1
9 4 1
September
Contractors trials.
October
Commissioned
for trials.
6th
Build
completion and commenced acceptance
trials.
13th
Docked in Clyde.
November
Carried
out First of Class and special, trials.
to
Nominated for service in Eastern
Mediterranean.
December
1
9 4 2
January
Passage
to Alexandria for support of military operations by
8th Army.
February
Arrived
at Alexandria
and retained for use as AA Guardship
at Suez
March
.
Guardship
deployment in continuation.
to
July
August
Nominated
for support of planned allied landings in North
Africa.
September
Passage
to Gibraltar
to Join Eastern Naval Task
Force
October
Deployed at
Gibraltar.
November
Prepared for support of landings.
8th
Deployed
in support of landings at
Algiers.
(Operation
TORCH - For details see
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY
by C.
Barnett and Naval Staff History).
11th
Damaged in air attacks at Bougie.
Passage to UK
for repair.
December
Under
repair and refit by Cammell Laird shipyard
at Birkenhead.
1
9 4 3
January
Under repair and refit.
to
Radar Type 281 replaced by 279 (See RADAR
AT SEA BY D Howe.)
May
On completion of repair deployed in
central Mediterranean.
June
Post
refit trials and work-up in Home waters.
Nominated for support of allied landings in
Sicily
(Operation HUSKY - For detail see
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY
by C. Barnett and
Naval
Staff History).
Passage to
Algiers
to
join British
Support Force East
July
Deployed
at
Algiers
for HUSKY.
5th
Sailed from
Algiers.
7th
Joined assault convoy KMS18 during
passage to
Sicily.
(Note: Other ships in Support Force East
included HM
Monitor ABERCROMBIE, HM Cruisers
NEWFOUNDLAND,
MAURITIUS,
UGANDA,
ORION, CARLISLE
and COLOMBO
with destroyer
screen.. See
above references.)
10th
Provided gunfire
support with Force Q during landings of
XXX Corps.
August
HUSKY support duties in continuation.
Bombarded coast road
near Taormina
to impede
German retreat.
Covered Commando raid
near Taormina.
Nominated for support of
British landings
on Italian mainland.
(Operation BAYTOWN
- See above references).
September
2nd
Bombarded coast between Reggie Calabria
and Pessaro
with HM Monitors EREBUS,
ABERCROMBIE,
HM Battleships VALIANT, WARSPITE,.
HM Cruisers ORION
and
MAURITIUS.
3rd
Provided naval gunfire support during
landings by British XIII corps near Reggie
and Villa San
Giovanni with HMS ABERCROMBIE, HMS EREBUS,
HMS
ORION,
.
MAURITIUS,
HM River
Gunboats APHIS and SCARAB.
9th
Joined Northern Attack Force (TF85)
for support during Salerno landings.
(Operation
AVALANCHE: For details see above
references.)
13th
Provided gunfire support during German
attacks on bridgehead with HMS MAURITIUS,
to
HMS
ORION, HMS UGANDA, HMS AURORA, US Navy
cruisers USS PHILADELPHIA
16th
USS BOISE
and RN
destroyers.
Under
sustained air attacks including radio
controlled bombs.
See above
references.
October
Military support off Italian
west coast in continuation.
to
On release from Mediterranean
support took passage to UK.
December
1
9 4 4
January
Deployed
in Home waters.
to
March
April
Nominated
for support of allied landings in Normandy
(Operation NEPTUNE)
Allocated
for duty in Bombarding Force D attached to
Force S
May
Prepared
for duty with Bombarding Force at Portsmouth.
(For details of activities prior to and
during
landings see LANDINGS IN NORMANDY.
June 1944 (HMSO) and
OPERATION NEPTUNE
by K.
Edwards).
Nominated target in Pre-Arranged Fire Plan -
Houlgate Battery
or Gorneville sur
Mer as
secondary target.
June
4th
Operation delayed 24 hours.
5th
Joined HM Battleships WARSPITE and
RAMILLIES, HM Cruisers MAURITIUS,
ARETHUSA, DANAE,
FROBISHER and
Polish ORP DRAGON comprising Bombarding
Force
D off Portsmouth.
Passage through swept
channel with
Force D.
6th
On arrival off SWORD
Beach
took up bombarding position.
Provided gunfire support
in accordance with fire-plan.
Right-hand
15in Gun burst jacket.
7th
Returned to Portsmouth
for
repair, and replenishment of stores and
ammunition.
Resumed
support deployment in Eastern Task Force
area.
26th
Provided naval gunfire support for
British Army attacks in Caen
area with HM Battleship
RODNEY,
HM Cruisers ARGONAUT,
BELFAST
and
DIADEM.
July
Gunfire
support to land operations in continuation.
11th
Provided gunfire
support to land operations with HMS
BELFAST.
August
After
release from Post NEPTUNE support remained
in Home waters for support of
planned allied
landings.
September
Nominated
for support of British landings at Walcheren.
(Operation INFATUATE - For details see
ENGAGE THE
ENEMY MORE CLOSELY
and CAMPAIGN
NORTH WEST
EUROPE,
June 1944 to
May 1945 (HMSO).)
October
Joined
HMS WARSPITE and HM Monitor
EREBUS.
31st
Passage to Walcheren
with ships of Bombarding
Squadron.
November.
1st
Provided gunfire
support with Squadron during assault at Westkappelle.
2nd
Provided further
support with HMS EREBUS.
(Note:
HMS WARSPITE had left area.).
December
Deployed
in Home waters for support duties if
required.
1
9 4 5
January
Nominated
for duty in British Pacific Fleet and
prepared for foreign
service in support of planned
to
operations
July
August
Passage to join Fleet.
15th
At Kilindini