HMS Renown (Maritime
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The
battle cruisers REPULSE and RENOWN were
to have been battleships of the R class.
In December 1914 following his recall to
First Sea Lord Admiral of the Fleet Lord
John Arbuthnot ‘Jackie’ Fisher ordered
that they should be re-designed as
battle cruisers. As such they
constituted everything Fisher loved,
heavy guns and very high speed, but at
the expense of armour protection.
RENOWN-Class
battle cruiser ordered on 29th December
1914 with sister ship REPULSE and laid
down by Fairfield at Govan on 25th
January 1915. This battlecruiser was
launched on 4th March 1916 as her sister
ship RENOWN. She was the 9th RN
ship to bear this name, introduced in
1651 for a 20 gun ship and last
carried by a battleship built in
1859 and sold in 1913. Build was
completed on 20 September 1916.
Following a successful WARSHIP WEEK
National Savings campaign in February
1942 she was adopted by the City of
Leicester.
B
a t t l
e H o
n o u r s
GABBARD
1653 - SCHEVENINGEN
1653 - USHANT 1781 -
EGYPT
1801 -
NORWAY
1940 - ATLANTIC 1940 - SPARTIVENTO 1940 -
MEDITERRANEAN 1941 - BISMARCK
Action 1941 -
MALTA
CONVOYS 1941-42 - ARCTIC 1942 -
NORTH
AFRICA 1942 - SABANG
1944
H
e r a l d i
c
D a t a
Badge:
On
a field Blue a Torch surrounded by a Wreath
all Gold.
M
o t t o
Antiquae
Famae Custos
-
'Guardian of ancient renown'
S
u m m a r
y o
f P r e-W a r S e r
v i c e
1 9 1 6
August
Contractors
Trials
September
20th
- Build completion and commenced
Acceptance Trials
(Note: During speed trials over the
measured mile with a displacement of
27,900 tons she achieved 32.69 knots
with 126,300 shp)
October
On
completion carried out work-up with
ships of Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow
November
to December
(LOG
BOOKS for these months)
Grand Fleet
deployment in continuation.
(Note: A large Fleet was maintained at
Scapa Flow to deal with any attempt by
major German warships to break-out
into the North Sea)
Following
the failure of the British battle
cruisers at Jutland RENOWN was fitted
with an additional 550 tons of armour
plate.
1
9 1 7
Deployment
at Scapa Flow in continuation.
(Note: During this period a Fleet
operation to attack German
minesweeping operations off Heligoland
was covered by battlecruisers of the
Grand Fleet in order to tempt a German
force into action. This was
unsuccessful although a brief
engagement with a German cruiser was
inconclusive.)
1
9 1 8
January
to October
Grand
Fleet duties at Scapa Flow in
continuation.
A
raid by major warships in the Kattegat
was carried out but no German major
ships sailed to force an engagement
Flying
Off Platforms for launch of aircraft
from B and Y 15in Turrets fitted.
(Note: Trials were carried out.)
November
Took
part in escort of surrendered German
Warships during passage to Scapa Flow
for formal surrender ceremony.
(Note: Some of these ships sank in
Scapa Flow after being scuttled by
their crews)
December
Joined
Atlantic Fleet.
Nominated
for refit.
1
9 1 9
(LOG
BOOKS for August 1919 to November
1920)
Under
refit at Portsmouth during which
anti-torpedo Bulges were extended to
improve protection. Armour protection
was improved by installation of 9in
belt taken from a Brazilian ship being
converted for RN use as an aircraft
carrier.
Nominated
for further special duties.
(Note: Flying Off Platforms were
removed and a triple 4in mounting to
provide accommodation for Royal party)
On
relief resumed Grand Fleet service in
Home waters.
1
9 2 0
Embarked
Prince of Wales for Royal Tour in
Australia and New Zealand.
1
9 2 1
Embarked
Prince of Wales for Royal visits to
India, China and Japan.
1
9 2 2
On
return from Royal Tour resumed service
in Home waters with Atlantic Fleet.
1
9 2 3 t o 1 9 2 6
Under
refit by HM Dockyard, Portsmouth from
May 1923 to August 1926.
