGHAM
18th During passage ran aground on Foksen
shoal but managed to re-float with damage to structure.
(Note: HMS EFFINGHAM
also ran aground and was seriously damaged.
Had
to be sunk by gunfire three days later. See reference.)
After assisting
in rescue of troops with other ships and craft from shore took passage to
return to
Harstad
May Deployed for support
of operations in Norway
4th Escorted HM Landing
Ship ROYAL ULSTERMAN to Bodo for landing of Commando unit.
On release from
operations returned to Scapa Flow
(Note: For
full details of the disastrous operations off Norway see above reference,
NARVIK by D Macintyre,
THE DOOMED EXPEDITION by J Adams and
CARRIER GLORIOUS by J Winton.)
Repair and
refit arranged at Falmouth and withdrawn from operational use
Pennant Number
for visual signalling purposes changed to G59.
27th Taken in hand for refit and repair by
Silley Cox shipyard at Falmouth.
June Under refit
to
July (Note: Work included
replacement of twin 4.7in mounting in X position aft with a twin 4in
HA
mounting to improve defence against air attacks.
August Post refit trials
19th On completion of sea trials and
shakedown took passage to Scapa Flow to resume Flotilla
duties in Home
Fleet.
September Home Fleet deployment in
continuation.
(Note: Ships of Home Fleet were
extensively deployed for ant-invasion patrols in North Sea
as
well as search and interception and anti-submarine patrol in Home waters.
October Deployed for Home Fleet
duties including offensive operations against coastal shipping off
Norway.
22nd Carried out attack on convoy with HMS
SOMALI of Flotilla and sank coaster off Andalsnes.
November Deployed at Scapa
Flow for Home Fleet duties with Flotilla
to
December Part of screen for
major Home Fleet ships during search for German armoured cruiser
ADMIRAL SCHEER
reported on passage to attack Atlantic convoys
1 9 4 1
January
3rd Deployed with HM Destroyers MASHONA,
TARTAR and BEDOUIN as screen for HM
Destroyers
INTREPID and ICARUS during minelay in Norwegian coastal waters.
(Operation DZ –
See Naval Staff History (Mining) for details.)
(Note: Despite
a series of unfortunate incidents lay was successful.)
5th Resumed Flotilla duties on return to
Scapa Flow.
16th Part of escort for HM Battleship KING
GEORGE V during passage to USA in NW Approaches
with Lord
Halifax and senior defence personnel.
Returned to Scapa Flow on release from escort..
February
2nd Deployed with HM Destroyer TARTAR of
Flotilla, HM Cruisers ARETHUSA and
AURORA as
escort for HM Destroyers INTREPID and IMPULSIVE during minelay off
Trondheim in the entrance to Fro Havet (Operation EA).
3rd Returned to Scapa
Flow when operation cancelled due to deterioration of weather conditions.
March Deployed with Flotilla
in Western Approaches.
24th Joined military convoy WS7 in Clyde
with HM Destroyers BEDOUIN, MASHONA and
SOMALI as Local
Escort during passage in NW Approaches.
(Note: HM
Destroyers LEGION, BROADWATER and Polish Destroyer
ORP PIORUN were also deployed as part of Local Escort and HM Cruiser
CAIRO joined on 25th to provide additional AA defence. HM Cruiser
EDINBURGH , HM Battleships REVENGE and NELSON provided cover
against surface attack.)
28th Detached from WS7 with BEDOUIN,
MATABELE and SOMALI for return
passage to
Clyde.
April Nominated for refit
at Barrow-in Furness.
11th Taken in hand for refit and
modifications by Vickers-Armstrong shipyard.
May Under refit.
(Note: Work
carried out included removal of mainmast and top of after funnel to
improve arcs of fire for close range weapons. Type 286M radar was also
fitted.
This was a modified RAF air-surface equipment but had serious
shortcomings
when used on board a ship. For details of development and use of radar
by the
Royal Navy see RADAR AT SEA by D Howse.)
27th On completion commenced post refit
trials and prepared for operational use.
June
5th During departure from Barrow to
rejoin Flotilla for service in Home Fleet, ship
grounded and
sustained major damage to underwater fittings including shaft
brackets and
propellers.
10th Under repair at Barrow,
August Under repair
15th Carried out post refit trials before
taking passage to rejoin Flotilla.
After arrival
at Scapa Flow nominated for special operation.
30th Deployed with HM Aircraft Carrier
ARGUS, HM Cruiser SHROPSHIRE,
HM Destroyers PUNJABI and SOMALI for
transport of HURRICANE aircraft,
RAF equipment
and personnel to North Russia for support of Soviet military
operations
after Russia entered WW2 (Operation STRENGTH).
30th (Note: Cover was provided by HM
aircraft Carrier VICTORIOUS, HM Cruisers
DEVONSHIRE
and SUFFOLK screened by HM Destroyers
ECLIPSE,
ESCAPADE and INGLEFIELD).
September
7th Aircraft despatched and ships took
passage to Murmansk.
15th On return to Scapa Flow resumed
Flotilla duties.
October Flotilla deployment for
Home Fleet screening and patrol including offensive
to December operations off Norway and
interception patrol for ships on passage in North Sea
and NW
Approaches. See Naval Staff History.
(Note: No
record of duty for escort of Russian convoys traced.)
1 9 4 2
January Nominated for escort of
Russian convoy.
Took passage
with HMS SOMALI as screen for HM Cruiser TRINIDAD to
join Russian
Convoy PQ8 on passage from Iceland to Murmansk.
11th Joined HM Minesweepers HARRIER and
SPEEDWELL in escort for PQ8.
16th PQ8 under threat of submarine attack.
17th Hit by torpedo from
U454 and sank almost immediately after explosion in position
69.21N 35.24E with loss of 238 of ship’s company, of
whom only two survived
and were rescued
by HMS HARRIER. Many who were able to leave the stricken ship
succumbed in the
ice-cold water before rescue was possible.
(Note: For
details of all Russian convoy operations see CONVOYS TO RUSSIA
by RA Ruegg, THE RUSSIAN CONVOYS by B Schoefield, CONVOY !
by P Kemp and ARCTIC CONVOYS by R Woodman
Casualty List TIMES 9 March 1942.)
Addendum
CONVOY ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
MATABELE
by Don Kindell
These convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
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Date convoy sailed
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Joined convoy as escort
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Convoy No.
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Left convoy
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Date convoy arrived
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26/11/39
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27/11/39
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ON 003/1
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30/11/39
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30/11/39
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30/11/39
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30/11/39
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HN 003
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04/12/39
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04/12/39
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05/12/39
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05/12/39
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ON 004/1
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08/12/39
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08/12/39
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08/12/39
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08/12/39
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HN 004
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11/12/39
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12/12/39
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10/12/39
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unknown
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TC 001
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17/12/39
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17/12/39
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22/12/39
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28/12/39
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TC 002
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30/12/39
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30/12/39
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31/03/40
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02/04/40
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ON 024/1
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04/04/40
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04/04/40
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04/04/40
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04/04/40
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HN 024
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07/04/40
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07/04/40
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16/04/40
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23/04/40
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FS 001
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27/04/40
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27/04/40
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08/01/42
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11/01/42
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PQ 008
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17/01/42
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17/01/42
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(Note on Convoys)
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