1 9 3 9
August Part
of 9th Cruiser Squadron.
September Deployed
on convoy defence between Freetown and Cape of Good Hope.
2nd Took passage from Gibraltar for trade
defence in the South Atlantic.
8th Arrived at Freetown.
28th On arrival at Capetown
taken in hand for repair.
October Transferred
to China Station for service with 5th Cruiser Squadron.
13th Passage to Singapore with calls at
Mauritius and Colombo.
31st Joined Squadron
at Singapore.
November
2nd Passage to Hong Kong for refit
6th Taken in hand for
refit.
24th Resumed Squadron
duties on completion.
December Deployed
on trade defence and patrol in South China Sea.
21st Transferred to 9th Cruiser Squadron on China Station.
1 9 4 0
January Deployed
on trade defence in East Indies area.
to
February
March
23rd Joined British Malaya Force on
formation.
Carried out surveillance of German shipping in Dutch East
Indies ports.
These
included ss BITTERFELD, ss
FRANKEN, ss RHEINLAND, ss
SONEK and
ss WUPPERTAL.
April Surveillance and patrol duties in
continuation.
May Deployed in Malacca Strait and Singapore areas on
surveillance and trade defence.
to
June
July Under refit in Singapore.
August Post
refit trials
10th On completion deployed on trade
protection and surveillance duty in China Sea.
September
20th Joined HM Cruisers CANBERRA (RAN), CAPETOWN and HM Armed
Merchant Cruiser
WESTRALIA
(RAN) in Hunting Group to search for German raider ATLANTIS
October
29th Returned to Singapore for trade
defence in Malacca Straits and Dutch East
Indies.
November Trade
protection duty in continuation.
to
December
1 9 4 1
January Trade defence deployment in continuation.
February Passage
to Fremantle for military convoy escort.
12th Escorted Convoy US9 Including rms QUEEN MARY, rms AQUITANIA, rms MAURITANIA
and Dutch liner NIEUW AMSTERDAM from Fremantle for passage in Indian
Ocean.
16th Detached to escort
rms QUEEN MARY to Singapore.
March Deployed
on trade defence in Malacca Straits and Dutch East Indies.
April Deployed
in Indian
Ocean
for interception of commerce raiders and trade defence.
to
May
June Passage to Singapore.
July Under refit in Singapore.
to
August
September Post
Refit trials.
October On
completion resumed trade protection and Interception duties.
November
18th Relieved HM Australian Cruiser SYDNEY as
escort for torpedoed troopship ZEALANDIA
from
Sunda Strait to Singapore.
December
8th Transferred to
5th Cruiser Squadron after outbreak of war with Japan.
12th Deployed for
escort of convoy between Suda Strait and Singapore.
19th Escorted troopship taking survivors from
HM Battlecruiser REPULSE and HM Battleship
PRINCE OF WALES to Colombo.
20th Joined China Force on formation and took
passage to Singapore.
1 9 4 2
January
5th Embarked Naval Staff at Singapore for passage to Batavia from Singapore.
6th Joined Striking
Force.
(See
OPERATION PACIFIC by E Grey, ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by C
Barnett
and WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO).)
8th Passage in Indian Ocean with HM Cruiser EXETER and HM Indian Sloop JUMNA to Addu
Atoll to reinforce escort of military convoy DM1.
(Note:
This was the first of a series of convoys taking troops to reinforce the Singapore
garrison after the Japanese invasion of Malaya
9th Joined DM1 at Addu Atoll.
10th Dutch cruiser DE RUYTER, HM Destroyers
ENCOUNTER, JUPITER and VAMPIRE
joined convoy escort.
13th Detached from DM1
after arrival at Singapore.
19th Escorted troopship from Singapore taking survivors from HM
Battlecruiser REPULSE and
February
6th Relieved HM Australian Cruiser CANBERRA off Christmas Island, south of Java, as escort for
Convoy
MS3 for passage to
Palembang, Sumatra with HM Cruiser DRAGON.