Work undertaken included, extension of
anti-torpedo Bulges to improve
protection, addition of belt of 9in
armour to improve hull protection.
Nominated
for detached service for Royal visit.
1
9 2 7
Detached
for further Royal Tour duties.
Embarked HRH The Duke of York for
Royal visit to Canada.
1
9 2 8 t o 1 9 3 1
Resumed
Atlantic Fleet duties and later
transferred to Mediterranean Fleet.
Took part in Fleet Exercises and
visits programmes during this period.
Nominated
for major refit and modernisation
including significant improvement to
anti-aircraft defence.
1
9 3 1
Under
refit at Portsmouth during which a new
high angle fire control director was
fitted and AA armament improved by
installation of multi-barrelled
Pom-Pom guns.
1
9 3 2
Resumed
Fleet service in June.
1
9 3 3
During
refit aircraft catapult was fitted for
use by single aircraft.
Resumed
Fleet service on completion.
1
9 3 4 t o 1 9 3 5
Fleet
service in continuation.
Nominated
for major refit and modernisation.
1
9 3 6
January
to August
Fleet
service in continuation.
De-stored
and Paid-off into Dockyard Control at
Portsmouth
September
Taken
in hand for modernisation by HM
Dockyard, Portsmouth
October
to December
Under
refit.
1
9 3 7 t o 1 9 3 8
Refit
work included :
15in
Turrets were modified to increase
the elevation from 20¼ to 30¼.
Bridge structure redesigned similar
to that fitted in NELSON and RODNEY.
Entire secondary armament replaced
by ten twin 4.5in HA mountings for
air defence.
Three 8 barrelled 2 pounder Pom-Poms
were fitted to improve her close
range air defence.
New gunnery control systems were
fitted AFCC Mk VII for the main
battery and HACS Mk IV for the 4.5in
HA.
Two quadruple, deck mounted torpedo
tubes fitted in place of the two
submerged tubes.
Limited improvement of armour
protection, 4in over the magazines
and 2in over the engine rooms.
The 42 Babcock and Wilcox boilers in
6 boiler rooms with 285 psi working
pressure were replaced by 8
Admiralty 3 drum type with 400 psi
working pressure in 4 boiler rooms.
This saved 2500 tons in weight.
The two Brown Curtis direct drive
turbines were replaced by two
Parsons single reduction geared
turbines supplied by Cammell Laird.
These changes increased SHP from
112,000 to 120,000.
Some of the space saved by reducing
the number of boilers was used to
increase fuel storage and thus
increase her range.
Aircraft catapult replaced with
Hangar for stowage and maintenance.
1
9 3 9
January
to April
Refit
work in continuance. Work
substantially completed at the end of
April following which harbour trials
were carried out.
May
15th
- Commissioned for trials her new CO
was Captain
Charles Edward Barrington Simeon RN.
June
to July
Carried
out sea trials.
Over the measured mile with a
displacement of 32,800 tons she
achieved a speed of 29.9 knots with
120,560 shp.
War
Station allocated.
August
28th
–Re-commissioned at Portsmouth with
mainly Devonport crew.
D
e t a
i
l s o
f W
a r S e r v i
c e
(for
more ship information,
go
to Naval
History Homepage
and type
name in Site Search
September
2nd
– Sailed from Portsmouth escorted by
the destroyer SARDONYX.
Off Plymouth SARDONYX detached and
destroyers ELECTRA and ESCORT from
Plymouth took over the escort of
RENOWN.
3rd
– At 1900 hours when the force was 50
miles north of Malin Head when ESCORT
fell astern with engine problems and
ELECTRA detached to assist ESCORT.
RENOWN proceeded independently to
Scapa.
(ELECTRA
and ESCORT never rejoined RENOWN
because at 2330 hours ELECTRA
received a signal that the liner
the SS ATHENIA, 13581 tons had
been torpedoed in position 56-42N,
14-05W and was sinking. Both
destroyers then closed the sinking
liner at an economical 25 knots to
render assistance arriving at
0600/4/9/39)
4th
– At 1100 hours RENOWN arrived at
Scapa and joined the Home Fleet as
part of the Battle Cruiser Squadron
which also included HOOD and REPULSE.
