HMS Newfoundland (59)
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Newfoundland |
Namesake | Dominion of Newfoundland |
Builder | Swan Hunter, Wallsend |
Laid down | 9 November 1939 |
Launched | 19 December 1941 |
Commissioned | 21 January 1943 |
Identification | Pennant number: 59 |
Honours and awards | Mediterranean 1940–1945, Sicily 1943 |
Fate | Sold to Peruvian Navy, 30 December 1959 |
Badge | A caribou |
Peru | |
Name | BAP Almirante Grau |
Namesake | Miguel Grau Seminario |
Acquired | 30 December 1959 |
Renamed | Renamed Capitan Quinones on 15 May 1973 |
Reclassified | As a static training ship, 1979 |
Fate | Scrapped, 1979 |
General characteristics Post 1951 modernisation | |
Class and type | Fiji-class light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | 169.3 m (555 ft) |
Beam | 18.9 m (62 ft) |
Draught | 5.3 m (17 ft) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
Range | 10,200 nautical miles (18,900 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h) |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Armour | |
Aircraft carried | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Later removed) |
HMS Newfoundland was a
The hospital ship HMHS Newfoundland was a different ship, although also torpedoed in the Mediterranean in 1943.
Early career
Newfoundland was built by Swan Hunter and launched 19 December 1941 by the wife of the then British Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin. The ship was completed in December 1942 and commissioned the next month.
After commissioning Newfoundland joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron,
On 23 July 1943, she was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Ascianghi.[2] Some sources attribute the torpedo to the German submarine U-407.[3] One crewman was killed in the attack. Her rudder having been blown off, temporary repairs were carried out at Malta. Later, steering by her propellers only, and with the assistance of "jury rigged" sails between her funnels, she steamed to the Boston Navy Yard for major repairs.
In 1944 the ship was re-commissioned for service in the Far East. While at
On 6 July Newfoundland left the forward base of Manus in the Admiralty Islands with other ships of the BPF to take part in the Allied campaign against the Japanese home islands. On 9 August she took part in a bombardment of the Japanese city of Kamaishi. Newfoundland was part of a British Empire force which took control of the naval base at Yokosuka.
The ship was present in Tokyo Bay when the Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard the US battleship USS Missouri, on 2 September 1945. Newfoundland was then assigned the task of repatriating British Empire prisoners of war.
She returned to Great Britain in December 1946.
Postwar
Newfoundland was initially in
On 31 October 1956, the Egyptian frigate Domiat was cruising South of the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, when Newfoundland encountered her and ordered her to heave to. Aware of tensions between Britain and Egypt that would lead to the Suez Crisis, Domiat refused and opened fire on the cruiser, causing some damage and casualties. The cruiser, with the destroyer Diana, then returned fire and sank her opponent, rescuing 69 survivors from the wreckage. One man from the Newfoundland was killed and five were wounded.[6]
Newfoundland then returned to the Far East until paid off to the reserve at
Notes
- ^ "The Rev Prebendary Vere Hodge – obituary". Daily Telegraph. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ Reginald Maurice James Hutton (26 July 1943), Operation "Husky" – Letter of Proceedings ADM 1/14477, London: Admiralty
- ^ "HMS Newfoundland (59) (British Light cruiser) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net".
- ^ a b "Command News: H.M.S.Newfoundland". Portsmouth Navy News. No. 4. September 1954. p. 10. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ Colvin R de Silva, Hartal Archived 9 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The War at Sea Archived 12 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
References
- ISBN 1-59114-705-0.
- 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 978-1-5267-9327-0.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
- Murfin, David (2010). "AA to AA: The Fijis Turn Full Circle". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2010. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-84486-110-1.
- 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.