_____
Steamer
ETHEL RADCLIFFE (5673grt) had been
damaged by a German S boat on 17 April. She was sunk by
German bombing at Great Yarmouth on the 16 May.
_____
Steamer
JOFFRE ROSE (715grt) was damaged by German bombing off
St David's Head, beached in Dale Bay
on the 16th, and damaged again on the 18th in Dale Bay.
She was refloated and drydocked.
_____
Steamer
OBSIDIAN (811grt) was damaged by
German bombing in 52-06N, 5-25W.
_____
Minelayer LATONA, which
had completed construction
on the 4th, departed Portsmouth for Alexandria, via the
Cape. She arrived at Gibraltar
on the 20th and Alexandria on 21 June.
_____
Light cruisers GLOUCESTER
and FIJI, after landing the troops at Heraklion, were
able
to sail at 0545/16th. They met destroyers HAVOCK and
HOTSPUR and then joined
Force A and Force D. Destroyer ILEX joined these forces
on the 16th. During the day, the ten destroyers of
Forces A, B,
and D refuelled from the two battleships of Force A.
_____
Anti-aircraft cruiser DIDO
and destroyer JUNO departed Alexandria during the
morning of 16 May to join Force C.
_____
During the night of 16/17
May, the British cruiser
forces swept off the north coast of Crete. No contact
was made.
_____
Heavy cruiser YORK was
damaged by a near miss of German bombing at Suda Bay.
_____
Troopship
GLENGYLE departed Alexandria for Port Said, escorted by
destroyer DECOY to embark new landing
craft. She departed Port Said on the 17th, escorted by
destroyers VOYAGER and
WATERHEN and sloop AUCKLAND. Anti-aircraft cruiser
COVENTRY from Force C was detached to join this group at
daylight on the 18th. During the night of 18th/19th,
GLENGYLE landed 700 Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders at
Tymbaki, then withdrew to Alexandria with COVENTRY,
VOYAGER, WATERHEN and AUCKLAND, arriving on the
20th.
_____
Australian destroyer
VAMPIRE carried troops to
Tobruk during the night of 16/17 May.
_____
Submarine UNBEATEN
unsuccessfully attacked escorted
two transports near Tripoli.
_____
Lt A. H. M. Ash and Lt H.
J. C. Richardson of 805
Squadron, attached to the RAF 33 Squadron at Maleme,
were killed
when their Hurricanes were shot down on the 16th.
_____
In air raids on Malta,
destroyer ENCOUNTER was damaged again in the
dockyard. She had already been damaged during raids
on 29 and 30 April.
_____
Corvette GLOXINIA,
minesweeping at Malta, was damaged by the explosion of a
mine close
aboard. She remained in service.
_____
Minesweeper WIDNES was damaged by the near miss of German bombing and machine gunning in
the eastern Mediterranean.
_____
Steamer
LOGICIAN (5993grt) was badly
damaged by German bombing at Suda Bay.
She was bombed again on the 25th and sank
two miles and two cables, bearing 303° from Kalani Prism
Five crew were
killed and one was missing. Twenty five Australian
troops were killed.
_____
Greek steamer KYTHERA
(1070grt) was sunk by German
bombing at Suda Bay.
_____
Greek steamer NICOLAOU
OURANIA (6397grt) was badly
damaged by German bombing at Suda Bay, beached, later refloated
and towed to Piraeus. She was used under the name of
NIKOLAUS
for German use.
_____
Aircraft carrier ARK
ROYAL, battlecruiser RENOWN,
light cruiser SEHFFIELD, and destroyers WRESTLER,
FEARLESS, FORESTER, and
FURY sailed from Gibraltar for exercises, returning on
the 17th.
_____
Destroyers HAVELOCK,
HESPERUS, and HARVESTER departed Gibraltar to join
aircraft carrier FURIOUS, heavy cruiser LONDON, dummy
battleship ANSON (old battleship CENTURION
with wooden guns), and destroyer BRILLIANT arriving from
the Clyde and escorted them to Gibraltar,
arriving on the 18th. On the 19th, "ANSON" departed
Gibraltar for Freetown, escorted by destroyer WRESTLER
and corvettes
JONQUIL and GERANIUM as local escort.
_____
Convoy HX.127 departed
Halifax, escorted by battleship RAMILLIES, destroyer ST
CROIX, and corvettes AGASSIZ and WETASKIWIN. The
corvettes detached on
the 18th.
Convoy BHX.127 departed
Bermuda on the 13th escorted by armed merchant cruiser CHITRAL as ocean
escort. The convoy rendezvoused with HX.127 on the 20th
and CHITRAL detached.
Destroyer LINCOLN and
corvettes SUNFLOWER joined on
the 23rd and detached on the 27th. Destroyer SALISBURY
joined on the 27th. On the 28th, destroyers OTTAWA and
RESTIGOUCHE, sloop STORK, corvette BEGONIA,
anti-submarine trawler ST KENAN, and anti-submarine
yacht PHILANTE joined the
escort. Destroyer SKATE and corvette LARKSPUR joined on
the 29th. Destroyer OTTAWA and the yacht were detached
on the 29th.
Destroyers FARNDALE and HAMBLEDON were with the convoy
on the 30th. Sloop SUTLEJ was with the convoy in Home Waters. On 1 June RESTIGOUCHE, SKATE and
STORK detached. The convoy arrived at Liverpool
on 2 June.
_____
Ocean boarding vessel
MARON arrived at Gibraltar from Western Patrol.
Saturday,
17 May
Battleship RODNEY departed
Scapa Flow escorted by destroyers SOMALI, BEDOUIN, and
ESKIMO
for the Clyde, arriving on the 18th.
_____
Convoy OB.323 departed
Liverpool by corvette SUNFLOWER. On the 18th, destroyer
VETERAN, catapult ship SPRINGBANK, and corvette HEATHER
joined the escort.
Destroyer VENOMOUS, KEPPEL, LINCOLN, and SABRE,
corvettes DIANELLA, KINGCUP,
and PETUNIA, and anti-submarine trawlers LADY ELSA, MAN
O.WAR, and WELLARD on the 19th. Destroyers
VENOMOUS and VETERAN and corvettes DIANELLA, KINGCUP,
and SUNFLOWER were
detached on the 22nd. On the 22nd, destroyers MANSFIELD
and WOLVERINE and corvettes BEGONIA, and LARKSPUR
joined. On the 23rd, destroyer KEPPEL and SABRE,
corvettes HEATHER, PETUNIA,
and SUNFLOWER, and trawlers LADY ELSA, MAN O.WAR, and
WELLARD were detached. The remainder of
the escort was detached on the 25th when the convoy was
dispersed.
_____
Destroyer BLANKNEY arrived
at Scapa Flow at 1930 after assisting sunken ship
ARCHANGEL.
_____
Destroyer LANCE arrived at
Scapa Flow for working up exercises.
_____
Ocean boarding vessel
REGISTAN intercepted Vichy
French auxiliary schooner IZARRA (488grt) and sent her
to St John's, Newfoundland, under armed guard.
The schooner arrived on
the 27th.
_____
Lt H. G. Hunt, flying a
Battle of RAF No.1 Flying
Training School at Netheravon, was killed when his
aircraft crashed at Pepperbox Hill Bombing
Range.
_____
P/T/A/Sub Lt (A) J. N. W.
Parish RNVR, was killed
when his Hurricane of 759 Squadron crashed in the River
Parrett.
_____
U.107 sank Dutch tanker
MARISA (8029grt) in 6-10N,
18-09W. Three crew were lost on the tanker.
_____
British steamer STATESMAN
(7939grt) was sunk by
German bombing in 56-44N, 13-45W. One crewman was lost
on the steamer.
_____
British steamer ARTHUR
WRIGHT (1091grt) was damaged
by German bombing five miles south of Shoreham.
_____
Norwegian steamer ALA
(933grt) was damaged by German bombing five miles
south of Shoreham.
One crewman was killed on
the steamer.
The steamer was beached
about one and a half cables
west of entrance pier, Shoreham. The steamer was
refloated on the 19th and
eventually towed to Southampton for repairs.
_____
Hospital ship ABA
(7938grt), on passage to Haifa, was attacked fifty miles
south of Crete south of Kaso Strait by German bombers.
Force C cruisers DIDO and
COVENTRY came to the hospital ship's assistance.
Anti-aircraft cruiser
COVENTRY suffered some casualties to strafing.
_____
British Forces C and D
were recalled to Alexandria.
Force C with light
cruisers NAIAD and PERTH and destroyers GREYHOUND and
HASTY arrived at Alexandria at 0800/18th.
Force D with light cruiser
DIDO, anti-aircraft
cruiser COVENTRY, and destroyers KANDAHAR, KINGSTON,
JUNO, and
NUBIAN arrived at Alexandria on the 18th.
_____
British tanker ELEONORA
MAERSK (10,694grt) was sunk
by German bombing at Suda Bay.
Twenty crew were missing
and seven were made
prisoners of war. Seventeen crew were rescued.
_____
Greek steamer THEMONI
(5719grt) was sunk by German
bombing at Suda Bay.
_____
Submarine REGENT arrived
at Gibraltar from Malta.
Submarine PANDORA arrived
at Gibraltar from patrol in the Tyrrhennian Sea.
_____
Convoy SL.75 departed
Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser CATHAY to 12 June and corvettes CROCUS, CYCLAMEN, and MARGUERITE to 25 May.
Battleship NELSON joined
the convoy on 1 June to 5
June.
Corvette ARABIS joined on
8 June to 12 June. On 9
June, destroyers ROXBOROUGH, SALISBURY, and SKATE, and
corvettes ANEMONE, CLARKIA, and
VERONICA joined; all to 12 June. On 12 June
anti-submarine trawler VIZALMA
joined to 13 June.
The convoy arrived at
Liverpool on 13 June.
_____
Petty Officer J. F. Bray
was killed when his Vega Gull
crashed at Aboukir. He had been appointed to battleship
WARSPITE.
Sunday,
18 May
German battleship BISMARCK
and heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN departed Gdynia.
From Cape
Arkona on the 19th, the ships were escorted by Sperrbrechers 13 and 31 and
destroyers FRIEDRICH ECKHOLDT and Z 23.
Off the Belt, the German
ships were joined by
destroyer LODY and minesweepers of the 5th Minesweeping
Flotilla.
_____
Heavy cruiser NORFOLK
arrived at Hvalfjord and departed the same day to
reinforce heavy cruiser SUFFOLK
on Denmark Strait patrol.
_____
Light cruiser EDINBURGH
departed Scapa Flow to patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
_____
Light cruisers MANCHESTER
and BIRMINGHAM departed Scapa Flow to
relieve light cruisers NIGERIA and KENYA on Faroes
Iceland patrol.
Light cruisers NIGERIA and
KENYA were relieved by light cruisers MANCHESTER and
BIRMINGHAM.
Light cruisers NIGERIA and
KENYA arrived at Scapa Flow from patrol on the 19th.
Light cruiser NIGERIA
departed
Scapa Flow on the
19th for repairs at Rosyth, arriving on the 20th.
_____
Convoy OB.324 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyer WANDERER and covettes
AURICULA, DIANTHUS, MARIGOLD, NASTURTIUM, and
PERIWINKLE. The escorted was
joined on the 19th by destroyers CAMPBELTOWN and
WESTCOTT, sloops FLEETWOOD
and ROCHESTER, and sloop PRIMROSE. On the 24th,
destroyers
CAMPBELTOWN, WANDERER, and WESTCOTT, sloops FLEETWOOD
and ROCHESTER, and corvettes AURICULA, DIANTHUS,
MARIGOLD,
NASTURTIUM, PERIWINKLE, and PRIMROSE were detached.
Destroyers CHELSEA, VERITY, and VETERAN, and corvette
CONVOLVULUS
joined. The escort was detached on the 27th when the
convoy was dispersed.
_____
Naval drifter JEWEL
(84grt, T/Sub Lt G H.J
Cresswell RNVR) was sunk on a mine one mile 215° from
Pile Light, Belfast
Lough. Cresswell and 13 ratings were lost.
_____
U.107 sank British steamer
PIAKO (8286grt) in
7-52N, 14-57W.
Ten crew were killed on
the steamer. The survivors
were rescued by Sloop BRIDGEWATER.
_____
British steamer BEGERIN
(483grt) was sunk by German
bombing 17 miles 295° from South Bishops.
The entire crew were
rescued.
_____
British steamer ESKBURN
(472grt) was damaged by
German bombing off Blyth.
The steamer arrived in the
Tyne in tow on the 19th.
_____
Free French fishing vessel
LA BRISE (51grt) was
damaged by German bombing ten miles west, northwest of
Seven Stones Light
Vessel.
The vessel arrived at
Newlyn on the 19th.
_____
After being relieved by
German tanker EGERLAND
(9789grt), German tanker NORDMARK returned to Germany.
The tanker was met on the
18th by destroyers ERICH
STEINBRINCK, BRUNO HEINEMANN, and FRIEDRICH IHN in the
Bay of Biscay.
The destroyers were
relieved on the 19th in 49-36N,
00-02W by German minesweepers M3, M.4, and M.20.
The tanker proceeded up
the coast and arrived at Hamburg on the 20th.
_____
Battleships WARSPITE and
VALIANT, light cruiser
AJAX, and destroyers NAPIER, KIMBERLEY, JANUS, ISIS,
HEREWARD, DECOY, HERO,
and GRIFFIN departed Alexandria at 2000 as Force A 1 to
relieve Force A off
Crete.
_____
Air attacks on Suda
Bay
damaged heavy cruiser YORK and corvette SALVIA.
Both ships were damaged by
near misses.
The cruiser was further
damaged on 18, 19, 20, and
22 May.
_____
Naval tanker OLNA
(12,667grt) was badly damaged by
German bombing in Suda Bay and run aground.
_____
Submarine TETRARCH sank
Italian steamer GIOVINEZZA
(2362grt), which departed Tripoli for Benghazi escorted
by torpedo boat
POLLUCE, in 31-55N, 19-54E off Benghazi.
_____
Battleship NELSON and
aircraft carrier EAGLE
departed St Helena to proceed to Freetown.
Destroyers DUNCAN and
HIGHLANDER joined on the 21st
and were detached for refuelling on the 23rd. On the
24th, destroyers BOREAS and
VELOX joined the battleship and aircraft carrier and
later that day
destroyers DUNCAN and HIGHLANDER rejoined after
refuelling.
All ships arrived at
Freetown on the 25th.
Monday,
19 May
Light cruiser ARETHUSA
departed Scapa Flow with the Vice Admiral Commanding
Orkneys and
Shetlands for the Faroes and Iceland.
The light cruiser arrived
and departed the Faroes
on the 20th.
Light cruiser ARETHUSA
arrived at Reykjavik on the 21st.
_____
Destroyers INGLEFIELD,
INTREPID, and ESCAPADE
departed Hvalfjord to provide anti-submarine protection
for convoy HX.125.
Destroyer INTREPID with
engine defects returned to
Hvalfjord at 2200.
After repairs to her
forecastle, destroyer INTREPID
departed Hvalfjord at 2130/20th for Scapa Flow.
_____
Destroyer WALPOLE departed
Scapa Flow at 0815 on completion of working up for
London to carry out machinery repairs.
_____
Sloop STORK arrived at
Scapa Flow at 1900 to carry out working up exercises.
_____
Between 19 May and 22
August, motor torpedo boats
and motor launches laid minefields PW 9 to PW 14 in the
English Channel.
_____
Armed yacht SEA ANGLER
(23grt) was destroyed by fire.
_____
U.96 sank British steamer
EMPIRE RIDGE (2922grt) in
55-18N, 10-49W ninety miles west of Bloody Foreland.
Twenty eight crew and
three gunners were lost on
the steamer. One crewman and one gunner were rescued.
_____
British steamer WINKFIELD
(5279grt) was sunk on a
mine 51-35N, 1-10E one mile southwest of B4 Buoy, Thames
Estuary.
Ten crew were lost on the
steamer.