At Scapa RENOWN commenced working up
exercises which were carried out both
inside and outside the Flow.
8th
- At 0600 hours sailed from Scapa Flow
in company with battlecruiser HOOD,
cruisers BELFAST and EDINBURGH
and destroyers FAME, FEARLESS and
FORESTER to patrol between Iceland
and the Faeroes to reinforce the
blockade.
At sea destroyer FURY joined the
Force.
10th
- FEARLESS was detached from the
screen to investigate a merchant ship
which proved to be Swedish.
12th
- BELFAST and EDINBURGH detached for
Sullom Voe.
At 1200 hours the Force less BELFAST
and EDINBURGH arrived back at Scapa
Flow.
Working up exercises resumed both
inside and outside the Flow.
(On
the 21/8/39 undetected by the
Admiralty, the panzerschiffe
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE sailed from
Wilhelmshaven for the Atlantic. On
3/9/39 she was in position 21N,
35W sailing south. She continued
southward keeping away from the
shipping lanes until 26/9/39 when
she was instructed to commence
hostilities against British
shipping only. Actions with enemy
warships were to be avoided, so as
to not risk his ship. He was also
to conduct warfare within the
rules of the International Prize
Law. ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE remained
undetected until 1600/30/9/39 when
in position 09-05S, 34-05W off
Pernambuco, Brazil she [at the
time of the attack she was showing
the name ADMIRAL SCHEER] captured
and sank her first vessel, the
British freighter the SS CLEMENT
5051 tons. Before being seized the
CLEMENT managed to get off a
raider signal. This was the first
indication for the Admiralty that
a raider was active in the South
Atlantic. In response the
Admiralty organised a number of
hunting groups to seek out and
destroy the raider. Until the
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE was encountered
by Force off the River Plate the
Admiralty continued to believe
that the raider was the ADMIRAL
SHEER)
October
2nd
– At 1810 hours RENOWN sailed from
Scapa escorted by destroyers BEDOUIN
and TARTAR and headed for the Butt of
Lewis.
3rd
– At 0010 hours off the Butt of Lewis
RENOWN, BEDOUIN and TARTAR RVed with
the aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL flying
the flag of Vice Admiral Lionel Victor
Wells and the destroyers ASHANTI and
FORESIGHT. The force then headed out
into the Atlantic before turning south
for Freetown.
4th
– ASHANTI, BEDOUIN, FORESIGHT and
TARTAR detached and returned to Scapa.
9th
– When ARK ROYAL and RENOWN were
passing east of the Cape Verde Islands
a Swordfish from ARK ROYAL sighted the
German supply tanker ALTMARK to the
west of the Cape Verde Islands. When
the ALTMARK was challenged she gave
her identity as the US tanker the SS
DELMAR. Vice Admiral Wells decided not
to investigate as he had no destroyers
with him and he was keen to press on
to Freetown. Later it was learned that
the DELMAR was in New Orleans.
11th
– At 0430 hours in position 11-50N,
21W ARK ROYAL and RENOWN were joined
by destroyers HARDY, HASTY and HOSTILE
from Gibraltar.
12th
– At 0900 hours ARK ROYAL, RENOWN,
HARDY, HASTY and HOSTILE arrived at
Freetown.
14th
– At 1800 hours ARK ROYAL, RENOWN the
cruiser NEPTUNE, HARDY, HERO and
HEREWARD, now known as Force K, sailed
from Freetown to patrol towards St
Paul’s Rocks.
24th
– Force K arrived back at Freetown.
28th
– At 2000 hours Force K comprising ARK
ROYAL, RENOWN, NEPTUNE, HARDY, HASTY,
HERO, HEREWARD and HOSTILE sailed from
Freetown and patrolled to the south as
far as Ascension Island.
November
1st
– HERO detached for escort duties.
5th
- In 6N, 17 W, 300 miles WSW of
Freetown Swordfish from ARK ROYAL
sighted the German freighter SS
UHENFELS, (7603grt) which had departed
Lourenco Marques on 13/10/39 with a
cargo of opium, cotton and hides.
