HMS Malaya
Malaya about 1919–1921
| |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Malaya |
Namesake | Federated Malay States |
Ordered | 1913 |
Builder | Armstrong Whitworth, South Tyneside |
Cost | £2,945,709 |
Laid down | 20 October 1913 |
Launched | 18 March 1915 |
Commissioned | 1 February 1916 |
Decommissioned | 1 December 1944 |
Stricken | 12 April 1948 |
Identification | Pennant number: 01 |
Motto | Malem Fero Malis ("I bring evil to the evil") |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 20 February 1948 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Queen Elizabeth-class battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 639 ft 9 in (195 m) |
Beam | 90 ft 7 in (27.6 m) |
Draught | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 4 shafts; 2 steam turbine sets |
Speed | 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) |
Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 1,217 (1919) |
Armament |
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Armour |
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HMS Malaya was one of five
Design and description
The Queen Elizabeth-class ships were designed to form a fast
Malaya had a
The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight
Malaya was completed with two
The
The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. Exactly when the platforms were removed is unknown, but no later than Malaya's 1934–1936 reconstruction.[7]
Construction and career
First World War
Malaya was built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction.
Malaya served in Rear-Admiral
Other than Jutland, and the inconclusive
Between the wars
On 17 November 1922 Malaya carried the last Sultan of the
Malaya received a major refit in 1927-29 with funnels trunked and bulges fitted. Second major refit/reconstruction at Devonport from Oct. 1934 to Dec. 1936. Middle Deck armor increased to 5" over magazines and 3.5" over engine rooms. AA armament increase to 8x4" Mk XVI (4x2) and 16-2pdr pompoms (2x8) Torpedo tubes removed and cross-catapult and hangers added amidships. [14]
Second World War
Malaya served in the
Malaya's second big action of her career, and her first of World War II, was the Battle of Calabria, on 9 June 1940. British forces engaged an Italian fleet, including the battleships Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare. Malaya fired several main battery rounds against the Italians while under fire from Conte di Cavour.[15] Through her actions, Malaya helped to chase off all of the Italian warships with no damage received or hits scored, though most of the heavy lifting was carried out by her sister ship Warspite.[16]
She shelled
On 7 March 1941, while escorting convoy SL 67, Malaya encountered the German capital ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau that were conducting the Operation Berlin raid which targeted Allied convoys. By her presence she forced them to withdraw, although a U-boat attack aiming to sink Malaya inflicted some damage on the convoy.[18]
Later that month Malaya was escorting
On 9 July, under the command of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger, Malaya left New York on trials and steamed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to provide protection for an urgent fast convoy. No ships were lost, and Malaya arrived in Rosyth on 28 July. Thereafter she escorted convoys from the United Kingdom to Malta and Cape Town until summer 1943.[12]
Malaya was placed in reserve at the end of 1943. At this time her entire secondary 6-inch armament was removed and her anti-aircraft armament was enhanced. Between 15 and 17 May 1944, Malaya was used in Loch Striven as a target ship for inert Highball bouncing bomb prototypes, one of which punched a hole in the ship's side.[22] She was reactivated just before the Normandy landings to act as a reserve bombardment battleship.[21]
Fate
Malaya was finally withdrawn from all service at the end of 1944 and became an
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Citations
- ^ Burt 2012b, p. 277
- ^ Parkes, pp. 560–561
- ^ Burt 2012b, pp. 284–285, 287
- ^ Burt 2012b, pp. 284–285, 288–289
- ^ Raven & Roberts, p. 20–21, 30
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 21, 26
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 30, 217, 219
- ^ "21 June 1916 – Paul to Ted". familyletters.co.uk. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "HMS Malaya Crew List". www.jutlandcrewlists.org. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 1 (Beatty vs Hipper), retrieved 29 March 2023
- ^ Fisher, David (2009). "Plastic Fantastic". New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ a b "HMS Malaya". www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
- ISBN 9780714652108. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ^ Coway's All The Worlds fighting Ships 1922-1946
- ^ "Action off Calabria". www.regiamarina.net. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "Lots of Bark but No Bite - WW II Naval Battle of Calabria". warhistoryonline. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "Obituary: Commander Henry Hatfield". Daily Telegraph. 4 July 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 62.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Malaya (01)". uboat.net. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ Donnelly, Luke (27 April 2022). "Family pays tribute to 'loving' Royal Navy D-Day veteran from Bognor after death aged 97". SussexLive. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ a b "HMS Malaya (01) of the Royal Navy - British Battleship of the Queen Elizabeth class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
- ISBN 978-0752423869.
- ISBN 0-85052-779-1.
- ^ "The Victoria Institution Web Page: The Presentation of the H.M.S. Malaya Watch Bell". viweb.school. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
References
- Admiralty Historical Section (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. Whitehall Histories: Naval Staff Histories. Vol. II: November 1940–December 1941. London: Whitehall History in association with Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5205-9.
- Atherton, D. K. (2000). "Re: The Photo of HMS Malaya". Warship International. XXXVII (2): 115–116.
- Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-40788-5.
- Burt, R. A. (2012a). British Battleships, 1919–1939 (2nd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-052-8.
- Burt, R. A. (2012b). British Battleships of World War One (2nd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-863-7.
- Campbell, John (1972). Queen Elizabeth Class. Warship Monographs. Vol. 2. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-052-5.
- 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.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1986). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-324-5.
- Director of Naval Construction (1952). H.M. Ships Damaged or Sunk by Enemy Action, 1939–1945 (PDF). Britain: Admiralty. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- Gordon, Andrew (2012) [1996]. The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-336-9.
- OCLC 13614571.
- ISBN 0-679-45671-6.
- ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1976). British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleship and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-817-4.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian & Malizia, Nicola (1987). Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete. London: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-07-0.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Smythe, A. J. (2000). "Re: The Photo of HMS Malaya". Warship International. XXXVII (2): 114.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1999) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-917-8.
- ISBN 1-55750-184-X.