_____
British paddle minesweeper
CITY OF ROCHESTER (194grt) was sunk on a parachute mine
in Acorn
Yard, Rochester. The minesweeper had been paid off and
was
awaiting scrapping.
There were no casualties.
_____
British steamer DIXCOVE
(3790grt) was damaged on a
mine in 51-36N, 1-11E.
The steamer arrived at
Gravesend on the 20th in tow.
_____
Finnish tanker JOSEFINA
THORDEN (6549grt) was
damaged by German bombing.
The steamer arrived at
Thorshavn in tow on the
22nd. She left on 1 June for Kirkwall in tow. Repaired
in the Tyne.
_____
Battlecruiser RENOWN,
aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL,
light cruiser SHEFFIELD, and destroyers HESPERUS,
HAVELOCK, and HARVESTER
departed Gibraltar to feint westwards prior to
commencing Operation SPLICE.
Aircraft carrier FURIOUS,
heavy cruiser LONDON, and destroyers FAULKNOR, FOXHOUND,
FURY, and
FORESTER departed later to rendezvous with Force H.
On joining, heavy cruiser
LONDON and destroyers HAVELOCK and HARVESTER were
detached to sail westward to
cover the movement of dummy battleship ANSON and
troopship ARUNDEL
CASTLE.
Destroyer BRILLIANT joined
Force H.at 0700/20th.
Heavy cruiser LONDON and
destroyers HARVESTER and HAVELOCK returned to Gibraltar
on the 20th.
Aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL
flew planes off to Malta on the 21st.
After the flyoff, aircraft
carrier FURIOUS and
destroyers BRILLAINT and HESPERUS were detached to
return to Gibraltar for a
quick docking for the aircraft carrier to repair damage
and repack her stern
glands from the bombing on the 5th at Belfast.
Destroyer FORESIGHT
departed Malta and returned to Gibraltar during this
operation.
Force H.arrived back at
Gibraltar on the 22nd.
_____
Naval forces off Crete reorganise and units on station since 16 May were sent to
Alexandria to refuel.
Force A-1 - battleships
WARSPITE, VALIANT, light
cruiser AJAX, and destroyers NAPIER, KIMBERLEY, JANUS,
ISIS, HEREWARD, DECOY, HERO, and GRIFFIN.
Force A - battleships
QUEEN ELIZABETH and BARHAM
retired to Alexandria, detaching destroyers HOTSPUR and
IMPERIAL to the
WARSPITE force. Force A arrived at Alexandria on the
20th
Force B - light cruisers
FIJI and GLOUCESTER to
Alexandria to refuel, then join A-1. Force B departed
Alexandria to return on
the 20th.
Force C - light cruisers
NAIAD, PERTH and
destroyers KANDAHAR, NUBIAN, KINGSTON, JUNO departed
Alexandria from refuelling at 0600/19th.
Force D - light cruisers
DIDO, ORION and destroyers
HASTY and GREYHOUND departed Alexandria at 0200/19th.
They were joined by AJAX, HERO and HEREWARD at sea from
A-1.
_____
A German-Italian convoy
departed Naples on the 16th
with steamers PREUSSEN (8230grt), SPARTA (1724grt), CAPO
ORSO (3149grt),
CASTELVERDE (6666grt), and MOTIA (2473grt), and tanker
PANUCA (6212grt)
escorted by destroyers EURO, FOLGORE, FULMINE, STRALE,
and TURBINE.
Tanker SUPERGA (6154grt)
joined at Palermo.
Distant cover is given by
light cruisers DUCA DEGLI
ABRUZZI and GARIBALBI and destroyers GRANATIERE, ALPINO,
and BERSAGLIERE.
On the 19th at 1130, while
evading submarine
attack, steamer PREUSSEN and tanker PANUCA collided.
Both ships were able to
continue.
On the 20th, submarine
URGE unsuccessfully attacked
steamer CAPO ORSO and tanker SUPERGA in 35-46N, 11-56E.
The convoy arrived at
Tripoli on the 21st.
_____
Submarine UNBEATEN
unsuccessfully attack Italian
steamer SILVIO SCARONI (1367grt) off Tagiura in 32-46N,
14-06E.
The steamer had departed
Tripoli on the 19th, escorted by torpedo boat PLEIADI,
for
Bengasi, where they safely arrived on the 15th.
_____
Convoy SC.32 departed
Halifax, escorted by armed merchant cruiser LACONIA,
submarine TALISMAN, and corvettes COBALt and
COLLINGWOOD. The corvettes were detached the next day.
Corvettes HELIOTROPE,
PETUNIA, and VERBENA joined the convoy on the 29th. The
submarine was
detached on the 30th and arrived back at Halifax on 9
June. The armed merchant cruiser was detached
on the 31st. Corvettes HEPATICA, MAYFLOWER, and TRILLIUM
joined on 1 June. On
1 June, destroyers BEAGLE and BOADICEA and corvette
WINDFLOWER joined. Sloop
EGRET, minesweepers BRAMBLE and GOSSAMER, and
anti-submarine trawlers LADY
MADELEINE and ST LOMAN joined on 3 June. Minesweeper
GOSSAMER was detached on
6 June. The escort was detached when the convoy arrived
at Liverpool on 7 June.
Tuesday,
20 May
Heavy cruiser EXETER
departed
Scapa Flow after
refitting, and arrived in the Clyde on the 21st.
_____
Destroyer
BRIGHTON departed Scapa Flow at
2000 for Loch Alsh after repairs.
_____
Italian submarine OTARIA
badly damaged British
steamer STARCROSS (4662grt) from convoy SL.73 in 51-45N,
20-45W. The entire
crew were rescued by Canadian destroyer ST FRANCIS.
The steamer was scuttled
by the convoy escort.
_____
U-boats attacked convoy
HX.126.
U.94 sank British steamers
HARPAGUS (5173grt) and
NORMAN MONARCH (4718grt) in 56-47N, 40-55W. The entire
crew of forty eight
were picked up by steamer HARPAGUS. However, twenty of
the crew and six
gunners were lost when HARPAGUS herself was sunk.
Twenty five crew, four
gunners, and three
passengers were lost on steamer HARPAGUS. Eighteen crew
were rescued.
U.556 sank British tanker
BRITISH SECURITY
(8470grt) and British steamer DARLINGTON COURT (4974grt)
in 57-28N, 41-07W and damaged British
tanker SAN FELIX (13,037grt) in 57-32N, 40-21W. The
entire
crew on tanker BRITISH SECURITY was lost.
Twenty two crew and three
gunners were lost on the
steamer. Eleven crew and one gunner was rescued from
steamer DARLINGTON COURT.
Tanker SAN FELIX arrived
at St John's, NF, on the 26th. She was drydocked at
Halifax and later sent to New York for permanent
repairs.
U.111 sank British steamer
COCKAPONSET (5995grt) in
57-28N, 41-07W. The entire crew on the steamer were
rescued.
U.98 sank British steamer
ROTHERMERE (5356grt) in
57-48N, 41-36W.
Twenty two crew were lost
on the steamer.
U.94 sank Naval
requisitioned Norwegian tanker JOHN
P. PEDERSEN (6128grt) in 57N, 41W.
Twenty one crew and the
gunner were lost on the
tanker.
U.109 sank British steamer
MARCONI (7402grt) in
58N, 41W.
Eleven were missing from
the steamer and eleven
died. Fifty six crew and gunners were rescued by
American Coast Guard cutter
GENERAL GREENE. Three more survivors were picked up by
light cruiser KENYA on the 31st.
_____
U.103 sank Egyptian
steamer RADAMES (3575grt) in
6N, 12W. One crewman was lost on the steamer.
_____
U.138 sank British steamer
JAVANESE PRINCE
(8593grt) in 59-46N, 10-45W. Two crew were lost on the
steamer.
_____
Submarine TRUANT departed
Gibraltar to refit in the U. S.
The submarine arrived at
Portsmouth, N. H. on 10 June for refitting completed on
16
September.
_____
Status at daylight on the
20th.
Force A-1 - battleships
WARSPITE and VALIANT with
destroyers KIMBERLEY, ISIS, JANUS, GRIFFIN, and IMPERIAL
were west of Crete.
Force B - light cruisers
GLOUCESTER and FIJI were en route to join A-1.
Force C - light cruisers
NAIAD, PERTH and destroyers KANDAHAR, NUBIAN, KINGSTON,
JUNO were in
Kaso
Strait.
Force D - light cruisers
DIDO, ORION, AJAX with destroyers HASTY, HEREWARD, HERO,
and
GREYHOUND were in Antikithera
Strait.
_____
Mediterranean Fleet night
deployment for 20/21 May.
Force B - light cruisers
GLOUCESTER and FIJI swept off Cape Matapan. They were to
join A-1 at dawn
on the 21st.
Force C - light cruisers
NAIAD, PERTH with destroyers NUBIAN, KINGSTON, JUNO, and KANDAHAR passed
through the Kaso Strait to be off Heraklion by dawn on the 21st. In
Kaso Strait, the force engaged five Italian
MAS boats. No damage was
done to either side.
Anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA
departed Alexandria to join the Force at daylight on the
21st off
Heraklion.
Force D - light cruisers
DIDO, AJAX, ORION and destroyers ISIS, KIMBERLEY,
IMPERIAL, and JANUS. They swept through the Antikithera
Strait and were to be off Canea by daylight on the 21st to join Force A 1.
Force E - destroyers
JERVIS, NIZAM, and ILEX
departed Alexandria at 1400/20th. They bombarded
Scarpanto airdrome at
0242 on the 21st, and were joined by anti-aircraft
cruiser CARLISLE at dawn for protection and joined Force C at daylight.
_____
At 0115/21st, Italian
submarine ONICE attacked
destroyer NIZAM of Force E, eight miles south of Kaso
Strait without success.
_____
Force C was attacked by
torpedo carrying aircraft
near Kaso Strait at 2040. The attacks were unsuccessful.
An hour later, six Italian
motor torpedo boats
attacked Force C and were engaged by anti-aircraft
cruiser NAIAD and
destroyers JUNO and KANDAHAR.
The British force claimed
sinking one MAS boat and damaging two, but no damage was
done to
either side.
Italian steamer PADRE
ETERNO (52grt) was sunk north
of Canea by Gunfire.
_____
Greek steamer AGHIOS
GEORGIOS (194grt) was sunk by
shell fire off Crete.
_____
Italian destroyer escort
CURATONE was sunk by Greek
mines in the Gulf of Athens.
_____
Minesweeper WIDNES (Lt Cdr R. B. Chandler) was badly damaged by German bombing at
Suda Bay.
The minesweeper was run
aground a total loss.
_____
Armed trawler KOS XXIII
(353grt, Lt Cdr J. J. Reid
RNVR) was badly damaged by German bombing in Suda
Bay.
The trawler was declared a
total loss on the 23rd.
T/Lt (E) S. N. Gustavsen RNR and T/Lt
(E) R. S. Taylor RNR, were taken as prisoners of war.
_____
British cruiser minelayer
LATONA arrived at Gibraltar with stores and personnel
for the Eastern Mediterranean.
After embarking Oerlikon
guns from aircraft carrier
FURIOUS, the minelayer departed Gibraltar on the
21st for Freetown and beyond.
The minelayer was ordered
to return to Gibraltar on the 23rd, but the message was
not received and
the ship continued to Freetown.
_____
Submarine URGE
unsuccessfully attacked Italian
destroyer ALPINO in 35-42N, 12-24E.
_____
Italian steamer ZEFFIRO
(5165grt) was sunk and
Italian steamer PERSEO (4856grt) damaged 5.8 miles 130°
from Cape Bon on a newly laid Italian minefield.
_____
Convoy HX.128 departed
Halifax, escorted by armed merchant cruiser CALIFORNIA,
corvettes ALBERNI and RIMOUSKI, and escort ships SENNEN,
TOTLAND, and WALNEY. The
corvettes were detached later that day.
Convoy BHX.128 departed
Bermuda on the 18th escorted by ocean escort armed merchant cruiser
MONTCLARE. The convoy rendezvoused with convoy HX.128 on
the 27th and the
armed merchant cruiser was detached.
Battleship REVENGE joined
the convoy on the 28th.
On the 30th, destroyer BURWELL joined the escort.
Corvettes HEPATICA,
HYDERANGEA, TULIP, and WINDFLOWER joined on the 31st. On
1 June, battleship
REVENGE and corvettes HEPATICA and WINDFLOWER were
detached and minesweepers
HEBE, SEAGULL, and SHARPSHOOTER joined. On the 2nd
destroyers MALCOLM and
SCIMITAR and corvette MAYFLOWER joined and corvette
TRILLIUM, which had
joined, was detached. Destroyer RIPLEY joined on 3 June.
Destroyers BURWELL
and MALCOLM and corvette SPIKENARD, which had joined,
were detached. The
convoy arrived at Liverpool on 6 June.
_____
New Zealand light cruiser
ACHILLES escorted British steamer
RANGATIRA (6152grt) from Auckland
to Fiji, and arrived back at Wellington on 2 June.
_____
American aircraft carrier
WASP, heavy cruiser
QUINCY, and destroyers LIVERMORE and KEARNY departed
Bermuda on
neutrality patrol. They arrived back on 3 June.
Wednesday,
21 May
German battleship BISMARCK
and heavy cruiser EUGEN departed Korsfjord, near Bergen,
for a shipping sweep in the North Atlantic.
At 1830, all available
Home Fleet warships came to
two hours' notice for sailing as a result of air
reconnaissance of the German
ships at Korsfjord.
On the 22nd, a Martin
Maryland of 771 Squadron from
Hatston advised the German ships had sailed. The crew of
the Maryland were Lt N. E. Goddard, Cdr G. A. Rotherham,
Leading Airman J. D. Milne, and Leading Airman J. W.
Armstrong.
_____
Convoy OB.325 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyer SALADIN and corvette
GLADIOLUS. The escorted was joined the next day by
destroyer LEAMINGTON, corvette CLARKIA, and
anti-submarine trawler ST
ZENO. The escort was detached when the convoy was
dispersed on the 25th.
_____
Destroyer FARNDALE
departed Scapa Flow at 0800 and met steamers AMSTERDAM
and LADY OF MANN off the entrance to Aberdeen at 1500.
After providing escort for these two
ships, the destroyer arrived back at Scapa Flow at 2130.
_____
Destroyer WALPOLE departed
Scapa Flow to return to the Nore following her working
up
exercises.
_____
Anti-aircraft ship
ALYNBANK departed Scapa Flow at 0530 and escorted convoy
WN.29 to the
southward. During the afternoon, the ship transferred to
convoy EC.22.
The ship remained with
convoy EC.22 until night in
the Pentland Firth. At 0600/22nd, she met convoy WN.30
in Pentland Firth and provided cover for the convoy to
Methil where
they arrived at 0830/23rd.
_____
Lt J. P. Eustace was
killed when his Hurricane of
759 Squadron crashed near Sparkford.
_____
Armed yacht HANYARDS
(16.5grt) was lost.
_____
U.98 reported torpedoing a
steamer near convoy
HX.126 and watching it sink.
No confirmation is
available.
_____
U.93 sank Dutch tanker
ELUSA (6235grt) from convoy
HX.126 in 59N, 38-05W. Three crew were lost on the
steamer. The survivors
were picked up by destroyer BURNHAM.
_____
U.69 sank American steamer
ROBIN MOOR (4999grt) in
6-10N, 25-40W. The entire crew were rescued. Three boats
by a British steamer
thirteen days after the attack and the fourth boat by
Brasilian steamer
OSORIO eighteen days after the attack.
_____
U.69 sank British steamer
TEWKESBURY (4601grt) in 5-49N, 24-09W.
There were no casualties
on the steamer.
_____
Lt P. J. Connolly and Lt
Cdr G. Hare, in a Fulmar
of 801 Squadron from Hal Far, were captured when they
landed on the North
African coast near Cape Bon.
The officers were made
prisoners of war.