HEREWARD was detached from the screen
to investigate, the UHENFELS attempted
to scuttle herself, however, she was
captured by a boarding party from
HEREWARD.
6th
– Force K less HEREWARD arrived back
at Freetown.
7th
– HEREWARD arrived at Freetown with
the UHENFELS. She was taken for
British service and renamed SS EMPIRE
ABILITY.
14th
– At 1800 hours Force K comprising
RENOWN, flying the flag of Vice
Admiral Wells (ARK ROYAL had sailed to
join the French battlecruiser
STRASBOURG) HARDY, HASTY, HERO and
HOSTILE sailed from Freetown to patrol
to the south.
16th
– Force K returned to Freetown.
(The
early return of Force K to
Freetown and the recall of ARK
ROYAL back to Freetown followed
the raider report made by the
tanker SS AFRICA SHELL 706grt. The
tanker was sunk by the ADMIRAL
GRAF SPEE off Lourenco Marques on
15/11/39. On receipt of this
signal the Admiralty changed the
disposition of 3 hunting groups.
Force K was ordered back to
Freetown, refuel, then proceed to
the Indian Ocean)
18th
– Force K comprising ARK ROYAL,
RENOWN, NEPTUNE, HARDY, HASTY, HERO
and HOSTILE sailed from Freetown
heading south for the Cape of Good
Hope.
Two hours after leaving Freetown
HARDY, HASTY, HERO and HOSTILE
detached to patrol between Freetown
and Pernambuco.
21st
– At 0842 hours when Force K were 150
miles north east of Ascension Island
when they picked up a signal from the
freighter MV WAIMARAMA 12843grt
stating that she had sighted the
German blockade runner the SS ADOLF
WOERMANN 8577grt in position 250 miles
north of St Helena Island.
Force K altered course and NEPTUNE was
detached and sent ahead at full speed
to close the position given by the
WAIMARAMA, who was continuing to
shadow the ADOLF WOERMANN.
22nd
– At 0800 hours 366 miles north of St
Helena Island the NEPTUNE intercepted
the ADOLF WOERMANN. On sighting the
cruiser the German ship was
evacuated and the sea cocks opened
and despite strenuous efforts to
save her, the German ship was
scuttled and the NEPTUNE returned to
FREETOWN 162 prisoners.
The search for the German ship had
taken Force K nearly 200 miles to
the eastward and, to save fuel, it
proceeded towards the Cape by the
route east of St. Helena.
(The
Commander-in-Chief South
Atlantic
subsequently expressed the view
that this might have been the
reason for Force K missing the
ALTMARK which was awaiting for
the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE away from
the Cape shipping routes through
which Force ‘K’ would otherwise
have passed)
28th
– RENOWN and ARK ROYAL arrived at
Simonstown.
(On
27 November the Admiralty ordered
Force K with Force H (cruisers
SUSSEX
and SHROPSHIRE
) to
form a patrol south of the Cape of
Good Hope on the meridian of 20
degrees East)
29th
– RENOWN and ARK ROYAL sailed from
Simonstown to commence their patrol
along the 20 degree meridian between
longitude 38 and 40 south. The weather
conditions were too adverse for ARK
ROYAL to operate aircraft.
December
1st
– Early in the morning Force K and H
RVed in the patrol area. The weather
continued to be unsuitable for flying
such that only once in the five day
patrol was flying possible. This
precluded the patrol being extended far
enough to the south to intercept a
raider bent on evasion. In any case, the
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE had returned to the
Atlantic on 21/11/39 a week before the
patrol commenced.
2nd
– At 1030 hours Force K received a
sighting report from a Junkers Ju 86
(one of 3 ex SAA aircraft taken over by
the SAAF) of 15 Sqd. SAAF of
a suspicious vessel in the area south
of Cape Agulhas, 74 miles 167 degrees
from Cape of Good Hope. Force K and
Force H, who were returning to the
patrol area after refuelling at
Simonstown and were closest to the
position reported, made for the
sighting position.
Force H with SUSSEX leading were first
to arrive and found the German
passenger ship SS WATUSSI 9522grt,
which had departed Mozambique on
23/11/39. On the approach of SUSSEX,
the WATUSSI was abandoned, set on fire
and scuttling commenced, the 155crew
and 42 passengers were picked up by
SUSSEX.
