HMS Enterprise (D52)
Enterprise in November 1943
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Enterprise |
Builder | John Brown & Company, (Clydebank, Scotland) |
Yard number | 484 |
Laid down | 28 June 1918 |
Launched | 23 December 1919 |
Commissioned | 7 April 1926 |
Decommissioned | 13 January 1946 |
Identification | Pennant number: D52 |
Motto |
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Honours and awards |
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Fate | |
Badge | On a field red, a lion rampant under a star silver. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Emerald-class light cruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | 570 ft (173.7 m) |
Beam | 54 ft 6 in (16.6 m) |
Draught | 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 4 × shafts; 4 × geared steam turbines |
Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement | 572 officers and ratings |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Aircraft carried | 1 × Seafox |
Aviation facilities | 1 × catapult (later removed) |
HMS Enterprise was one of two Emerald-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. She was built by John Brown & Company, with the keel being laid down on 28 June 1918. She was launched on 23 December 1919, and commissioned on 7 April 1926. She was the 14th ship to serve with the Royal Navy to carry the name Enterprise, a name which is still used in the Royal Navy today.
Enterprise was completed with a prototype twin 6" turret in place of the original design two forward single mounts; and with the trials proving successful it was retained for the rest of her service career. This turret was later worked into the design of the
Service history
Pre-war
After several months in home waters, Enterprise served with the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies her first commission ending in December 1928. Her first commission was remarkable mostly for its culmination and the events that took place between 19 September and 10 December 1928 which are outlined under the history of the Enterprise Cup, a rugby union trophy that is still contested to this day in Kenya. Enterprise undertook several subsequent commissions on the East Indies Station, until she returned home and was reduced to care and maintenance on 4 July 1934, followed by a major refit. She returned to the East Indies in January 1936.
On the afternoon of 4 May 1936, Enterprise departed Djibouti in French Somaliland carrying the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie – who had fled there as Italy completed its conquest of Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War – and transported him to Haifa in the British Mandate of Palestine, beginning his five-year period in exile in England at Fairfield House, Bath before he returned to Ethiopia in 1941.[1]
The cruiser
Second World War
Initial stages
At the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Enterprise was recommissioned and joined Atlantic patrols with the 4th Cruiser Squadron. She later joined the North America and West Indies Squadron. Enterprise was employed on Atlantic escort duties with the Halifax Escort Force in 1939–1940. In October 1939, she oversaw the transfer of £10 million (£660 million in today's currency) in gold bullion to Canada during Operation Fish.
In April 1940, she was transferred to the
After some repairs, Enterprise joined the newly formed
Outside home waters
Force H was then re-organised and Enterprise was sent to
In early 1941, she was redeployed to the Indian Ocean where, accompanied by a sizeable fleet of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships led by the aircraft carrier Hermes, she participated in a search for the German cruiser Admiral Scheer. After the search was abandoned, Enterprise took up convoy escort duty before being sent to Basra after a pro-German revolt by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani started the Anglo-Iraqi War. The war was won by the end of May, after which Enterprise was released back into convoy escort duty in the Indian Ocean.
In November, she was under refit and repair in
Home waters
On 25 December 1942, she returned to Clyde for extensive refit and modernisation works, which were completed only in October 1943. Trials and tests continued throughout November.
In late December 1943, she was deployed with the cruisers Gambia and Glasgow for Operation Stonewall.
On 28 December, she engaged a force of 11 German destroyers and torpedo boats, the tardy escort for their blockade runner Alsterufer (which had been sunk the previous day by air attack). Enterprise sank the torpedo boat T26 with a torpedo, while T25 and Z27 were also sunk. Four other German ships were damaged in the engagement.
From 3–29 February 1944, Enterprise was docked at Devonport for refit, and from 27–31 March she was fitted for missile jamming gear at Devonport.
The invasion of Normandy
In May, Enterprise was then assigned to Bombardment Force "A" with British ships Hawkins, Black Prince, Erebus, Netherlands ship Soemba, and US ships Nevada, Tuscaloosa, and Quincy. She was in sub-group Assault Force "U" (for Utah Beach), of which she was the lead ship.
When the
In July, she was deployed off the French coast in support of British operations, and on 17 July, she provided naval gunfire for two days in support for British attacks near Caen with the cruiser Mauritius and the monitor Roberts. In September, she was deployed in a similar capacity off the Dutch coast in support of the Second Army; however, she was not required to support the troops.
In October, after a contemplated transfer to the Royal Canadian Navy was not implemented, Enterprise was taken out of active service and placed in reserve at Rosyth.
Post-war
Starting in May 1945, Enterprise helped return British troops from Asia and Africa. On 13 January 1946, she returned to the United Kingdom for the final time. She was handed over to BISCO for scrapping on 11 April, arriving at J Cashmore in Newport, Wales, on 21 April for breaking-up.
Armament refits
Throughout her service, Enterprise was refitted with a slightly differing array of weaponry. Below is a table of the new armament after her first refit:
Dates | Armament |
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Aug 1939 - Aug 1942 | 1 × 2 6-inch turret 5 × 6-inch single guns 2 × 0.5-inch MG quadruple guns 4 × 2 pdr pom-pom single guns 4 × 21-inch quadruple torpedo tubes |
Apr 1943 - Apr 1944 | 1 × 2 6-inch turret 5 × 6-inch single guns 2 × 2 pdr pom-poms quad guns 4 × 2 pdr pom-pom single guns 6 × 20 mm dual power-operated guns 4 × 21-inch quadruple torpedo tubes |
Apr 1944 - 1945 | 1 × 2 6-inch turret 5 × 6-inch single guns 2 × 2 pdr pom-poms quad guns 4 × 2 pdr pom-pom single guns 6 × 20 mm dual power-operated guns 6 × 20 mm single guns 4 × 21-inch quadruple torpedo tubes |
Battle honours
For her service in the Second World War, Enterprise was awarded four battle honours:
In addition, the ship inherited a battle honour from the
- Havana(1762)
References
Notes
- ^ Barker, A.J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 131.
- ^ "Journey of a Lifetime The visit of HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" (PDF).
- ^ Kindell, Don. "Naval Events, May 1940, Part 4 of 4 Wednesday 22nd – Friday 31st". Naval-History.net. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
- ^ Warship International, No. 1, 1997, p. 7.
Bibliography
- ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
- McBride, K. D. (1996). "Es and Super-Es". Warship International. XXXIII (3): 257–278. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- ISBN 1-86019-874-0.
- Woodbridge, W. D. (1997). "Re: E's and Super Es". Warship International. XXXIV (1): 8. ISSN 0043-0374.
External links
- HMS Enterprise at Uboat.net
- NAVAL-HISTORY.NET
- A History of Ships Named Enterprise
- "HMS Enterprise". Clydebuilt Ships Database. Archived from the original on 20 September 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
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