_____
Italian torpedo boat LUPO
departed Milos early on the 21st with a convoy for Canea.
Italian torpedo boat
SAGITTARIO departed Piraeus with a convoy for Heraklion.
Italian torpedo boat
SAGITTARIO was accidently
attacked by German bombers, but was not damaged.
At about the same time,
Italian destroyer SELLA was
seriously damaged by German bombers out of a group of
five destroyers which
had just departed Piraeus.
Both convoys for Crete were being sent due to lack of success of the German paratroop
landing.
British air reconnaissance
located these convoys
and Force C was sent to the northwest of Crete to intercept.
_____
Australian destroyers
STUART, VOYAGER, and VENDETTA
departed Alexandria to join A-1.
_____
Destroyer JUNO (Cdr St. J.
R. J. Tyrwhitt) was hit by three bombs
and sank in two minutes in 34-35N, 26-34E.
Lt J. N. Beazley, Lt G. G.
Garrard RNVR, A/Gunner
(T) G. F. Healy, Lt W. A. Starkie, Lt Cdr (E) G. H. Way,
and 123 ratings were lost with the destroyer.
Twenty one men were wounded.
Tyrwhitt and five other
officers and nine one
ratings were picked up by destroyers KANDAHAR, KINGSTON,
and NUBIAN.
Light cruiser AJAX was
damaged by the near miss of an air bomb.
There were no casualties.
The cruiser sustained
some shaft distortion.
Force A-1, B, and D
operated southwest of Kithera
to draw out the Italian for action.
These were battleships
WARSPITE and VALIANT, light
cruisers FIJI, GLOUCESTER, DIDO, AJAX, and ORION and
destroyers ISIS, IMPERIAL, KIMBERLEY, JANUS, NAPIER,
DECOY, GRIFFIN, and HOTSPUR.
_____
Destroyers KELLY, KASHMIR, KIPLING, JACKAL, KELVIN of 5th Destroyer Flotilla departed
Malta at dusk to join the
Mediterranean Fleet operating
off Crete.
Destroyer FORESIGHT left
at the same time to rejoin
Force H.and arrived at Gibraltar on the 23rd.
_____
Anti-aircraft cruisers
CALCUTTA and
CARLISLE joined
Force C on the 21st.
_____
Destroyers JERVIS, ILEX,
and NIZAM arrived at Alexandria to refuel.
British Force E, after
refuelling, departed Alexandria at 0030/21st to return
to the Kaso Strait area.
_____
Australian destroyers
STUART, VOYAGER, and VENDETTA
departed Alexandria to join Force A-1.
_____
Sloop AUCKLAND departed
Alexandria with British oiler CHERRYLEAF (5934grt) to
refuel
destroyers in a position one hundred miles northwest of
Alexandria.
On the 22nd, the escort of
the oiler was taken over
by Greek destroyer AETOS.
_____
At 2330/21st northeast of
Canea, the Italian LUPO
convoy was attacked by Light cruisers DIDO, AJAX, and
ORION and destroyers KIMBERLEY, HASTY, HEREWARD, and
JANUS of Force D
The bow of cruiser AJAX
was bent through ramming a caique.
Light cruiser ORION
sustained some damage to her
bridge from pom pom fire from cruiser DIDO. Two men were
killed and nine were
wounded.
Light cruiser DIDO
expended 70% of her ammunition,
light cruiser ORION 62%, and light cruiser AJAX 58%.
Ten schooners were sunk by
the British ships.
Roumanian steamer CARMEN SYLVA (1601grt) was sunk.
Torpedo boat LUPO was hit
by 18 six inch shells and
survived despite heavy damage.
The action was broken off
at 0400/22nd.
Italian torpedo boat LIRA
rescued some of LUPO
convoy survivors.
Force D joined Force A 1
at 0800 outside of Kithera
Straits. At 1045, due to the ammunition shortages in the
cruisers, Force D
was detached to Alexandria.
Cruisers ORION and AJAX
were detached to join Force
E, but when it was found they could not reach the
rendezvous in time, they
returned to Force D
Force D arrived at
Alexandria at 0700/23rd.
_____
Ocean boarding vessel
MARON departed Gibraltar on Western Patrol.
_____
Italian coastal steamer
GLADIATOR (248grt) was sunk
on a mine at Sebenico.
Thursday,
22 May
Battlecruiser HOOD and
battleship PRINCE OF WALES
with destroyers ACHATES, ANTELOPE, ANTHONY, ECHO,
ELECTRA, and ICARUS departed Scapa Flow at 0100 to cover
cruiser on patrol in the Denmark Strait.
In the Iceland-Faroes
Channel were light cruisers MANCHESTER and BIRMINGHAM
and five trawlers. The two light cruisers
refuelled in the Faroes to refuel on the 22nd. Light
cruiser ARETHUSA, which
arrived at Reykjavik on the 21st, was sent to reinforce
these ships.
Heavy cruiser NORFOLK was
patrolling in the Denmark Strait. Heavy cruiser SUFFOLK,
after refuelling at Hvalfjord on this date,
returned to reinforce this patrol.
_____
Light cruiser HERMIONE
arrived at Scapa Flow.
The cruiser had a defect
involving one of her
turrets. This defect had been discovering during her
working up the month
before. The repairs would require fourteen days once
personnel and facilities
were available to do the work.
_____
Destroyers INGLEFIELD and
ESCAPADE at 0545 and INTREPID
at 1000 arrived at Scapa
Flow after supporting
convoy HX.125.
_____
British troopship
BRITANNIC departed the Clyde at 1315 escorted by battleship RODNEY, en route to the
US for extensive overhaul,
and destroyers SOMALI,
ESKIMO, TARTAR, and MASHONA.
Destroyers BEDOUIN and
IMPULSIVE with minelayer
SOUTHERN PRINCE had departed Loch Alsh on the 21st en
route to the US.
The minelayer carried
equipment for battleship
RODNEY's refitting and specialist naval ratings en route
to Canada.
The two groups joined at
sea for the Atlantic
crossing.
The minelayer arrived at
Bermuda on 2 June.
_____
The Home Fleet departed
Scapa Flow at 2300 with
battleship KING GEORGE V, aircraft carrier VICTORIOUS,
light cruisers
GALATEA, AURORA, KENYA, and HERMIONE, and destroyers
ACTIVE, PUNJABI, NESTOR,
LANCE, WINDSOR, INGLEFIELD, and INTREPID.
Destroyer LANCE returned
to Scapa Flow with boiler defects. The destroyer was
able to
depart again at 1315/23rd for Skaalefjord, arriving at
0500/24th. She
departed at 0700 sailing westward to join the fleet.
Battlecruiser REPULSE was
already at sea, putting
out from the Clyde at 1600 with destroyers LEGION,
SAGUENAY, and ASSINIBOINE. The
battlecruiser and destroyers rendezvoused
with Tovey off the Butt of Lewis at noon on the 23rd.
Destroyers ANTHONY and
ANTELOPE were detached on
the 23rd from the battlecruiser HOOD force to refuel at
Hvalfjord.
The destroyers refuelled
and departed at 2100 to
rejoin.
At 2000/23rd, the
Battlecruiser Group was in
62-45N, 25-30W. Tovey's force was in 61-30N, 22-00W.
At 2032, heavy cruiser
NORFOLK sighted the German ships in 66-50N, 25-30W.
Heavy
cruiser SUFFOLK also sighted the ships and the two
cruisers
shadowed the German force through the night.
Light cruiser GALATEA and
HERMOINE proceeded to
patrol to the northeast of Iceland should the German
ships attempt to turn
back, but these ships were later recalled to the Tovey
group and light
cruisers MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, and ARETHUSA carried
out the patrol.
Destroyer ACTIVE refuelled
at Hvalfjord on the 24th
and departing the same day. Destroyer NESTOR refuelled
at Iceland, departing on the 26th. Destroyer WINDSOR was
detached to Iceland on the 24th, but
remained until 26 May. Destroyers
PUNJABI, INGLEFIELD, and LANCE refuelled in Iceland
arriving and departing on the 26th. Destroyer
INTREPID arrived in Iceland to refuel on the 26th, but
did not depart due to
machinery defects until at 0930/31st. Destroyer INTREPID
arrived at Scapa Flow at 1630 from Iceland.
On the 24th, destroyer
SAGUENAY was detached to Hvalfjord to refuel. The destroyer departed the same
day to rejoin. On the 26th, destroyers LEGION and
ASSINIBOINE arrived at
Hvalfjord to refuel and departed the
same day to rejoin. On the 27th, all three destroyers
arrived at Londonderry.
Aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS refuelled at Hvalfjord
on the 27th. Light cruiser GALATEA on the 27th and
departed on the 28th.
Light cruiser AURORA on the 27th and departed 30 May.
Light cruiser KENYA on the 27th and departed 30 May.
Light cruiser
HERMIONE on the 26th and departed Hvalfjord on the 31st
to relieve light
cruiser ARETHUSA on Denmark
Strait patrol.
On the 25th, battlecruiser
REPULSE was ordered to
proceed for refuelling and arrived at Conception Bay,
Newfoundland, on the 27th.
The battlecruiser departed
Conception
Bay
on the 29th to escort convoy HX.129.
_____
Destroyer HAMBLEDON
arrived at Scapa Flow at 1715 to work up after
completion of large
repairs.
_____
Lt R. M. S. Brewer,
Leading Airman E. G. E.
Collyer, and Leading Airman G. R. Grant were killed when
their Albacore of
817 Squadron crashed off Arbroath.
_____
Minelayer TEVIOT BANK,
escorted by destroyer
CATTISTOCK, laid minefield BS.61 off the east coast of
England.
Paddle minesweepers
SNAEFELL and THAMES QUEEN
accompanied the minelayer.
_____
Heavy cruiser LONDON with
destroyers HAVELOCK and HARVESTER departed Gibraltar to
escort steamer ARUNDEL CASTLE and convoy SL.75 to England.
_____
U.111 sank British steamer
BARNBY (4813grt) in
60-30N, 34-12W. Two crew were killed on the steamer.
Forty four survivors
were rescued by light cruiser AURORA on the 30th.
_____
U.103 sank British tanker
BRITISH GRENADIER
(6857grt) in 6-15N, 12-59W. The entire crew were
rescued.
_____
British steamer EMPIRE
PROGRESS (5249grt) was
damaged by German bombing three miles southwest of
Needles. Four crew were
killed.
The steamer was beached in
Totland
Bay
on the 23rd. She was refloated the same day and taken to
Southampton for drydocking.
_____
Convoy WS.8B departed the
Clyde with steamers CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS (16,287grt), ABOSSO (11,030grt),
GEORGIC (27,759grt), MARTAND (8000grt), DUCHESS OF
RICHMOND (20,022grt),
ALMANZORA (15,551grt), and ORDUNA (15,507grt).
The convoy was escorted by
heavy cruiser EXETER, anti-aircraft cruiser CAIRO, and
destroyers COSSACK, SIKH, MAORI, ZULU,
PIORUN, OTTAWA, RESTIGOUCHE, and ERIDGE.
All were detached on the
26th except cruiser EXETER.
Included in this convoy
were aircraft carriers
VICTORIOUS and ARGUS.
Aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS was soon detached from
the convoy for Fleet operations.
Liners ORDUNA and
ALMANZORA collided on the 31st.
Destroyer BOREAS and
DUNCAN joined the convoy on 2 June and remained until 4
June.
Corvette MARGUERITE joined
the convoy on 3 June and
remained until 4 June.
The convoy arrived at
Freetown on 4 June.
The convoy, less
CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS and ABOSSO,
departed Freetown on 6 June escorted by destroyers
BOREAS, DUNCAN,
and HIGHLANDER from 6 to 8 June. Heavy cruiser EXETER
proceeded with the convoy.
On 20 June, the convoy
arrived at Durban.
The convoy, plus steamer
NIEUW ZEELAND (11,069grt)
departed on 23 June, escorted by heavy cruiser EXETER.
The convoy arrived off
Aden on 4 July and proceeded independently to Suez.
_____
German steamer DITMAR KOEL
(5088grt) was sunk on a
mine near Juist.
_____
Force B light cruisers
GLOUCESTER and FIJI with destroyers GRIFFIN and
GREYHOUND, returning from an uneventful sweep
through Matapan Strait, was bombed for an hour and a half from 0630 as it was returning to
join Force A-1.
Cruiser GLOUCESTER
received some splinter damage from near misses.
Cruiser FIJI received slight hull damage from near
misses.
Cruiser GLOUCESTER only
had 18% of her anti-aircraft ammunition
remaining. Cruiser FIJI only had 30% remaining.
Force B joined Force A 1
at 0830.
_____
British Force C, composed
of light cruisers NAIAD
and PERTH, anti-aircraft cruisers CALCUTTA and CARLISLE,
and destroyers
KANDAHAR, KINGSTON, and NUBIAN attacked the Italian
SAGITTARIO convoy at 1045
in 36-30N, 24-20E.
Torpedo boat SAGITTARIO
was hit several times and
at least one caique was set on fire.
The attack was broken off
due to air attacks. The
force withdrew to the southwest, but was hampered in
that CARLISLE's maximum speed was only twenty one knots, due to various defects.
Light cruiser NAIAD
sustained four near misses and
her speed was limited to 16 knots. Two of her turrets
were knocked out. The
damage was structural. T/Sub Lt W. F. Page RCNVR, and
six ratings were killed
and thirty one were wounded.
Light cruiser NAIAD was
able to proceed to Alexandria arriving on the 23rd.
Anti-aircraft cruiser
CARLISLE was hit on the bridge by a bomb and badly damaged. Captain T. C.
Hampton was killed on the cruiser. The cruiser was also
struck by a second
bomb.
Fourteen ratings were
killed on the cruiser and
twenty five, including P/Lt D. S. Craig, RM, and A/Cdr
W. Pope, were wounded.
The cruiser was repaired
at Port Said from 26 May to 20 June.
Destroyer KINGSTON closed
to take off survivors from cruiser CARLISLE, but was ordered away. The cruiser was able to continue unassisted.
Destroyer KINGSTON
was damaged by a near miss which caused damage to her
machinery and hull. One rating was killed and two were
wounded on the
destroyer.
Light cruiser PERTH was
damaged by a near miss which damaged her six
inch fire control. She sustained no personnel
casualties. The cruiser arrived
at Alexandria on the 23rd.
Force C joined Force A 1
at 1500. The German air
attacks continued.
Battleship WARSPITE was
hit by a bomb at 1332 that
put her starboard 4" and 6" batteries out of action. Her
speed was
reduced to 18 knots. Commissioned Boatswain A. E.
Harding and seven ratings
were killed, twenty four were missing, eleven died of
wounds, and sixty nine
were wounded.
The battleship arrived at
Alexandria on the 24th.
On 25 June, battleship
WARSPITE departed Alexandria for repairs at Bremerton,
Washington.
The battleship departed
Honolulu on 4 August and arrived at Esquimalt on 10
August escorted by two Canadian warships.
She departed that day, under US.escort, for Bremerton,
arriving on 11 August.
Repairs were completed on
18 December
1941.
Battleship VALIANT was
struck by two bombs aft that
caused no serious damage or any personnel casualties.
At about noon, destroyer GREYHOUND (Cdr W. R. Marshall-A'Dean) was detached to sink
a caique, sighted by battleship WARSPITE, between
Pori and Antikithera. The
destroyer sank the caique,
but then was sunk herself by bombing while rejoining the
Fleet.
Lt H. H. Brasher,
P/T/Surgeon Lt B. R. Bray
RNVR,and seventy four ratings were lost on the
destroyer.
Lt R. Scott DSC, Lt Cdr
(E) R. E. G Bremner,Gunner
(T) J. W. Chase, and several ratings were killed when
their whaler was
machine gunned by two ME 109 aircraft.
Four ratings were make
prisoners of war.
Destroyers KANDAHAR and
KINGSTON picked up survivors, including Marshall-A'Dean,
from the destroyer. Destroyer KINGSTON was damaged by
near misses of air bombs.