10th Passage to Singapore with HM Destroyer JUPITER, H M
Destroyer STRONGHOLD and HM
Auxiliary KEDAH to evacuate RAF personnel.
11th Under air attack
on passage to
Singapore.
12th Escorted coastal steamers carrying
evacuees from Singapore.
Under
air attack when north of
Sunda Strait and hit forward causing loss of
6" mounting.
16th Withdrawn from
area at Batavia.
Escorted merchant ship for part of passage to Colombo.
17th Detached and took passage for Fremantle.
March Deployed
for trade defence in Indian Ocean.
13th Intercepted German
ss DOGGERBANK laying mines off Capetown.
As
challenge by visual signalling was correctly answered using name of British ss
LEVERBANK,
ship was allowed to proceed.
Passage to USA for repair of
bomb damage, with call at Azores.
April
9th Under repair in New York as US Navy
dockyard.
(Note:
Work included preparation for later installation of surface warning Radar Type
273
and warning radar Type 286, a modified RAF ASV equipment.
For
details of development and use of radar by RN see RADAR AT SEA by D Howse)
June Carried
out Post refit trials
July Passage to UK.
August Taken
in hand for completion of radar outfit installation and other outstanding
changes not
in USN shipyard.
September Carried
out Worked-up at Scapa Flow for service with 5th Cruiser Squadron in Eastern Fleet.
October
4th Joined military convoy WS23 in Clyde as Ocean Escort with HM Cruiser
DESPATCH and
HM
Armed Merchant Cruiser QUEEN OF BERMUDA during Atlantic passage.
15th Detached from U523
with Ocean Escort before arrival at Freetown.
20th Rejoined W323 as Ocean Escort on
departure from Freetown for Durban.
(Note:
HM Armed Merchant Cruiser CARTHAGE and Greek destroyer KANARIS
were also
part of Ocean Escort.)
23rd HMS DESPATCH joined Ocean Escort.
November
5th Detached from
WS23 on arrival at
Durban.
Deployed with Squadron for trade defence in Indian Ocean.
December Indian Ocean deployment in
continuation.
30th Taken in hand for
refit and repair at
Bombay.
1 9 4 3
January Under refit.
to
February
March On
completion of post refit trials resumed Squadron trade defence duties.
April Deployed
in Indian
Ocean
for convoy defence duty.
5th Joined military convoy MS27 in Indian Ocean during its passage from Durban.
Relieved HM Cruiser FROBISHER as Ocean Escort with HMS CARTHAGE.
9th Detached from
WS27 on arrival at
Aden.
10th Deployed for
defence of Persian Gulf convoys.
28th At Bahrein during
Persian Gulf convoy
defence.
May Deployed In Persian Gulf for convoy defence and support of
military operations.
June Resumed
Indian
Ocean
convoy defence based at Kilindini.
to
September
October Withdrawn
from operational service.
23rd Took passage from Seychelles to UK.
November Arrived
at Portsmouth after call at Plymouth.
December Reduced
to Care and Maintenance.
1 9 4 4
January Under care and maintenance at Portsmouth.
Nominated
for support of Normandy landings after refit
(Note:
Ship to be sunk as part of GOOSEBERRY No 5 off Ouistreham.
February Under refit at Portsmouth.
to April (Note Main armament retained and 24 20mm Oerlikon
guns fitted.
May On completion prepared for use as part of
breakwater off Normandy.
Passage
to Oban to join Blockships..
27th At Oban
June
2nd Took passage to Channel under own power
with Blockships.
4th Operation postponed for 24 hours.
Diverted to
Poole.
6th Passage to Ouistreham
9th Sunk as part of
No. 5 GOOSEBERRY breakwater in British Assault Area.
(Note:
Deployed as Senior Officer for CORNCOB to establishment of Blockships
providing shelter for small craft during the assault
(Operation NEPTUNE)
For
full details of naval activities prior to and during the landings see LANDINGS
IN
NORMANDY June 1944 and
OPERATION NEPTUNE by Kenneth Edwards).
July In use as SNO CORNCOB.
August
3rd Hulk hit by German torpedo during
series of attacks off Beachhead.