When Force K arrived on the scene the
WATUSSI was well on fire but still
afloat. RENOWN then sank the hulk with
gunfire from her B turret.
3rd
– Force K arrived back at Cape Town.
(At
1300/2/12/39 the SS DORIC STAR
10086grt was attacked by the ADMIRAL
GRAF SPEE, Captain Langsdorff opened
fire with his main armament from
long range, which allowed the DORIC
STAR to send a distress call before
being overwhelmed, giving her
position as 650 miles east south
east of St Helena. When
the CinC South
Atlantic
received the DORIC STAR’s raider
signal he at once decided to
abandon the patrol south of the
Cape. Force K was ordered to sweep
direct from the Cape towards
Pernambuco)
4th
– At 0800 hours Force K sailed from Cape
Town to carry out their assigned patrol.
12th
– Force K off Pernambuco.
13th
– At 0700 hours Force K was off
Pernambuco when they received the news
of the battle off the River Plate where
Force G was in action with the ADMIRAL
GRAF SPEE. On receipt of the news Force
K immediately changed course for Rio de
Janeiro to refuel.
17th
– At 1400 hours Force K arrived at Rio
de Janeiro and immediately commenced
refuelling.
(At
0756/17/12/39 the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE
blew herself up in the River Plate
estuary off Montevideo. Part of the
reason for the decision was because
Captain Langsdorff thought that
RENOWN and ARK ROYAL were off the
Plate)
18th
– At 0500 hours RENOWN sailed from Rio
de Janeiro and RVed with ARK ROYAL,
NEPTUNE, HARDY, HASTY, HEREWARD AND
HOSTILE off the port. Force K then set
course for Freetown.
27th
– At 0900 hours Force K arrived at
Freetown.
1
9 4
0
January
1st
– At Freetown carrying out a boiler
clean.
8th
– RENOWN, HARDY and HOSTILE sailed
from Freetown. West of Freetown they
RVed with ARK ROYAL, HASTY and HERO,
who had sailed from Dakar. HARDY and
HOSTILE then detached and returned to
Freetown. ARK ROYAL, RENOWN, HASTY and
HERO then commenced patrolling hoping
to sight the ALTMARK.
9th
– The destroyer DAINTY from Gibraltar
RVed with the force to transfer mail
to RENOWN before proceeding to
Freetown.
10th
- HASTY and HERO detached for
refuelling.
15th
– In mid Atlantic ARK ROYAL and RENOWN
RVed with the cruiser AJAX and
escorted her to Freetown.
19th
- ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and AJAX arrived
at Freetown.
24th
– ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and destroyers
DAINTY and DIAMOND sailed from
Freetown towards Pernambuco to RV with
the cruiser EXETER, who having
completed emergency repairs at Port
Stanley, was sailing northward
escorted by the cruisers DORSETSHIRE
and SHROPSHIRE.
29th
– In position 17S, 25-06W, 200 miles
east of Pernambuco the ARK ROYAL force
RVed with the EXETER force.
DORSETSHIRE and SHROPSHIRE then
detached
Buenos Aires and Montevideo,
respectively.
The ARK ROYAL force escorting the
EXETER set course for Freetown.
February
3rd
-
ARK
ROYAL, RENOWN, EXETER, DAINTY and
DIAMOND arrived at Freetown.
Awaiting EXETER was the heavy repair
ship RESOURCE and further repairs
were carried out to EXETER.
6th
– At 1800 hours ARK ROYAL, RENOWN,
EXETER, DAINTY and DIAMOND sailed from
Freetown and set course for Plymouth.
8th
- DAINTY and DIAMOND detached to
refuel at Dakar.
10th
- ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and EXETER came
under the command of the CinC Western
Approaches for Operation VO. Operation
VO was the interception of six German
merchant ships which had departed Vigo
on the night of the 9th/10th February.
11th
– ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and EXETER were
joined by destroyers HASTY and HERO.
ARK ROYAL’s Swordfish were involved in
searching for the her aircraft sighted
several of the German steamers,
leading to the capture of the SS
ROSTOCK 2542grt by the French sloop
ELAN and the SS MOREA 3292grt by the
destroyer HASTY.