Light cruisers FIJI and
GLOUCESTER were ordered to support destroyers KANDAHAR
and KINGSTON.
Light cruisers FIJI and
GLOUCESTER, returning to join Force C, came under heavy
air
attack at 1550. Cruiser GLOUCESTER was hit by bombs and sunk. Cruiser
FIJI dropped rafts for the
survivors and continued with
destroyers KANDAHAR and KINGSTON.
Light cruiser GLOUCESTER
(Captain H. A. Rowley) was sunk.
Captain H. W. Rowley, Lt
Cdr C. R. Barnett Rtd,
Commissioned Gunner D. Cull, Captain R. Formby, RM,
Midshipman J.
Hutton-Attenborough, Lt (E) W. B. Setten, and Lt Cdr W.
A. Timmis Rtd were
killed.
A/Commissioned Gunner (T)
F. A. H. Bond, T/Chaplain
the Reverend W. Bonsey RNVR, Lt Cdr J. Brett DSC, Lt R.
S. Brooke, Cdr (E) H.
C. Brown DSO, Lt M. C. Brown, RM, Paymaster Midshipman
A. L. Browning,
Paymaster Lt J. Chetwode RNR,
Instructor Lt Cdr J. H. Cooke, Warrant Engineer J. W.
Costelloe, Warrant
Shipwright L. A. Dalling, Lt E. O. Daniel DSC,
Midshipman J. R. d'E. Darby,
Midshipman J. W. Darling, Surgeon Lt Cdr R. G. Dingwall,
OBE, T/Midshipman E.
De B. F. Elliott RNR, Paymaster Midshipman P. A. Espeut,
Midshipman L.
W. Evans, Paymaster Lt W. C. F. Grant-Dalton,
T/Paymaster Sub Lt R. O. C. Hay
RNVR, A/Paymaster Sub Lt R. J. E. Haynes, Commissioned
Gunner E. E. Houshold,
Lt E. G. Hughes RNVR, T/Sub Lt C. F. Kebble RNR, Lt Cdr
J. O. Mansell, Commissioned Electrician J.
E. Mitchell, Warrant Engineer A. E. G. Northcott, sub Lt
(E) R. J. Orok,
Midshipman R. E. M. Pole, sub Lt (A) N. Q. Reading, Cdr
R. J. Robertson DSC,
Lt (E) I. M. Robertson-Walker, Midshipman C. A. M.
Rombulow-Pearse, sub Lt H.
Q. Rose, A/Warrant Ordnance Officer T. R. G. Scutt,Sub
Lt (A) P. E. Starmer,
Midshipman G. L. Stevens, Cdr R. P. Tanner DSC, Lt R. N.
Weir RNVR,
Schoolmaster C. F. Williamson, Midshipman P. N. Wyllie,
and A/Gunner A. Young
were missing.
Three ratings were killed
and six hundred and
seventy three ratings, including Petty Officer Airman P.
J. Branford and
Petty Officer Airman C. A. Day, were missing. One Marine
died in captivity.
Lt Cdr R. A. F.
Heap,Surgeon Lt H. G. Singer, MRCS,
LRCP, and eighty ratings were made prisoners of war.
P/T/Surgeon Lt J. F.
Donovan, MRCS LRCP RNVR, sub
Lt J. Ellis-Brown, SARNVR, Lt Cdr H. J. F. Lane, T/Lt
(E) G. T. Marriner,
A/Signal Boatswain E. G. Middlecote, Lt Cdr P. J.
Milner-Barry, Lt F. W.
Nicholls, Senior Master H. C. Rice, T/Lt J. Schierbeck
RCNVR, Paymaster Cdr
H. K. Totton, andWarrant Telegraphist C. Wild were not
on the cruiser at the time
of the sinking.
Light cruiser FIJI
(Captain P. B. R. W. William-Powlett) was sunk at
1830 by air bombs. Destroyers KANDAHAR and KINGSTON
dropped rafts and left the area, returning
afterdark to rescue survivors. KINGSTON picked up 339
survivors and KANDAHAR picked up 184. There were 523
survivors of the 780
man crew.
Warrant Engineer T. E. C.
Hallett, Lt Cdr D. A. H.
Hornell MVO, Commissioned Gunner C. W. H. Parrott,
Midshipman M. N. Machin,
and T/Chaplain the Reverend C. C. Tanner RNVR, were
killed on the cruiser.
T/Electrical Lt H. H.
Balean RNVR, Paymaster
Midshipman B. A. Blockley, Surgeon Lt Cdr C. D. D. de
Labilliere, Midshipman
P. A. de S. C. de Soissons, Warrant Engineer G.
Dunstone, Schoolmaster F. W.
D. Hawkins, T/Lt R. H. Lake RNVR, A/Warrant Mechanic A.
T. O'Neill, Cdr (E)
J. E. Saunders, T/Lt R. H. Scales RNVR, and Warrant
Shipwright H. E. Wilcox
were lost.
One rating was killed and
one rating died of
wounds. One hundred and ninety two ratings were missing.
Thirty Marines were
missing and two NAAFI staff were missing.
Cdr Marshall-A'Dean,
formerly of destroyer
GREYHOUND, drowned during rescue operations.
Gunner L. C. C. Eades, Lt
(E) E. F. Le Flufy, and
Commissioned
Gunner (T) F. P. Morley
were wounded.
Destroyers KANDAHAR and
KINGSTON were able to refuel from the battleships in
Force
A 1.
Destroyers STUART,
VOYAGER, and VENDETTA coming
from Alexandria were also ordered to pick up FIJI
survivors, but they were unable to locate any.
Destroyers KELLY, KASHMIR, KIPLING, KELVIN, and JACKAL from
Malta joined Force A 1 at
1745/22nd.
At 1930, the destroyers
were detached to search of
survivors of cruisers GLOUCESTER and FIJI.
Destroyers DECOY and HERO
were detached from Force
A-1 to pick up the King of Greece, the Greek Prime
Minister, and other
important personages at Suda Bay.
Commando ship GLENROY with
900 troops departed Alexandria for Tymbaki escorted by
anti-aircraft cruiser COVENTRY and sloops AUCKLAND and
FLAMINGO. They were ordered at 2335/23rd to
return to Alexandria.
Destroyers JAGUAR and
DEFENDER with ammunition for
the troops on Crete departed Alexandria and joined Force
A-1 off Crete.
The destroyers were
detached to Suda
Bay
at 2359 on the 23rd.
_____
Heavy cruiser YORK was
abandoned after further damage by air bombs.
_____
During the night of 22/23
May in Crete operations.
Destroyer DECOY picked up
the King of Greece and
his party from Crete. Destroyer HERO in company picked
up other
important personages. Both destroyers rejoined Force A-1
on the 23rd. The
destroyers were sent on ahead later on the 23rd.
Destroyers KELLY, KASHMIR, and KIPLING were on patrol in the
Canea
Bay
area. Destroyer KIPLING experienced a steering defects
and withdrew to the
west to correct it.
Destroyers JACKAL and
KELVIN patrolled in Kissamo
Bay
without event and returned to Force A-1 at dawn.
Destroyers JERVIS, NIZAM,
ILEX, and HAVOCK
patrolled Heraklion.
Light cruisers ORION and
AJAX were to join, but were unable to
rendezvous in time and
returned to Force D
Destroyer ILEX was damaged
by a near miss from
German bombing during the morning of 23 May. There was
damage to her
propeller, but sustained no personnel casualties.
Destroyer HAVOCK was near
missed by German bombing
with damage to the boiler room.
Fifteen men were killed
and ten were wounded.
Force E arrived at
Alexandria at 2000/23rd.
_____
Submarine RORQUAL laid
mines in the Gulf of
Salonika.
_____
British troopship ARUNDEL
CASTLE arrived at Gibraltar from
Freetown.
Friday,
23 May
Minefield SN.64 in the
Faroes-North Rona field was
postponed due to the German activity.
_____
Destroyer FARNDALE
departed Scapa Flow at 0400 for Rosyth. The destroyer
met armed
merchant cruiser MOOLTAN and Norwegian destroyer
SLEIPNER off May Island and escorted them to
Pentland Firth, where they arrived at 0400/24th having
been
delayed by bad visibility.
Destroyer BLANKNEY
departed Scapa Flow and relieved destroyer FARNDALE of
the escort.
_____
Sloop BLACK SWAN departed
Scapa Flow at 0230 for Dundee for machinery repairs. The sloop arrived at 1800.
_____
Destroyer
BRIGHTON arrived
at Scapa Flow at 0700 from Loch Alsh and berthed
alongside
destroyer depot ship TYNE for repairs.
_____
Submarine TROOPER, under
construction at the Scotts
yard, was damaged by German bombing at Greenock.
_____
U.38 sank Dutch steamer
BERHALA (6622grt), from
dispersed convoy OB.318, at 9-50N, 17-50W. Three crew
were lost on the
steamer.
_____
Destroyers KELLY and
KASHMIR sank two caiques in Canea
Bay.
Destroyers KELLY (Captain
Lord Louis Mountbatten
GCVO, DSO) and KASHMIR (Cdr H. A. King) were attacked by
German bombers.
Both destroyers were sunk. Destroyer KIPLING rejoined
this force during the
attacks and was able to rescue survivors from both
ships.
Paymaster Lt Cdr H. J.
Reeder, Paymaster Lt E. R.
Pattison RNR, Lt M. V. Sturdy, Surgeon Lt V. J. R.
Sheridan
DSC, MB, ChB, A/Sub Lt E. W. Money RNR, Midshipman G. R.
Mortimer-Booth RNR, Gunner (T) H. W. T. Brownjohn,
Commissioned
Engineer E. W. Cole and ninety ratings were lost (three
dead and eighty seven
men missing) in destroyer KELLY.
Destroyer
KASHMIR had
P/T/Surgeon Lt J. N. Lennox, LRCP & S RNVR, and
eighty two ratings
missing.
Lt Cdr The Lord Hugh
Beresford of destroyer KELLY
and Lt J. E. S. Bush of destroyer KIPLING were lost
rescuing men from the
water.
Destroyer KIPLING was
badly damaged when the bow of
destroyer KELLY's submerged wreck punctured her fuel
tanks, while KIPLING was
alongside the sinking ship.
Destroyer KIPLING was
slowed to 20 knots and had a
heavy list to port. The destroyer ran out of fuel
seventy miles from Alexandria early on the 24th.
Netlayer PROTECTOR refuelled
the destroyer and KIPLING arrived in Alexandria under
her own power.
Destroyer KIPLING departed
Alexandria on the 27th for repairs at Suez.
Forces A-1 and C returned
to Alexandria to refuel and take on ammunition. All
forces
arrived at Alexandria early on the 24th.
Destroyers DEFENDER and
JAGUAR with ammunition for Suda Bay
were detached from Force A-1, as it retired to
Alexandria. The ammunition was delivered early on the
24th
and the destroyers then returned to Alexandria alone,
arriving on the 24th.
_____
At Suda
Bay,
motor torpedo boats MTB.67, MTB.213 (Lt G. L. Cotton
RNVR), MTB.214, MTB.216 (Lt C. L. Coles RNVR), and
MTB.217 were sunk in a heavy German dive bombing
attack.
There were no personnel
casualties.
_____
Damaged Corvette SALVIA
arrived at Alexandria from Suda Bay.
_____
Australian destroyer
WATERHEN delivered stores to
Tobruk during the night of 23/24 May.
_____
Italian submarine SCIRE
passed into the Atlantic.
Late on the 24th, the
submarine sent up the Guadalite River to Cadiz where SLC crews
waited in the interned Italian tanker FULGOR
(6504grt).
Early on the 25th,
submarine SCIRE departed Cadiz.
On the 26th, the SLCs were
launched against Gibraltar. However, they were
discovered entering Gibraltar and no damage was done.
_____
Heavy cruiser LONDON,
destroyers HAVELOCK and HARVESTER, and troopship ARUNDEL
CASTLE departed Gibraltar for the UK.
Submarine PANDORA departed
Gibraltar for the UK. The submarine proceeded to the
United States. She arrived on 28 June and was refitting
at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire,
completing on 18 December. The submarine departed after
trials on 7 January 1942.
En route on the 23rd, the
submarine sighted and
pursued an Italian submarine in 41-12N, 11-00W.
Anti-submarine trawler
IMPERIALIST was sent to assist.
_____
New Zealand light cruiser
LEANDER departed Trincomalee for Aden where she arrived
on the 29th.
Saturday,
24 May
Destroyers ECHO, ICARUS,
ELECTRA, and ACHATES were detached from
the battlecruiser HOOD force to search north, then
refuel at Hvalfjord.
Battlecruiser HOOD and
battleship PRINCE OF WALES
engaged German battleship BISMARCK
and heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN in 63-21N, 32-47W.
Battlecruiser HOOD
(Captain R. Kerr CBE) was sunk by gunfire from
battleship BISMARCK and heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN. There
were only
three survivors. Midshipman W. J. Dundas and two ratings
were picked up by
destroyer ELECTRA, which returned with the other
destroyers to the scene of
the battle.
Vice Admiral L. E. Holland
CB, Captain R. Kerr CBE, T/Midshipman N. N. Adams RNR,
Lt Cdr C. D. Awdry, Signal Boatswain A. E. T.
Bartley, Lt Cdr A. R. T. Baley, Midshipman T. N. K.
Beard RCN, Paymaster Lt R. H. P. Browne, Lt Cdr J. G. P.
Brownrigg, Midshipman D. M. Bryant, Midshipman P. J.
Buckett RNVR,
T/A/Warrant Ordnance Officer H. Burgess, P/T/Sub Lt (E)
J. H. Cambridge RNVR,
Paymaster Lt Cdr G. V. Carlin RNVR, Captain T. D.
Cartwright, RM,
Commissioned Gunner J. A. Chapman, Paymaster Midshipman
J. P. Collings,
Commissioned Gunner (T) S. J. Cope, Cdr W. K. R. Cross,
Lt (E) R. H. Dale,
Senior Master R. T. Davies, Midshipman H. K. Davies
RNVR, Surgeon Lt C. H. C.
Dent RNVR, A/Sub Lt J. R. Down RNVR, Midshipman G. R.
Eagles, Lt Cdr (E) J.
G. M. Erskine, Surgeon Lt J. O. Fielding, T/Midshipman
D. C. Ford RNR, Warrant Supply Officer T. C. Freeborn,
T/Lt L. E.
Friend RNVR, A/Sub Lt N. H. Frodsham, T/Paymaster Lt J.
R. Graves RNVR, A/Cdr
E. H. G. Gregson, Cdr (E) R. T. Grogan, Lt Cdr J. W.
Hall, Lt D. S. R.
Harris, RM, A/Warrant Engineer C. Haughton, Captain (E)
S. J. Herbert,
T/Midshipman R. A. Hibbs RNVR, T/Paymaster Lt N. H.
Hoare RNVR, T/Paymaster
Cdr J. M. Hogan, A/Lt (E) M. S. T. Humphrey, Surgeon Cdr
H. Hurst,
T/Electrical Lt J. M. Iago RNVR, Midshipman F. L. L.
Jones RCN, T/Midshipman R. F. Knight RNR, T/Midshipman
P. R. Lapthorn RNVR, Lt E. P. S.
Lewis, Major H. Lumley, RM, Paymaster Lt T. G. P.
Luxmoore, Lt Cdr J. L.
Machin, T/Midshipman J. B. McLaren RNR, Lt Cdr E. H. F.
Moultrie, T/Lt C. B. N. Newey
RNVR, Midshipman C. J. B. Norman RCN, Lt Cdr G. E. M.
Owens, Lt Cdr A. Pares, Surgeon
Lt (D) J. E. C. Peacock, Midshipman R. G. C. Perman,
RIN, Paymaster Lt R. G.
Phillips, Warrant Engineer R. A. H. Plumley, Paymaster
F. A. P.
Porter-Fauset, Warrant Shipwright W. A. Price, Lt (E) B.
