HMS Dunedin

Dunedin turning into Gardens Reach on the Brisbane River. South Brisbane wharves in background.
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Dunedin
Builder	Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Hebburn
Laid down	5 November 1917
Launched	19 November 1918
Commissioned	13 September 1919
Fate	Sunk 24 November 1941 by U-124
General characteristics
Class and type	Danae-class light cruiser
Displacement	4,276 tons Full: 5,603 tons After 1924: 4,850
Length	445 ft (136 m)
Beam	46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
Draught	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion	Six Yarrow-type water-tube boilers Parsons geared steam turbines Two shafts 40,000 shp (30 MW)
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h)
Range	2,300 nmi (4,300 km)
Complement	462
Armament	1918: 6 x BL 6-inch (152 mm) L/45 Mark XII on single mountings CP Mark XIV (152 mm) 2 × 3-inch (76 mm) Mk II AA guns 2 × 40 mm QF 2-pounder "pom-pom" AA guns 12 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes (4 triple launchers)
Armour	3 inch side (amidships) 2, 1¾, 1½ side (bow and stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder

HMS Dunedin was a

In 1931 she provided assistance to the town of Napier, New Zealand, after the strong Hawkes Bay earthquake, in a task force with the sloop Veronica and the cruiser Diomede.

Second World War

Early in the

In early 1940 Dunedin was operating in the Caribbean Sea, and there she intercepted the German merchant ship Heidelberg west of the Windward Passage. Heidelberg's crew scuttled the ship before Dunedin could take her. A few days later, Dunedin, in company with the Canadian destroyer Assiniboine, intercepted and captured the German merchant ship Hannover near Jamaica. Hannover later became the first British escort carrier, Audacity. Between July and November, Dunedin, together with the cruiser Trinidad, maintained a blockade off Martinique, in part to bottle up three French warships, including the aircraft carrier Béarn.

On 15 June 1941, Dunedin captured the German tanker Lothringen and gathered some highly classified

Dunedin was part of the escort of Convoy WS 5A when it was attacked by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper.on 25 December 1940. The attack was repulsed by other ships of the escort, without losses to the convoy.^[1]

Dunedin was still steaming in the Central Atlantic Ocean, just east of the St. Paul's Rocks, north east of Recife, Brazil, when on 24 November 1941, at 1526 hours, two torpedoes from the German submarine U-124 sank her. Only four officers and 63 men survived out of Dunedin's crew of 486 officers and men.

Citations

References

• Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85.
  ISBN 0-8317-0303-2
  .
• ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
  .
• ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8
  .
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
  ISBN 0-87021-922-7
  .
• ISBN 1-59114-119-2
  .
• ISBN 1-86019-874-0
  .

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Dunedin (ship, 1919).

• Royal Navy Log Books of the World War 1
• HMS Dunedin at U-boat.net
• Ships of the Danae class

03°00′S 26°00′W / 3.000°S 26.000°W / -3.000; -26.000