Cunard
Line mercantile requisitioned in August
1939 for service as an Armed Merchant
Cruiser.
This ship was later
purchased
outright,
converted for use as a Repair Ship and
renamed HMS ARTIFEX. She remained in
service after 1945
for training duties and was placed in
Reserve in 1955. She was
sold for breaking-up in Italy in
1960.
B
a t t l
e H o n o u r s
None
are recorded in the standard reference
sources.
(Note:
It is possible that
'OKINAWA
1945' was
awarded
after WW2 but this has not been
confirmed.)
H e r
a l d i c
D a t a
(As
HMS ARTIFEX)
Badge:
On a Field
Gold, in front of three sledge hammers
an
Anvil Black.
S
u m m a r y
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
August
Hired for service as an
Armed Merchant
Cruiser
September
Under
conversion.
6in guns fitted.
(For details of the
service of this type of warships see ARMED
MERCHANT CRUISERS by
K Poolman.)
October
1st
Commissioned as HMS AURANIA.
November
On completion of conversion and work-up
deployed for trade defence in
Atlantic
to
December
1 9 4
0 t o
1 9 4 1
Atlantic
Trade Defence deployment in continuation.
1 9 4
2
January
Atlantic
trade defence in continuation.
to
Selected for conversion
for use as Heavy Repair Ship.
October
November
Purchased outright.
December
Paid off and taken in hand for
conversion.
(Note: One
source
states the conversion was undertaken by an
Admiralty Team based at
Trincomalee,
Ceylon and therefore may have been
carried out in Ceylon.
See ONE HUNDRED
YEARS OF NAVAL CONSTRUCTION by D K Brown.).
1
9 4 3
Under conversion
1 9 4 4
January Under
conversion.
to
July
August Commissioned
as HMS ARTIFEX on
completion of conversion
September Post
refit
trials and preparations for service in
Pacific.
to
December
1
9 4 5
January Passage
to join British
Pacific Fleet
to
February
March Joined
British Fleet Train ,
(Task Force 112), and deployed at British
Forward
Base in Manus,
Admiralty Islands
Manus for support of ships of
Task Force 57 British Pacific
Fleet.
19th Passage to Leyte for support
of
operations by Task Force 57 ships
against airfield
targets in
Sakishima-Gunto
Islands. (Operation ICEBERG TWO).
(Note: Slips of
Task Group 112 sent to the US Base at Leyte
included HM HQ Ship LOTHIAN.
Flagship
of TG112, HM Depot Ship TYNE, Fleet Oilers
and Supply Ships for water,
armament and
naval stores.)
April
Support
duties at Leyte in continuation.
See THE
FORGOTTEN FLEET by John Winton, TASK FORCE
57 by Peter C Smith,
WAR
WITH JAPAN
(HMSO) and OPERATION PACIFIC by E Grey for details
of
ICEBERG
TWO operations
by RN ships.)
May
20th Took passage Manus for
support of the
planned operations by Task Force 57 ships in
Japanese
waters.
June Deployed
at Manus for
Fleet Support. (See above references)
to
July
August Remained
at Manus until RN
ships returned to Australia after their
withdrawal from operations
with Task
Force 36.
(Note: See above
references for details of this withdrawal
due to the lack of fuel from British
sources.)
September On
release from British Pacific
Fleet returned to UK.
1 9 4 6
After
arrival
in UK remained in commission and selected
for training duties
Passage
to Rosyth for training of Artificer
Apprentices of HMS
CALEDONIA.
1
9 4 7
t o 1 9 5 4
Deployed
at Rosyth for Artificer Apprentice
training.
1
9 5 5
Paid
off
into Reserve Fleet and destored.
Remained
at Rosyth as Tender to HMS CALEDONIA.
F
i n a
l P h a s e
HMS
ARTIFEX
was laid up at Rosyth within HM Dockyard and
placed on the Disposal
List. She was to
BISCO
for
demolition by
an Italian shipbreaker
on 28th December 1960 and
towed from Rosyth to Spezia on 7th January
1961.
Addenda
CONVOY
ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS AURANIA
by
Don Kindell
These
convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
Date
convoy
sailed
|
Joined convoy as escort
|
Convoy
No.
|
Left convoy
|
Date
convoy
arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
27/05/40
|
27/05/40
|
BHX
046
|
02/06/40
|
02/06/40
|
28/05/40
|
02/06/40
|
HX
046
|
09/06/40
|
12/06/40
|
21/06/40
|
21/06/40
|
HX
052
|
02/07/40
|
06/07/40
|
18/07/40
|
18/07/40
|
BHX
059
|
23/07/40
|
23/07/40
|
31/07/40
|
31/07/40
|
HX
062
|
11/08/40
|
15/08/40
|
24/08/40
|
24/08/40
|
HX
068
|
04/09/40
|
08/09/40
|
21/09/40
|
21/09/40
|
HX
075
|
03/10/40
|
07/10/40
|
14/10/40
|
14/10/40
|
BHX
081
|
19/10/40
|
19/10/40
|
03/12/40
|
13/12/40
|
HX
093
|
11/12/40
|
18/12/40
|
12/01/41
|
12/01/41
|
SC
019
|
26/01/41
|
02/02/41
|
07/02/41
|
07/02/41
|
BHX
108
|
12/02/41
|
12/02/41
|
23/02/41
|
23/02/41
|
HX
111
|
07/03/41
|
12/03/41
|
06/04/41
|
06/04/41
|
HX
119A
|
15/04/41
|
22/04/41
|
10/05/41
|
10/05/41
|
HX
126
|
21/05/41
|
28/05/41
|
11/06/41
|
17/06/41
|
OB
334
|
20/06/41
|
25/06/41
|
11/07/41
|
11/07/41
|
HX
138
|
14/07/41
|
27/07/41
|
12/07/41
|
13/07/41
|
SC
037
|
14/07/41
|
28/07/41
|
(Note
on Convoys)
LAST YEARS OF HMS ARTIFEX
by
Jeff Hannan (2 Aug 2010)
I
have a copy of my late father's Christmas
Menu of 1945 that shows ARTIFEX spent
Christmas 1945 at Hong Kong. She had been
sent there with emergency
medical supplies and to repair the
hospital. Her crew also repaired other
local services like parts of the tramway
system and generators. On return to the
UK, ARTIFEX was initially placed in
reserve at Gareloch (1946-1947/8), by
1948 she was being used as a training
vessel attached to HMS Caledonia, the RN
training establishment for shipwright
artificer apprentices at Rosyth, where she
remained until 1955. She was then
placed in reserve and finally laid up,
placed on the disposal list and sold for
scrapping. She was dismantled at La
Spezia, Italy in 1961.