C. J. Roach, sub Lt
A. C. R. Robins RNR, Paymaster Cdr D. C. Roe, sub Lt J.
H. A.
Scott-Kerr, Lt (E) H. G. E. Smith, T/Lt (E) T. F.
Spence, Instructor Cdr D.
M. Steel, T/Midshipman D. P. Stevenson RNR, The Rev. R.
J. P. Stewart, Chaplain, T/Lt C. F.
B. Stubbs RNVR, Commissioned Ordnance Officer J. C.
Sulley, Commissioned
Telegraphist W. O. Taylor, Commissioned Gunner H. G. H.
Tozer, Paymaster
Midshipman G. D. B. Vacher, Commissioned Gunner A. C.
Varlow, Warrant
Engineer W. F. B. Walter, P/T/Midshipman K. G. Warden
RNR, A/Cdr S. J. P. Warrand, P/Paymaster Sub Lt S.
Watkinson, NZNF, Gunner (T) E. F. Wheeler, P/T/Sub Lt T.
Willets RNVR,
T/Midshipman R. G. L. Williams RNVR, A/Warrant
Electrician F. J. Woodward, Lt
Cdr H. D. Wyldbore-Smith, and Boatswain R. G. Yates were
lost on the
battlecruiser.
Polish Midshipmen S.
Czeruy, K. Szymalski, L.
Zmuda-Trzebiatowski, and O. Zurek were lost on the
battlecruiser.
One thousand, three
hundred and twenty two ratings
were lost.
Battleship PRINCE OF WALES
sustained damage from four fifteen inch and three eight
inch hits in this engagement.
Midshipmen P. T. Dreyer
and J. B. Ince and eleven
ratings were killed and Lt Cdr G. W. Rowell, T/Sub Lt E.
P. Knight RNVR, and
eight ratings were wounded in the battleship.
Destroyers ELECTRA,
ACHATES, ANTHONY, ECHO, ICARUS, and WINDSOR arrived at
Hvalfjord at
2140/24th for refuelling. The sixth destroyer with the
battlecruiser force,
destroyer ANTELOPE was continuing to search for HOOD
survivors until 2200
before proceeding to Hvalfjord.
Destroyer MALCOLM from
convoy escort duty was also
ordered into the area to search for survivors.
Battleship PRINCE OF WALES
and heavy cruisers NORFOLK and SUFFOLK pursued the
German force southward on the 24th.
Battleship RAMILLIES was
detached from convoy
HX.127 to search for the German ships. Battleship
REVENGE departed Halifax to join convoy HX.127.
Light cruiser EDINBURGH,
patrolling near the Azores in 45N, 25W looking for German blockade runners, was ordered to close
German battleship BISMARCK's
last known location.
Heavy cruiser DORSETSHIRE
left convoy SL.74 without
permission. The escort was left to armed merchant
cruiser BULOLO.
Heavy cruiser LONDON,
escorting steamer ARUNDEL
CASTLE with destroyers HAVELOCK and HARVESTER from
Gibraltar to join convoy
SL.75 in 43N, 20W, was detached to close BISMARCK's
location, but shortly
after was directed to the Azores to intercept German
tankers. On the 26th,
the cruiser was directed to join convoy SL.75. She was
diverted to Bathurst, arriving to refuel on the 31st and
to join convoy
SL.76. On the 25th, the destroyers were instructed to
reverse course for
twelve hours, then return to their original route.
Battlecruiser RENOWN,
aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL,
light cruiser SHEFFIELD, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FORESIGHT,
FOXHOUND, FURY, and HESPERUS departed Gibraltar at 0200
to intercept BISMARCK. At 1245, destroyers FORESIGHT,
FOXHOUND, and FURY
were detached to return to Gibraltar. On the 25th,
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, and
HESPERUS returned to Gibraltar to refuel.
Battleship RODNEY and
destroyers SOMALI, TARTAR,
and MASHONA were ordered to leave troopship BRITANNIC to
destroyer ESKIMO and
proceed towards BISMARCK. Destroyer ESKIMO remained with
the troopship
until 0200/26th when she proceeded to Hvalfjord.
Destroyers BEDOUIN and
IMPULSIVE remained with
minelayer SOUTHERN PRINCE until 25 May.
Destroyers BULLDOG and
AMAZON, corvettes AUBRETIA,
HOLLYHOCK, and NIGELLA, and anti-submarine trawler
DANEMAN were with convoy
SC.31 to the south of battlecruiser HOOD nearest the
HOOD sinking. The convoy
was taken into Hvalfjord to avoid contact, arriving on
the 25th.
Three other Western
Approaches convoys were at sea.
Convoy OB.324, which departed Liverpool on the
18th was escorted by destroyers CAMPBELTOWN, WANDERER,
and WESTCOTT, sloops
FLEETWOOD and ROCHESTER, and corvettes AUICULA,
DIANTHUS, MARIGOLD,
NASTURTIUM, PERIWINKLE, and PRIMROSE. This escort was
relieved on the 24th by
destroyers CHELSEA, VERITY, and VETERAN and corvette
CONVOLVULUS. Convoy
OB.325, which departed Liverpool on the 21st was
escorted by destroyers LEAMINGTON and SALADIN, corvettes
CLARKIA and GLADIOLUS, and
anti-submarine trawler ST ZENO. Convoy OB.326, which
departed Liverpool on the 22nd, was escorted by
destroyers ASSINIBOINE, SALISBURY, and SKATE, corvettes
ABELIA, ALISMA, and ANEMONE,
and anti-submarine trawler ST KENAN.
Battleship NELSON was
ordered from Freetown to Gibraltar. Later
she escorted convoy SL.75 to 46N before returning to
Scapa Flow, arriving on 8 June.
Submarine THUNDERBOLt
departed Halifax on the 25th to attempt to intercept the
German
ships.
Submarine SEALION departed
Portsmouth for patrol in Biscay and submarine H.44
departed
Holyhead for Biscay.
Submarines SEAWOLF,
STURGEON, TIGRIS, and PANDORA were also deployed in Biscay to intercept.
Submarines SEVERN and CLYDE departed
Gibraltar on the
27th to take up offensive patrols in the Straits of
Gibraltar.
Aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS launched nine Swordfish
of 825 Squadron at 2210/24th to attack the BISMARCK.
Three Fulmars of 800Z Squadron were flown off at
2300 for shadowing, followed at 0100 by a relief of two
more Fulmars. One
Swordfish, piloted by Sub Lt (A) A. J. Houston RNVR,
lost contact in the
cloud cover, but the other eight Swordfish attacked the
German ship at
0020/25th.
No aircraft were lost in
the attack. However, in
the relief flight of Fulmars, one Fulmar off 800Z
Squadron, piloted by Lt (A)
F. C. Furlong RNVR, with Observer P/Sub Lt (A) J. E. M.
Hoare RNVR, crashed
into the sea on return. They were picked up by a
merchant ship. A second
Fulmar of 800Z Squadron, piloted by Lt B. D. Cambell
with Observer Sub Lt M.
G. Goodger RNVR, was lost with its crew.
On a search mission after
the raid, sub Lt (A) P.
B. Jackson died on the 25th when the plane crashed
landed in the sea. A/Sub
Lt (A) D. A. Berrill and Leading Airman F. G. Sparkes
from Jackson's plane
were able to survive in an abandoned lifeboat before
being picked on 3 June
up by Icelandic steamer LAGARFOSS (1211grt) which took
them to Reykjavik. Lt
(A) H. C. M. Pollard, sub Lt (A) D. M. Beattie RNVR, and
Leading Airman P. W.
Clitheroe of 825 Squadron were lost when their Swordfish
failed to return on
the 26th from a search mission.
At 0306, on the 25th the
German ships were able to
shake the shadowing cruisers in 56-23N, 36-05W. Heavy
cruiser PRINZ EUGEN
broke away and returned to Brest.
Battleship PRINCE OF WALES
was sent southward from the shadowing force to
join Tovey's main group.
Destroyer LANCE proceeded
to Hvalfjord at 1030.
Destroyers BEDOUIN and IMPULSIVE having left minelayer
SOUTHERN PRINCE in
48-35N, 31-45W were also en route to Hvalfjord.
Destroyers BEDOUIN and
IMPULSIVE had been detached
to refuel with instructions if they encountered the
German ships destroyer
IMPULSIVE was to make a contact report, while destroyer
BEDOUIN engaged them.
Destroyer JUPITER, which
had departed Plymouth for Scapa Flow to work
up, was diverted to refuel at Skaalefjord and await
orders there. On the
26th, the destroyer was ordered to refuel at Londonderry
and join the battleship RODNEY.
Destroyers ELECTRA,
ANTHONY, ECHO, and ACHATES departed Hvalfjord at
2200/25th to
meet battleship PRINCE OF WALES.
At 0200/26th, destroyers
COSSACK, SIKH, and ZULU
were detached from convoy WS.8B to join the main body of
the Home Fleet.
Destroyers MAORI and PIORUN were detached from the same
convoy to join
battleship RODNEY.
Destroyers ICARUS,
WINDSOR, SAGUENAY, ACTIVE, and ASSINIBOINE
departed Reykjavik at 0800/26th to join aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS.
Destroyer ANTELOPE remained at Reykjavik with defects
that made her unfit for sea.
Destroyers INGLEFIELD,
NESTOR, PUNJABI, LEGION, and
LANCE departed Iceland for Londonderry. The
destroyers refuelled on the 28th.
Destroyer SOMALI was
detached on the 26th from
battleship RODNEY to refuel.
Destroyers TARTAR and
MASHONA were detached from
battleship RODNEY during the night of 26/27 May to
refuel.
At 1910, aircraft carrier
ARK ROYAL launched four
Swordfish of 810 Squadron, four of 818 Squadron, and
seven of 820 Squadron.
At 2230/26th, the Swordfish attacked battleship
BISMARCK. A hit wrecked the battleship's steering gear.
In one Swordfish of 820
Squadron, sub Lt (A) F. A.
Swanton and Leading Airman J. R. Seager of 820 Squadron
were wounded and Sub
Lt (A) G. A. Woods RNVR, was unhurt when the aircraft
was badly shot up.
At 2310/26th, destroyers
COSSACK and ZULU contacted
the German battleship. At 0100/27th, destroyers COSSACK,
MAORI, SIKH, and
ZULU carried out torpedo attacks.
Destroyers COSSACK, MAORI,
and ZULU were damaged by
splinters from the battleship's guns. Three crew on ZULU
were wounded.
Several crew on destroyer MAORI, including Cdr H. T.
Armstrong were wounded.
Light cruiser SHEFFIELD
exchanged shots with the German battleship. The
light cruiser was damaged by splinters and sustained
twelve men wounded;
three of these ratings died of wounds.
Battleship PRINCE OF WALES
arrived at Iceland at 0530/27th with light cruisers
AURORA and
GALATEA and destroyers ANTHONY, ELECTRA, ECHO, and
ACHATES. Destroyer ANTHONY departed Hvalfjord
on the 27th for Scapa Flow, arriving at 1100/29th. The
battleship departed on
the 28th escorted by destroyers ELECTRA, ECHO, and
ACHATES.
The battleship arrived
escorted by destroyers
ELECTRA, ECHO, and ACHATES at Rosyth on the 30th for
repair. En
route, the destroyers suffered weather damage which was
repaired at Rosyth.
Destroyer ELECTRA departed Rosyth at 1430/31st for Scapa
Flow arriving at 0300 on 1 June. Destroyer ACHATES
departed Rosyth at 1100 on 7 June for Scapa Flow,
arriving at 2000. Destroyer ECHO departed Rosyth at 1500
on 17 June for Scapa Flow, arriving at 0200 on 18 June.
Battleship PRINCE OF
WALES departed Rosyth after repair on 19 July for Scapa
Flow.
Polish destroyer PIORUN of
Vian's destroyer force,
returning to Plymouth to refuel, was attacked by German
torpedo bombers
on the 27th, but was undamaged. The destroyer arrived on
the 28th.
Battleships KING GEORGE V
and RODNEY attacked BISMARCK on the 27th and wrecked her
upper works. The
Battleships are forced to withdraw to refuel.
Heavy cruisers DORSETSHIRE
and NORFOLK shell and torpedo the German ship.
The battleship sank soon
after at 1101 in 48-09N,
16-07W.
Heavy cruiser DORSETSHIRE
rescued four officers and
seventy eight ratings and destroyer MAORI rescued 24
ratings. Rescue efforts
are terminated when a submarine alarm was received. .
Spanish cruiser CANARIAS
departed El Ferrol with destroyers GRAVINA and ALCALA
GALIANO of the
1st Destroyer Flotilla at approximately 1100/27th to
render assistance to the
German battleship. The destroyers were forced to return
to Ferrol almost
immediately because of heavy weather. On the 30th, the
cruiser picked up two
bodies which were buried at sea.
On the 28th, U.74 rescued
three survivors and
weather ship SACHSENWALD rescued two more survivors.
Battleships KING GEORGE V
and RODNEY retired from
the battle escorted by destroyers COSSACK, MAORI SIKH,
ZULU, and JUPITER. By
1600/28th, eleven more destroyers joined the
battleshipsDestroyers SOMALI,
ESKIMO, PUNJABI, NESTOR, INGLEFIELD, LANCE having
departed Londonderry on the 28th to join. Destroyers
VANQUISHER,
SHERWOOD, ST CLAIR, COLUMBIA,
and RIPLEY also joined the screen.
Heavy cruiser NORFOLK was
near missed by a German bombing bombing off
the west coast of Ireland. The cruiser arrived in the
Clyde on the 28th.
Destroyers BEDOUIN and
IMPULSIVE departed Hvalfjord
on the 28th for Skaalefjord and Scapa Flow,
respectively. Destroyer BEDOUIN arrived at Skaalefjord
at 1900 and sailed at
2030 escorting steamer BEN MY CHREE (2586grt) to
Iceland. They arrived at Iceland at 2030/30th and
departed to return at 1830/31st.
The two arrived back at Skaalefjord at 2230 on 1 June.
Destroyer IMPULSIVE
arrived at Scapa Flow at 0900/30th.
On the 28th, the forces
split.
Battleship KING GEORGE V
with destroyers SOMALI,
COSSACK, ESKIMO, PUNJABI, NESTOR, LANCE, and JUPITER
proceeded to Loch Ewe.
Battleship RODNEY with
heavy cruiser NORFOLK and destroyers MAORI, SIKH,
LEGION, and COLUMBIA proceeded to the Clyde, arriving at 0300/29th.
Destroyer MASHONA (Cdr W.
H. Selby) was sunk by
German bombers southwest of Ireland while about 100
miles from Tovey's force. Lt Cdr W. A. Elliott Rtd and
thirty five ratings
were lost with the destroyer; Elliott and ten ratings
dying of exposure after
being rescued. They were buried at sea. Seven officers
and one hundred and twenty ratings
were picked up by destroyer TARTAR which was in company.
Destroyer SHERWOOD
picked up two officers and fifty four ratings and
destroyer ST CLAIR four officers and eight ratings.
SHERWOOD and ST CLAIR scuttled the wreck
of the destroyer. TARTAR, SHERWOOD, and ST CLAIR arrived
at Moville at 0600/29th, when all the survivors were put
aboard
TARTAR. She then proceeded and arrived at Gourock at
1545/29th.
Destroyer ACTIVE departed
Londonderry at 0015/28th to join aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS, which arrived in the Clyde on the 29th at 1330, escorted by destroyers ACTIVE, WINDSOR, and
ANTELOPE.
On the 29th, battleship
KING GEORGE V arrived at
Loch Ewe with destroyers SOMALI, NESTOR, JUPITER, LANCE,
COSSACK, ESKIMO, and
PUNJABI. Destroyer INGLEFIELD arrived at 1100 after the
main group at Loch
Ewe to refuel.
Destroyer ZULU arrived at
Londonderry at 0900/29th to refuel and landed wounded.
On the 30th, battleship
KING GEORGE V departed Loch
Ewe at 0300 and arrived at Scapa
Flow with destroyers SOMALI,
ZULU, ESKIMO, PUNJABI, NESTOR, LANCE, COSSACK, JUPITER,
and INGLEFIELD.
Destroyer SOMALI departed
Scapa Flow at 2000 for Southampton for refitting. She
arrived at 1100 on 1 June.
Destroyers MAORI and SIKH
departed Clyde for Scapa Flow at 1030/30th
and arrived at 2230.
Destroyers ICARUS,
ANTELOPE, and ACTIVE departed
the Clyde for Scapa Flow at
1300/30th. They arrived at noon on the 31st.
_____
Anti-aircraft ship
ALYNBANK departed Methil and met
convoy EC.23 at 1630 off May Island escorting it
northward.
The ship parted company
with the convoy in Pentland Firth and arrived at Scapa
Flow at 1830/25th.
_____
U.38 sank British steamer
VULCAIN (4362grt) at
9-20N, 15-35W.
Seven crew were lost.
Twenty one were detained in
French W. Africa. Thirteen crew were repatriated to
Freetown.
_____
U.103 sank Greek steamer
MARIONGA (4236grt) in
5-42N, 10-29W.
Twenty six crew from the
steamer were lost. Three
survivors were taken off a raft in 5-42N, 10-29W on the
28th.
_____
British tanker OCTANE
(2034grt) was damaged on a
mine in 50-08N, 5-02W. Three crew were killed on the
tanker.
The tanker was beached one
cable northwest of
Anthony. The tanker was drydocked at Falmouth on 4 June
and later taken to Barry.
_____
British steamer SARNIA
(711grt) was damaged by German bombing at anchor
in Milford Haven.
The steamer was towed to
Milford Docks.
_____
Greek steamer MATRONNA
(2846grt) was sunk by German
bombing in Dale Roads at Milford Haven. The crew were
all rescued.
_____
British steamer CRESSDENE
(4270grt) was damaged by
German bombers in Mumbles Roads.
_____
Minelayer ABDIEL departed
Alexandria during the night of 23/24 May and landed 200
commandoes at Suda Bay
during the night of 24/25 May.
The minelayer arrived back
at Alexandria on the 25th.
Eight hundred commandos
from troopship GLENROY were
embarked on destroyers NIZAM, ISIS, DECOY, and HERO
which departed Alexandria at 0900/24th. These troops
were not landed at Port
Lutro due to bad weather.
The operation was covered
by light cruisers DIDO
and AJAX and destroyers KIMBERLEY, HOTSPUR, IMPERIAL,
and JANUS which departed Alexandria at 0800/24th.
Destroyer JANUS was
detached soon after sailing to
return to Alexandria.
Light cruisers AJAX and
DIDO with destroyers KIMBERLEY, HOTSPUR, and IMPERIAL
were to bombard Maleme
during the night of 24/25 May. The operation was
cancelled when cruiser AJAX was unable to arrive due to
bad weather.
The Force returned towards
Kaso
Strait to sweep the north coast during the night of 25/26 May.
Destroyers NAPIER, KELVIN,
and JACKAL departed Alexandria on the 25th to relieve
the three destroyers in the
AJAX force.
_____
At 37-56N, 15-36E,
submarine UPHOLDER torpedoed
Vichy French tanker CAPITAINE DAMIANI (4854grt), which
had departed Marseille
on the 19th in company of tanker ALBERTA (3357grt) for
Constanza.
The tanker reached Messina
that evening. She departed the next day and
arrived at Naples on the 27th. Tanker CAPITAINE DAMIANI
departed Naples under the tow of tug GOLIATH on 12 June
after
temporary repairs. They arrived at Marseilles on 19
June.
_____
Naval drifter AURORA II
(76grt) was sunk by German
bombing at Tobruk.
_____
Destroyer BRILLIANT
departed Gibraltar for Freetown.
_____
Submarine
CLYDE arrived at Gibraltar from
Holy Loch.
_____
Greek troopship NEA HELLAS, returning from the Middle
East, arrived at Gibraltar from Freetown.
_____
British steamer TRAFALGAR
(4530grt) was sunk by
German raider ATLANTIS at 25S, 1E.
Twelve crew were lost on
the steamer.
_____
British troopship DUCHESS
OF YORK departed Singapore with 326 personnel. The
troopship was escorted by
light cruiser GLASGOW to 0-50N, 70E when heavy cruiser
CANBERRA relieved the light cruiser.
One hundred and forty
additional personnel were
embarked at Colombo. The troopship arrived at Mombasa on
9 June.
Sunday,
25 May
Destroyer JUPITER in the
Irish Sea was ordered to join the screen of battleship
RODNEY.
The destroyer did not join
until after BISMARCK had been sunk.
_____
Convoy SC.31 arrived at
Hvalfjord on the 25th to
avoid contact with the German ships with destroyers
CAMPBELTOWN, WANDERER,
and WESTCOTT, sloops FLEETWOOD and ROCHESTER, and
corvettes AURICULA, DIANTHUS, MARIGOLD,
NASTURTIUM, PERIWINKLE, and PRIMROSE which had relieved
the destroyer BULLDOG
group the day before.
The convoy was able to
proceed and arrived at Liverpool on the 30th.
_____
Convoy OG.63 departed
Liverpool scorted by destoyer READING, corvettes
HIBISCUS and PIMPERNEL, ocean boarding
vessel CORINTHIAN, and anti-submarine trawlers RUNSWICK
BAY
and ST MELANTE. The ocean boarding vessel was detached
that day.
On the 26th, the convoy
was joined by destroyer
VANQUISHER and sloop WELLINGTON. On the 27th, corvette FREESIA joined the escort. Destroyer
VANQUISHER was detached on the 27th to Fleet operations
and later joined
SL.74.
On the 30th, destroyer
READING and corvettes
FREESIA, HIBISCUS, and PIMPERNEL were detached to convoy
SL.74.
Corvette JONQUIL, Dutch
submarine O.23, and
anti-submarine trawler LADY HOGARTH joined the convoy on
1 June. Destroyer
WRESTLER departed Gibraltar on 7 June after submarine
attacks to reinforce
the convoy to Cape Spartel, then join aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS. On 7 June,
corvette AZALEA joined the convoy.
The convoy arrived at
Gibraltar on 7 June.
_____
U.103 sank Dutch steamer
WANGI WANGI (7789grt) in
5-24N, 12W. One crewman was lost on the steamer.
_____
Faroes motor fishing
vessel HARRY (125grt) was
badly damaged by German bombing thirty miles north of
Rattray Head.
The vessel was sunk
seventeen miles north by west
of Kinnaird Head after an unsuccessful attempt to tow.
_____
German steamer SILVIA
(1049grt) was sunk by bombing
near Den Helder.
_____
British operation MAQ 3
was put into motion.
Battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH and BARHAM, aircraft carrier
FORMIDABLE (with
twelve aircraft), and destroyers JERVIS, NUBIAN,
HEREWARD, KANDAHAR, HASTY, JANUS, VOYAGER, and VENDETTA
departed Alexandria.
_____
A Convoy to Tobruk
consisting of British tanker
HELKA (3471grt) escorted by sloop GRIMSBY and trawler
SOUTHERN MAID was attacked by Italian
bombers near Tobruk.
Steamer HELKA was sunk and
sloop GRIMSBY (Cdr K. J. D'Arcy) was hit by two bombs
and also
sunk forty miles northeast of Tobruk.
Eleven ratings were lost
on the sloop. One crewman
and one gunner were lost on the tanker.
Trawler SOUTHERN MAID
rescued the survivors from
both ships.
_____
During the night of 25/26
May, light cruisers DIDO
and AJAX and destroyers KELVIN, JACKAL, and NAPIER swept
north of Crete.
_____
Greek steamer LEROS
(846grt) was sunk by German
bombing at Heraklion.
_____
An Italian convoy departed
Naples on the 24th for
Tripoli with troopships CONTE ROSSO (17,879 tons; with
2729 troops and crew),
MARCO POLO (12,272grt), VICTORIA (13,098grt), and
ESPERIA (11,398grt)
escorted by destroyers FRECCIA and CAMICIA NERA and
torpedo boats PROCIONE,
ORSA, and PEGASO.
The convoy was supported
by heavy cruisers TRIESTE and BOLZANO and destroyers
CORAZZIERE, LANCIERE, and ASCARI.
The convoy was just
clearing the Straits of Messina
on the 25th when submarine UPHOLDER sank the CONTE ROSSO
ten miles 85° from
Capo Murro di Porco.
Torpedo boats CIGNO,
PALLADE, and CLIO were
involved in rescuing the survivors from the troopship.
After the loss of the
CONTE ROSSO, the convoy
returned to Naples.
_____
Convoy HG.63 departed
Gibraltar escorted by sloop SCARBOROUGH, Dutch submarine
O.23, and corvettes GERANIUM and
JONQUIL, and anti-submarine trawler LADY HOGARTH.
The corvettes, submarine,
and trawler were detached
on the 31st.
On 2 June, the convoy was
joined by destroyers
CAMPELTOWN, WANDERER, and WESTCOTT, corvettes AURICULA,
MARIGOLD, and
PERIWINKLE, and catapult ship PEGASUS.
Catapult ship PEGASUS was
detached on 8 June.
The convoy arrived at
Liverpool on 9 June.
_____
British oiler CAIRNDALE
and store ship CITY OF DIEPPE departed Gibraltar,
escorted by submarine SEVERN. The storeship was detached
in 43-00N, 35-00W for St Johns, Newfoundland. The oiler and
submarine patrolled in the vicinity
of that position to refuel British ships as necessary.
On the 25th, submarine
SEVERN was recalled to patrol in the Straits of Gibraltar against a possible
passage by the German battleship BISMARCK.
Submarines SEVERN and CLYDE departed
Gibraltar on the
27th for this patrol.
When word of the sinking
of the BISMARCK was received, submarine SEVERN was ordered to overtake storeship
CITY OF DIEPPE and escort her. This was later cancelled
and submarine was ordered to return to Gibraltar. Oiler
CAIRNDALE was ordered to return to Gibraltar.
_____
Destroyer WISHART arrived
at Gibraltar from Bathurst.
_____
Light cruiser DUNEDIN
departed
Gibraltar for Freetown. Her
defective boiler had been blanked off.
_____
Destroyers FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT, and FOXHOUND
departed Gibraltar to meet arriving aircraft carrier
ARGUS and escort
her to Gibraltar.
Monday,
26 May
Battleship RAMILLIES
rejoined convoy HX.127 after
an uneventful part in the BISMARCK
chase.
Destroyers FARNDALE and
HAMBLEDON and sloops SUTLEJ and STORK departed Scapa
Flow at 0700/26th to join
the convoy.
Destroyer HAMBLEDON
arrived at Loch Ewe for
refuelling at 2300/31st.
Destroyer HAMBLEDON and
sloops SUTLEJ and STORK arrived back at Scapa Flow after
this duty on 1 June1400.
_____
Submarine P.32 departed
Holy Loch for the Mediterranean.
On the 31st, the submarine
was damaged by German
bombing near miss off Cape
Finisterre.
Submarine P.32 arrived at
Gibraltar on 3 June and was under repair 4 June to 4
July.
_____
Submarine H.31 ran aground
at Lagan.
The submarine was repaired
at Belfast from 28 May to 9 June.
_____
British steamer GROS
PIERRE (297grt) was damaged by
German bombing off Sunderland.
The steamer was beached.
She was refloated and
repaired.
_____
British trawler H. E.
STROUD (214grt) was damaged
by German bombing ten miles 135° from Lamb Head,
Stromsay. One crewman was
killed.
The trawler was towed by
another trawler to Kirkwall and later repaired.
_____
British commando ship
GLENROY departed Alexandria on the 25th escorted by
anti-aircraft cruiser COVENTRY and destroyers STUART and
JAGUAR.
The movement was covered
by Force A.
The mission was abandoned
later in the day after
damage to the commando ship by bombing attack.
The GLENROY force returned
to Alexandria.
_____
Convoy AN.31 of three
Greek ships departed Alexandria for Crete escorted by
and sloop AUCKLAND.
Convoy AN.31 was joined by
anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA and destroyer DEFENDER.
Greek steamer ALFIOS
(5116grt) returned to Alexandria after an engine
failure.
The convoy was ordered
back to Alexandria on the 27th.
_____
Aircraft carrier
FORMIDABLE launched six Albacore
aircraft for an air raid on Scarpanto in Operation MAQ
3.
Aircraft carrier
FORMIDABLE (Captain A. W. La T.
Bissett) was hit by two bombs and disabled.
Twelve ratings were killed
and ten were wounded on
the aircraft carrier.
Destroyer NUBIAN (Cdr R.
W. Ravenhill) was hit by a
bomb in the stern which destroyed the stern above the
water line, but left
the screws and rudder intact. Destroyer NUBIAN was
escorted back to Alexandria by destroyer JACKAL.
Fifteen ratings were
killed on destroyer NUBIAN and
six were wounded.
Light cruisers AJAX and
DIDO and destroyers JERVIS and DECOY joined
the Force late on the 26th.
The carrier returned to
Alexandria at daylight on the 27th with light cruisers
AJAX and DIDO and destroyers NUBIAN, JACKAL, DECOY,
HEREWARD, JAGUAR, VOYAGER, and VENDETTA.
After emergency repairs,
aircraft carrier
FORMIDABLE departed Alexandria on 23 July and passed through the
Suez Canal on 24 July. She
arrived at Norfolk, Virginia for repairs on 26
August. Repairs were completed
on 12 December 1941.
Destroyer NUBIAN after
emergency repairs proceeded
to Port Tewfik arriving on 13 June. She was drydocked at
Port Ibrahim from 23
July to 10 August. The destroyer was accompanied by
damaged destroyer ISIS to
Aden where she waited a month for the monsson season to
pass. The destroyer arrived at Bombay on 27 September in
company of destroyer ISIS for repairs completed in September 1942.
_____
Minelayer ABDIEL and
destroyers HERO and NIZAM
departed Alexandria on the 26th landed the troops,
originally embarked on
troopship GLENROY, then destroyers ISIS, NIZAM, DECOY,
and HERO, at Suda Bay
during the night of 26/27 May.
Seven hundred and fifty
troops were landed. Nine
hundred and thirty unnecessary personnel were embarked.
The movement was covered
by battleships QUEEN
ELIZABETH and BARHAM with destroyers HASTY, JANUS,
NAPIER, JERVIS, and
KELVIN.
_____
A sweep off Milos by
destroyers NUBIAN, KANDAHAR,
and JANUS in the night of 26/27 May with a feint staged
by light cruiser AJAX
and DIDO and destroyers NAPIER, KELVIN, and JACKAL was
cancelled after air
attacks which damaged aircraft carrier FORMIDABLE and
destroyer NUBIAN.
_____
Greek steamer EMMANUEL
PTERIS (145grt) was sunk by
German bombing in Candia Harbour.
_____
Greek steamer ROKOS
(6426grt) was sunk by German
bombing in Suda Bay.
_____
Italian torpedo boats
CIRCE, CALLIOPE, CLIO, and
PERSEO laid mines east of Malta.
_____
An Italian supply convoy
of steamers ANDREA GRITTI
(6338grt), SEBASTIANO VENIER (6311grt), MARCO FOSCARINI
(6342grt), RIALTO (6099grt), ANKARA (4768grt), and
BARBARIGO (5293grt), escorted by
destroyers VIVALDI and DA NOLI and torpedo boats CIGNO,
PEGASO, PROCIONE,
departed Naples for Tripoli.
Distant cover was given by
cruiser CARDONA and destroyers
MAESTRALE and GRECALE.
An air attack on the
convoy from aircraft from Malta damaged steamers
SEBASTIANO VENIER and MARCO
FOSCARINI.
The convoy arrived at
Tripoli on the 28th.
_____
Dutch gunboat VAN
KINSBERGEN captured Vichy French
steamer WINNIPEG (8379grt) east of Madagascar.
_____
Convoy BA.2 departed
Bombay, escorted by armed merchant cruiser KANIMBLA,
which was detached on the 31st. The convoy arrived at
Aden on 8 June.
Tuesday,
27 May
Heavy cruiser DEVONSHIRE
departed
Liverpool to
rejoin the Home Fleet after refitting which began on 14
February.
The heavy cruiser arrived
at Scapa Flow on the 28th.
_____
Light cruisers GALATEA and
AURORA arrived at
Hvalfjord.
On the 28th, CS.2
transferred to light cruiser
AURORA from light cruiser GALATEA.
Light cruiser GALATEA then
departed Hvalfjord on
the 28th for the Clyde to store and embark passengers
for the Mediterranean.
The light cruiser arrived
in the Clyde on the 30th.
Light cruiser GALATEA
continued on and arrived at Plymouth on the 31st.
_____
Convoy OB.326 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyer SKATE and ALISMA. The
corvette was detached the next day. Destroyers
ASSINIBOINE and SALISBURY, corvettes ABELIA and ANEMONE,
anti-submarine
yacht PHILANTE, and anti-submarine trawler joined on the
23rd. The escort was
detached when the convoy was dispersed on the 26th.
_____
Destroyer MATABELE
completed repairs at Barrow.
Leaving Barrow on 4 June,
the destroyer ran aground
on 5 June and returned for further repair.
The destroyer was under
repair until August.
_____
Minelayer TEVIOTBANK,
escorted by destroyer
COTSWOLD, laid minefield BS.62 off the east coast of
England.
_____
Anti-aircraft ship
ALYNBANK departed Scapa Flow at 2100 and met convoy
WN.32 in the Pentland Firth.
Off Buchan Ness on the
28th, the ship transferred
to convoy EC.25. In the early part of the morning of 29
May, the ship
transferred to convoy WN.33. The convoy was taken to
Methil arriving at noon on the 30th.
_____
Ocean boarding vessel
REGISTAN (5886grt, A/Cdr E.
A. Divers RNR), en route to Southampton for refitting,
was damaged off Cape Cornwall by German bombing.
Lt Cdr J. W. Tone RNR,
P/T/Lt G. Cox RNR, Midshipman H. C. R. Powell RNR,
T/A/Gunner H. N. Watson, T/Lt A. G. Muir RNR, T/Lt Cdr
(E) E. Ashworth RNR, T/Lt (E) G. Bishop RNR, T/Lt D. J.
B. Joel, M. P. RNVR, T/Surgeon Lt A.
T. Leggate RNVR,T/A/Sub Lt (E) C. C. Cuff RNVR, T/A/Sub
Lt (E) J. A. McGough
RNVR, T/A/Sub Lt (E) C. J. Tidey RNVR, T/A/Sub Lt (E) L.
R. Warn RNVR, and
fifty two ratings were lost.
Destroyers WIVERN,
VANSITTART, and WILD SWAN
departed Plymouth to assist the vessel.
Destroyer WILD SWAN picked
up a party of twenty in
charge of T/Paymaster Sub Lt J. S. Learmond RNR. Four
survivors died of wounds.
Destroyer WIVERN picked up
thirty six survivors and
eight dead.
The St Ives lifeboat, two
motor launches, and a tug
was sent to assist.
Cdr Divers and five men
reboarded the vessel which
was taken in tow. The vessel was taken to Falmouth and
beached.
_____
The first CAM ship used by
the British, MICHAEL E, sailed as
escort to convoy OB.327.
However, before she
catapulted her Hurricane
aircraft, she was sunk on 2 June by U.108.
_____
Minesweeping trawler
EVESHAM (239grt, Skipper G. R.
Bull RNR) was sunk by near misses of German bombing off
Yarmouth. No crew
were killed in the loss.
_____
U.107 sank British steamer
COLONIAL (5108grt) in
9-13N, 15-09W. The entire crew was rescued by target
ship CENTURION.
_____
Norwegian steamer ROYKSUND
(695grt) was sunk by
German bombing 50-46N, 5-18W.
Three crew and three
gunners were lost on the
steamer. Ten survivors were rescued by destroyer
CLEVELAND.
_____
Battleship BARHAM was
bombed on Y turret off Kaso
while covering the withdrawal of the minelayer ABDIEL
force.
Seven ratings were killed
and six crew were
wounded.
Battleship BARHAM departed
Alexandria, after emergency repairs, on the 31st
escorted by
destroyers JANUS and KANDAHAR
and sloop FLAMINGO.
The three escorts arrived
back at Alexandria on 1 June.
The battleship was
repaired at Durban, completed 30 July.
_____
Destroyers IMPERIAL,
KIMBERLEY, and HOTSPUR embarked troops for Suda Bay
at Alexandria, but the sailing was cancelled.
_____
Submarine UNBEATEN was
repairing grounding damage
at Malta until 4 June.
_____
Italian destroyer CRISPI,
torpedo boats LIRA and
LINCE, and two MAS boats departed Rhodes to land troops at Sitia
Bay,
Crete during the night of 28/29 May.
_____
Armed trawler THORBRYN
(305grt) was sunk by German
bombing off Tobruk.
_____
Naval whaler SYVERN
(307grt, Lt Cdr R. E. Clarke RNR), on passage from Crete, was sunk by German bombing.
T/Lt (E) J. W. Carr RNR,
and T/Lt A. R. J. Tilston RNR, were wounded.
_____
Greek steamers ANTONIOS
(1187grt) and JULIA
(4352grt) was sunk by German bombing at Suda
Bay.
The crews were landed safely in Crete.
_____
Submarine TRUANT sighted
as suspicious tanker in
40-13N, 38-19W, but lost contact. The submarine was
unable to regain contact.
_____
Convoy HX.129 departed
Halifax, escorted by armed merchant cruiser CHITRAL and
destroyers BUXTON and ST
CROIX; the destroyers
were detached the next day.
Convoy BHX.129 departed
Bermuda on the 27th escorted by ocean escort armed merchant cruiser RANPURA.
The convoy rendezvoused with convoy HX.129 on the 31st
and the armed merchant
cruiser was detached.
Battlecruiser REPULSE
joined on the 31st. On 3
June, corvettes COLINGWOOD and ORILLIA joined the convoy
and were detached on 7 June.
Heavy cruiser SUFFOLK joined the escorted on 4 June and
the
battlecruiser was detached. On 6 June, destroyers
VERITY, VETERAN, and
WOLVERINE and corvettes BEGONIA and CONVOLVULUS joined
and the heavy cruiser
was detached. Destroyers CHELSEA, LINCOLN, MANSFIELD,
and VENOMOUS, catapult
ship SPRINGBANK, corvettes ALISMA, KINGCUP and
SUNFLOWER, and anti-submarine
trawler WALLARD joined. Corvette ALISMA was detached on
10 June and
destroyers CHELSEA, LINOLN, MANSFIELD, VETERAN, and
WOLVERINE and corvette
SUNFLOWER were detached on 11 June. The convoy arrived
at Liverpool on 12 June.
Wednesday,
28 May
Destroyer
BRIGHTON departed Scapa Flow at
1200 on completion of repairs for Loch Alsh.
_____
Light cruiser EDINBURGH
intercepted German steamer LECH (3290grt), which had
left Rio de Janiero on 28
April, in 45-33N, 23-25W, four hundred miles north of
the Azores.
The steamer scuttled
herself.
_____
Convoy OB.327 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyers RAMSEY and RIPLEY.
Destroyer RIPLEY was detached the next day. On the 29th,
destroyer WALKER and
minesweepers HEBE, SEAGULL, and SHARPSHOOTER joined. The
escort was detached
when the convoy dispersed on 1 June.
_____
U.107 sank Greek steamer
PAPALEMOS (3748grt) in
8-06N, 16-18W. Two crew were lost on the steamer.
_____
During the night of 28/29
May, the evacuation of Crete began.
Heraklion, Force B - light
cruisers DIDO, AJAX, ORION with destroyers HOTSPUR,
KIMBERLEY, HEREWARD, JACKAL, DECOY, and IMPERIAL
departed Alexandria on the 28th.
En route on the 28th, both
AJAX and IMPERIAL were near missed by air bombs. Damage
to AJAX also included an aerial torpedo hit which caused
AJAX to return to base. Destroyer IMPERIAL was able to
continue.
Cruiser AJAX sustained
five ratings killed and Commissioned
Gunner C. N. Lewis and eighteen ratings, one dying of
wounds, were wounded.
Destroyer IMPERIAL had one man wounded.
The force arrived at
Heraklion at 2330 and set off
at 0300/29th.
After lifting troops, the
steering gear on IMPERIAL
(Lt Cdr C. A. De W. Kitcat) failed. The destroyer was
abandoned and scuttled
by destroyer HOTSPUR in 35-23N, 25-38E.
Bombing attacks while the
force was returning badly
damaged destroyer HEREWARD (Lt W. J. Munn) which was
later sunk after being
left.
Gunner (T) W. O. Brown was
killed and Lt N. A. E.
P. Acheson, Lt J. R. Paterson, and A/Lt I. B. Souter
RNVR, were missing.
Midshipman P. P. C.
Bateman, Lt (E) D. N.
Callaghan, Lt J. E. Mammatt, Lt W. J. Munn, Lt T. F. P.
U. Page, and
T/Surgeon Lt P. C. Steptoe RNVR, were taken prisoner.
Bateman died as a
prisoner of war on 14 September 1943.
Four ratings were killed
and sixty seven ratings
were missing.
Eighty five ratings were
taken prisoner; one dying
whilst in captivity.
Light cruiser ORION
(Captain G. R. B. Back) was hit
by German bombs on A turret at 0900 and on the bridge at
1045. The cruiser
was also near missed at 0930, causing damage.
Back, Midshipman J. C. R.
Pounsford, Lt Cdr C. M.
Sarsfield-Hall Rtd, Midshipman D. St. C. Reid, Lt Cdr
(E) J. H. Pears, Lt (E)
A. L. C. J. Spearman, Lt (E) D. O. B. Taylor, Paymaster
Midshipman C. J.
Duncan, sub Lt J. A. Osborn RNVR, and ninety seven
ratings were killed.
Eighty four crew, including T/Sub Lt (E) D. Bradshaw,
were wounded. Of the
1100 troops on the cruiser, one hundred and fifty five
were killed and two
hundred and sixteen were wounded.
Cruiser ORION arrived at
Alexandria at 2000/28th.
The cruiser was later
taken to Simonstown for
temporary repair. She departed Aden en route on 29 June.
Light cruiser ORION was under
repair at Simonstown from 14 July to 5 August. The
cruiser then proceeded to
Mare Island, California, where she was under repair from
5 September to 15 February
1942.
Light cruiser DIDO was hit
onB turret by a German
bomb. Twenty seven ratings were killed and ten crew were
wounded and nineteen
soldiers were killed and twenty eight soldiers were
wounded.
Light cruiser DIDO arrived
at Alexandria at 2000/28th.
Light cruiser DIDO
departed Alexandria on the 31st. On 1 June, cruiser DIDO
arrived at Port Said. On 2 July, the cruiser arrived at
Durban. She proceeded on to New York and was repaired in
the Brooklyn Navy Yard
completing on 31 October.
Destroyer DECOY was
damaged by a near miss. She
sustained one crewman killed eight were wounded.
Force B reached Alexandria
at 2200/29th.
Three thousand, four
hundred and eight six troops
were evacuated from Heraklion.
Sphakia, Force C -
destroyers NAPIER, NIZAM,
KELVIN, and KANDAHAR departed Alexandria at the same
time as Force D The group lifted 1000
men without loss.
Force C arrived back at
Alexandria with six hundred and eight troops at
2100/29th.
Cdr G. H. Beale and
Warrant Observer E. S. Wicks,
from GREBE operating from Maleme, were made prisoners of
war on the 29th.
_____
Submarine PERSEUS
unsuccessfully attacked a steamer
in the Gulf of Nauplia.
_____
Greek steamer GEORGOS
(667grt) was sunk by German
bombing at Candia.
_____
Greek steamer AGHIA
KYRIAKI (298grt) was sunk by
German bombing near Cape Kephola, Crete.
_____
Motor launch ML.1030 (Lt
W. M. O. Cooksey RNVR) was
lost on passage from Suda Bay.
_____
Submarine
OLYMPUS arrived at
Gibraltar from Malta.
_____
Submarine
CLYDE departed Gibraltar for
patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
_____
Destroeyrs FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, and WISHART
departed Gibraltar to escort Force H.into port.
Battlecruiser RENOWN,
aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL,
light cruiser SHEFFIELD, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, and
WISHART arrived at Gibraltar on the 29th.
_____
Submarine
SEVERN sighted a
submarine on the surface in 36-58N, 10-48W.
_____
Light cruiser LIVERPOOL
departed Manila for San Francisco for repair of October
1940 bomb damage.
Thursday,
29 May
Heavy cruiser DORSETSHIRE
arrived in the Tyne to refit.
_____
Light cruiser EDINBURGH
arrived at Scapa Flow after Bay of Biscay
patrol.
_____
Convoy OB.328 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyers BEAGLE and BOADICEA.
The
convoy was joined on the 30th by destroyers COLUMBIA and
NIAGARA, sloop
EGRET, minesweepers BRAMBLE and GOSSAMER, and
anti-submarine trawlers LADY
MADELEINE and ST LOMAN. The escort was detached on 2
June when the convoy was
dispersed.
_____
Destroyer LIGHTNING
arrived at Scapa Flow at 2200 from Rosyth to work up.
_____
Ocean boarding vessel
MALVERNIAN captured German
weather ship AUGUST WRIEDT (407grt) 45-20N, 32-10W.
The weather ship was sent
into St John's, Newfoundland with a prize crew. The ship
used under the name
MARIA as a wreck dispersal vessel in the Royal Navy.
_____
U.557 sank British steamer
EMPIRE STORM (7290grt),
a straggler from convoy HX.128, in 55N, 39-50W. Three
crew were lost on the
steamer.
_____
U.38 sank British steamer
TABARISTAN (6251grt) in
6-32N, 15-23W.
Thirty nine crew were
rescued.
_____
On the 29th, prior to
arriving at Gibraltar, Lt P. A. Nedwill, Lt B. P. H.
Brooks, and Leading
Airman J. L. Savill from light cruiser SHEFFIELD were
killed when their Walrus crashed as they were
attempting to deliver a message to battlecruiser RENOWN.
A passenger, Petty
Officer J. W. B. Marjoram, was picked up by destroyer
WISHART, but died of
injuries.
_____
Submarine
SEVERN arrived at Gibraltar.
_____
After an aircraft sighted
a submarine on the
surface in 35-30N, 10-16W, destroyers FORESTER and FURY
and five Motor
Laucnehs departed Gibraltar to search. Destroyer
FORESTER attacked a submarine
on the surface in 35-41N, 10-00W. Italian submarine
VENIERO reported
torpedoing one of the attacking destroyers.
_____
Force D departed
Alexandria at 2100/28th with light
cruisers PHOEBE, having completed her hull repairs, and
PERTH, troopship
GLENGYLE, anti-aircraft cruisers CALCUTTA and COVENTRY,
and destroyers
JERVIS, JANUS, and HASTY.
The anti-aircraft ships
were not to embark troops
and provided anti-aircraft protection only.
During the night of 29/30
May, the evacuation of Crete continued.
Sphakia:Light cruisers
PHOEBE and PERTH, anti-aircraft cruisers CALCUTTA and
COVENTRY, commando ship GLENGYLE, and destroyer JANUS,
HASTY, and JERVIS.
Light cruiser PERTH
carried two landing craft.
After the force had
departed Alexandria on the 28th, it was thought to
recall GLENGYLE and
substitute for her destroyers STUART, JAGUAR, and
DEFENDER. However, the
order came to late to justify sending GLENGYLE back, but
the three destroyers
joined anyway to assist in anti-aircraft protection,
joining at daylight on
the 30th.
Six thousand and twenty
nine troops were embarked.
The Greek Commander in Chief was aboard cruiser PHOEBE.
Damage to this force was
limited to a single bomb
hit in light cruiser PERTH's
engine room on the 30th. The cruiser sustained four
ratings, two Marines, and
seven passengers killed.
The cruiser arrived at
Alexandria on the 30th. She was repaired at Alexandria
in June.
_____
Australian destroyer
VAMPIRE passed through the Suez Canal and departed Suez
to refit at Singapore, arriving on 19 June.
_____
Anti-submarine trawler
SINDONIS (913grt, Chief
Skipper C. W. Freer RNR) was sunk by German bombing in
Tobruk
Harbour.
_____
MTB depot ship VULCAN and
MTB.68 and MTB.215 of the 10th Motor Torpedo Boat
Squadron
departed Port
Said and Alexandria, respectively for Famagusta, via
Port Said and Haifa.
On 1 June, MTB.215 arrived
at Famagusta.
MTB.68
arrived later in the day under tow.
_____
Aircraft carrier EAGLE
departed Freetown, escorted by destroyer VELOX, to
search for German
supply ships in the South
Atlantic.
Light cruiser DUNEDIN was
ordered to join aircraft carrier EAGLE and
rendezvoused on the 31st.
Destroyer VELOX was
detached on 1 June. Light
cruiser DUNEDIN departed on 5 June.
Friday,
30 May
Heavy cruiser DORSETSHIRE
arrived at the Tyne for refitting completed on 15 July.
_____
Light cruisers AURORA and
KENYA departed Hvalfjord for patrol.
_____
Sloop BLACK SWAN departed
Dundee at 2315 on completion of repairs and arrived at
Scapa Flow at 1745/31st
having carried out gunnery practices
en route.
_____
In a flying accident, a
Swordfish of 774 Squadron
was lost near Tintagel. P/T/Sub Lt (A) J. H. Formby
RNVR, Ordinary Seaman E.
W. Page, and Ordinary Telegraphist F. Thurlow were
killed.
_____
Aircraft carrier ARGUS and
destroyers FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT, and FOXHOUND arrived at Gibraltar.
_____
Italian submarine MARCONI
sank Naval tanker
CAIRNDALE (8129grt) 170 miles WSW of Trafalgar, 35-19N,
8-33W. Five crew were
lost on the tanker.
Escorting corvettes
COREOPSIS and FLEUR DE LYS
attacked the submarine.
Destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, and FURY were sent
to assist the corvettes.
Later on the 30th,
corvettes AZALEA and WOODRUFF
and anti-submarine trawler IMPERIALIST joined the
search. Destroyer WRESTLER
and sloop BIDEFORD sailed later.
At 1521, Captain D.8 in
destroyer FAULKNOR reported
that the destroyers, corvettes, and motor launches had
made seven attacks on
submarine contacts. At 0932 on the 31st, destroyers
FAULKNOR, FORESTER, and
FURY were recalled to Gibraltar.
_____
British tanker BRITISH
YEOMAN (6990grt) reported
she had been torpedoed in 35-28N, 8-11W. Destroyer
FAULKNOR and
anti-submarine trawler ALOUETTE departed Gibraltar and
the five motor launches were diverted to this
position. The ship later arrived at Gibraltar and it
was found she had received only slight damage.
_____
U.38 sank British steamer
EMPIRE PROTECTOR
(6181grt) in 6N, 14-25W. Five crew were lost on the
steamer.
_____
U.106 sank British steamer
SILVERYEW (6373grt) at
16-42N, 25-29W. Three crew were lost on the steamer.
_____
British steamer WESTAVON
(2842grt) was sunk on a
mine in 51-36N, 1-11E. The entire crew were rescued.
_____
British steamer KYLECLARE
(700grt) was damaged by
German bombing off Limerick.
_____
During the night of 30/31
May, the evacuation of Crete continued.
Sphakia - destroyers
KELVIN, KANDAHAR, NAPIER, and NIZAM departed Alexandria
at 0600/30th. However, soon after sortie,
destroyer KANDAHAR broke down and forced to return to
Alexandria.
Soon thereafter, destroyer
KELVIN was damaged by a
near miss of an air bomb and also forced to abort. The
destroyer sustained
one rating killed and four crew wounded.
Destroyers NAPIER and
NIZAM continued to Sphakia
and lifting 1510 men. Returning to Alexandria, they were
both damaged by near misses of air
bombs.
Both destroyers sustained
machinery damage from the
near misses, but neither sustained any personnel
casualties.
The destroyers arrived at
Alexandria on the 31st.
_____
Submarine TRIUMPH
torpedoed and damaged Italian
armed merchant cruiser RAMB III
(3667grt), which was en route from Tripoli to Benghazi,
off Benghazi.
_____
Submarine UTMOST attacked
a convoy of steamers
TILLY RUSS and CA'DA MOSTO, escorted by torpedo boats
PALLADE and POLLUCE off
Sirte.
The convoy arrived safely
at Tripoli on the 31st.
_____
Submarine
TORBAY reported
sinking two caiques in the Aegean by gunfire.
_____
Bulgarian steamer
KNYAGUINYA MARIA LUISA (3821grt)
was sunk near Piraeus by a torpedo from British
Wellington aircraft.
The steamer blew up and sank German steamer ALICANTE
(2140grt) and Rumanian steamer JIUL (3127grt)
nearby.
(with thanks
to Massimiliano Stola
- "I believe that it is unlikely that the
torpedo(es) was fired by a Wellington aircraft,
because the trials Wellington/torpedo were carried out
in late 1941. No 38 RAF Squadron was then trained in
the new role, and joined No 201 Naval Cooperation
Group (that was a sort of Coastal Command counterpart
in Egypt). In early 1942 also the No 221 Squadron
arrived in the Middle East, equipped with Wellington
VIII. So there were Wellington torpedo bombers in the
Mediterranean from 1942, but not in mid 1941. I
believe that either it was not a torpedo or it was not
a Wellington."
Response from
Don Kindell quoting http://www.matsas.gr/
- "The
first act of sabotage in the port of Piraeus was on
30th of May 1941. Greek patriots caused a major fire
in the Bulgarian transport vessel "MARIA LUISA". The
vessel was laden with ammunition destined for the
German army that was engaged in the final phase of
the great "Crete Island combat" with Alliance and
Greek rearguards still in the Island.
The Germans
had the command of the port Tugs and compelled them
to tow the burning vessel out of the port. This
operation was extremely dangerous! Tugs "MARA",
"ZOODOHOS PIGI" and Matsas Tugs "AGHIOS DIMITRIOS"
and "AGHIOS NIKOLAOS" were towing from the bow the
vessel on fire, which was expected to explode any
moment. A third Matsas Tug, the "HELLISPONTOS" with
the 25 year old Loucas G. Matsas onboard, was
steaming to the pilot station to pick up a pilot.
"MARIA
LUISA" exploded while being towed to a location near
Vassiliadis Shipyards. The explosion was tremendous
and flying glowing pieces of iron spread the fire to
3 other vessels, the Romanian "ZIUL", the Italian
"ADIS ABEBA" and the German "ALICANTE" which also
exploded shortly after. All with crew onboard.
It was a miracle that the
Greek Tugs suffered only two casualties, one Captain
and one stoker. The city of Piraeus, thanks to these
port Tugs, was rescued from a major catastrophe
because if the casualty was not removed from port,
the fire would spread in shore causing huge damage
and many victims."
_____
Greek steamer AGHIOS
PANTLEMON (105grt) was sunk by
German bombing when she lost touch with her escort of
minesweeper whaler FALK
off Tobruk.
_____
Convoy SL.76 departed
Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser MORETON BAY
to 21 June and corvettes AMARANTHUS to 1 June, ASPHODEL
to 7 June, CLEMATIS
to 1 June, and COLUMBINE to 7 June.
Destroyer VELOX escorted
the convoy from 4 June to
6 June. Heavy cruiser CUMBERLAND escorted the convoy from 10 to 16 June. Corvettes COREOPSIS and FLEUR
DE LYS escorted the convoy from 13 to 18 June. Light
cruiser
SHEFFIELD escorted the
convoy from 14 to 16 June.
On 16 June, destroyers
PIORUN and ROXBOROUGH and
ocean boarding vessels CORINTHIAN and MARON joined to 21
June. Destroyer
WESTCOTT and corvettes AURICULA and PERIWINKLE joined on
18 June to 21 June.
On 19 June, destroyer WANDERER and corvettes FREESIA,
HIBISCUS, and MARIGOLD
joined to 21 June.
The convoy arrived at
Liverpool on 21 June.
Saturday,
31 May
The flag of CS.1 was
transferred from heavy cruiser
NORFOLK to heavy cruiser DEVONSHIRE.
_____
Heavy cruiser SUFFOLK
arrived at Conception
Bay
to refuel. After refuelling, she returned to patrol.
_____
Light cruiser BIRMINGHAM
arrived at Scapa Flow from patrol.
_____
Convoy OB.329 departed
Liverpool, escorted by destroyers CAMPBELTOWN, WANDERER,
and
WESTCOTT and corvettes AURICULA and PERIWINKLE. The
escorted was joined on 1
June by seaplane carrier PEGASUS and corvette MARIGOLD.
The escorted was
detached on 5 June when the convoy was dispersed.
_____
Destroyer WINDSOR departed
Greenock at 1030 for Dundee to carry
out repairs to weather damage.
The destroyer arrived at
1030 on 1 June.
_____
Destroyer IMPULSIVE
departed Scapa Flow at 1130 escorting steamer LADY OF
MANN and AMSTERDAM to Aberdeen where the ships arrived
at 1900.
Destroyer IMPULSIVE
arrived back at Scapa Flow at 2230.
_____
Anti-aircraft ship
ALYNBANK departed Methil and met
convoy EC.24 off may Island. The convoy was escorted to
the north.
In Pentland
Firth, the ship was
detached from the convoy. Ship ALYNBANK arrived at Scapa
Flow at 1800 escorting Dutch submarine O.14 into
harbour.
_____
Convoy WS.8X departed the
Clyde with steamers PORT WYNDHAM
(8580grt), DUCHESS OF BEDFORD (20,123grt),
and WAIWERA (10,800grt) and armed merchant cruiser
ESPERANCE
BAY.
Aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS and light cruiser
NEPTUNE escorted the convoy from 31 May to 5 June.
Heavy cruiser NORFOLK was
with the convoy from 31 May to 11 June, when
the convoy arrived at Freetown.
Destroyers ASSINIBOINE and
SAGUENAY escorted
the convoy locally.
The convoy was escorted by
destroyers SHERWOOD,
LEGION, PIORUN, WIVERN, WILD SWAN, VANSITTART, SAGUENAY, ST MARYS, and BRIGHTON from
31 May to 3 June. All, but WIVERN, WILD SWAN,
and VANSITTART, returning to England.
Armed merchant cruiser
ESPERANCE
BAY
was detached on 3 June.
Destroyers WIVERN, WILD
SWAN, and VANSITTART
arrived at Gibraltar on 6 June.
Destroyer VELOX and
corvette ASTER joined the
convoy on 9 June and escorted the convoy into Freetown
on 11 June.
The convoy departed
Freetown and escorted by light cruiser NEPTUNE. They
arrived at Capetown on 24 June.
Convoy WS.8 X departed
Capetown on 28 June,
escorted by light cruiser NEPTUNE. The convoy called at
Kilindini on 6 July
and departed the same day for Aden. They arrived on 11
July and proceeded
independently to Suez arriving on 15 July.
_____
U.38 sank Norwegian
steamer RINDA (6029grt) in
6-52N, 15-14W.
Thirteen crew were lost on
the steamer.
_____
U.69 sank British steamer
SANGARA (5445grt) in the harbour of Accra.
The Master was killed.
The steamer sank to the
bottom of the harbour, but
was later salved. She was towed to Shields for repairs.
_____
U.106 sank British steamer
CLAN MACDOUGALL
(6843grt) at 16-50N, 25-10W. Two crew were lost on the
steamer.
_____
U.107 sank British steamer
SIRE (5664grt) at 8-50N,
15-30W. Three crew were lost on the steamer.
_____
U.147 badly damaged
British steamer GRAVELINES
(2491grt), a straggler from convoy HX.127, in 56N,
11-13W.
Eleven crew were killed.
The afterpart of the ship
was sunk by gunfire. The
forepart in tow arrived in the Clyde on 3 June.
_____
During the night of 31
May/1 June, the final night
of evacuation of Crete took place.
Sphakia - light cruiser
PHOEBE, minelayer ABDIEL,
and destroyers JACKAL, KIMBERLEY, and HOTSPUR departed Alexandria
at 0600/31st and lifted 3710 men in the last night
of the evacuation.
Anti-aircraft cruisers
CALCUTTA (Captain D. M. Lees DSO) and COVENTRY sortied
from Alexandria on 1 June to assist this force, but
CALCUTTA was sunk at 0945 on 1 June soon after leaving
port
in 41-55N, 28-15E.
Cdr G. P. Hunter-Blair Rtd
and Lt F. J. March and
one hundred and one ratings were killed. One Marine and
four ratings were
missing.
Ten ratings died of
wounds.
Cdr (E) R. H. Bryan RNR,
and Sub Lt G. A. J. Wells RNVR, and twelve
ratings were wounded.
Anti-aircraft cruiser
COVENTRY picked up 255 survivors from the cruiser.
_____
In the evacuation of Crete, 16,511 were disembarked at
Alexandria. In
addition to the evacuations by Royal Navy ships, 54 men
were evacuated by
flying boat on the 31st/1 June.
_____
The following merchant
ships were seized at Suda Bay
and taken for use by Italy and Germany.
British steamer ARAYBANK
(7258grt) was set on fire
by German bombing at Suda Bay on the 16th. Fell
into German hands when the Island fell.
Steamer ARAYBANK was taken
to Trieste.
British steamer DALESMAN
(6343grt) was damaged by
German bombing at Suda Bay on the 14th and
beached.
The steamer was taken to
Trieste and renamed PLUTO.
Greek steamer NICOLAUOU
OURANIA (6397grt) was
damaged by German bombing at Suda Bay
on the 16th. The steamer was beached.
The steamer was renamed
NIKOLAUS for German
service.
British tanker OLNA
(7073grt) was damaged by German
bombing on the 18th at Suda Bay
and beached.
The tanker was taken over
by the Germans.
_____
Italian torpedo boat
PLEIADI was damaged by an
Italian bomber falling out of control off Tobruk. Her
superstructure was
destroyed and her hull was damaged by fire. The torpedo
boat was run aground
to prevent sinking.
While being salvaged, she
was further damaged by
RAF bombers on 13 October 1941. The torpedo boat was
written off as a
constructive total loss.
_____
American aircraft carrier
YORKTOWN, heavy cruiser VINCENNES, and destroyers SAMPSON and SWIN departed
Bermuda on neutrality patrol. The group arrived back at Hampton Roads on 12
June.
May,
miscellaneous
Review of damage to
British warships in operations
off Crete.
Requiring routine repairs
before further operations
- destroyers JERVIS, JAGUAR, and GRIFFIN.
Restored to action within
a fortnight - light
cruiser AJAX and destroyers HAVOCK, KINGSTON, and NIZAM.
Restored to action within
several weeks - light
cruisers PERTH, NAIAD, CARLISLE and
destroyers NAPIER, KIPLING, and DECOY.
Restored to action only
after extensive repairs -
aircraft carrier FORMIDABLE, light cruisers DIDO, ORION
and destroyers KELVIN
and NUBIAN.
The only undamaged ships
in the Mediterranean Fleet
were light cruiser PHOEBE, anti-aircraft cruiser
COVENTRY, destroyers HERO,
ILEX, ISIS, JANUS, JACKAL, HOTSPUR, KANDAHAR, KIMBERLEY,
and HASTY. Destroyer
WATERHEN, which was repairing and refitting earlier
damage, did not take part
in any Crete operations.
_____
British A.20 was commanded
by T/Sub Lt A Howarth
RNVR, during the evacuation of Crete.