12th
– At 0900 hours in position 45N, 15W
ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and EXETER were
joined by destroyers ACASTA, WHITSHED
and VESPER
(From
information gained by German naval
intelligence, B-dienst, the
Germans knew of the movements of
the EXETER and were determined to
prevent her returning to Britain.
Donitz was ordered to use U 37 and
U 48 and Donitz added U 13 to set
up a patrol line across the
western end of the English
Channel. However they failed to
make contact with the returning
EXETER or any of her escort)
15th
– RENOWN, EXETER, cruiser GALATEA and
destroyers ARDENT, HEARTY, WOLVERINE
and WREN arrived at Plymouth.
RENOWN immediately entered dry dock
for a short refit. During her stay in
Devonport she was fitted with a
degaussing cable.
March
3rd
– RENOWN sailed from Plymouth for the
Clyde escorted by destroyers ACASTA,
KIMBERLEY and FIREDRAKE. Air support
was provided from the morning of the
4th.
4th
– At 1230 hours RENOWN, ACASTA,
KIMBERLEY and FIREDRAKE arrived off
Greenock and joined the Home Fleet.
7th
– At 1615 hours the battleship
RODNEY
wearing the flag of CinC Home Fleet
Admiral Sir C M Forbes,
battlecruisers
RENOWN
and
REPULSE
and destroyers HARDY (D.2), HOSTILE,
INGLEFIELD (D.3), IMOGEN, FOXHOUND,
FORTUNE, FIREDRAKE, PUNJABI and
KIMBERLEY sailed from the Clyde for
Scapa.
8th
– At 1230 hours off Cape Wrath the
force was joined by destroyers
FAULKNOR and FORESTER.
At 1730 hours the force arrived off
the Hoxa entrance to Scapa Flow but
was unable to enter due to the
possible threat from aerial mines. The
force remained in the Pentland Firth
whilst minesweepers cleared the
entrance.
9th
– At 1000 hours the force entered
Scapa.
11th
– At Scapa the CinC Battlecruiser
Squadron, Vice Admiral Sir W J
Whitworth CB, DSO, transferred his
flag from HOOD to RENOWN.
16th
– At 2000 hours the Home Fleet in
Scapa Flow came under attack from 34
Luftwaffe bombers, 16 He 111 of KG 26
and 18 Ju 88 of KG 30. The first
formation of 3 bombers approached from
the west at 7000 feet, when over the
Flow they split and their selected
targets were the RODNEY, RENOWN and
NORFOLK. The RENOWN was undamaged but
the cruiser NORFOLK and the old
battleship IRON DUKE were damaged.
(Shortly
after the attack on the fleet
attacks were made on Hatson and
Bridge of Wraith. In the attack
Bridge of Wraith the first British
civilian to be killed in the war
was killed. The returning German
pilots reported having hit 3
battleships and a cruiser)
19th
– At 1500hours battlecruisers REPULSE
and RENOWN (Flagship Vice Admiral
Whitworth) escorted by destroyers
INGLEFIELD (D.3), ILEX, DIANA, DELIGHT
of the 3rd DF, BEDOUIN of the 6th DF,
FORTUNE of the 8th DF sailed from
Scapa Flow.
(This
sailing was on Admiralty
instructions, following the
Luftwaffe attack on the 16/3/40,
that the Fleet should be at sea
during the moonlight period between
19th and 26th March, because it was
thought that the German air force
might try to drive the Fleet out of
Scapa Flow).
During the period of maximum
moonlight the Fleet cruised to the
north of the Shetlands and provided
heavy cover for the Norwegian convoy
HN 20 and ON 21
and the
Operation DU activities.
(Operation DU was a sweep by 4
cruisers of the 2nd CS and 8
supporting destroyers into the
Skagerrak that was carried out on
the 21/22 March)
27th
- At 1100 hours RENOWN, REPULSE and
destroyers INGLEFIELD, DELIGHT, DIANA,
ILEX, FORTUNE and BEDOUIN arrived back
at Scapa Flow.
30th
– In Scapa Flow where she was visited
by Clement Attlee MP, the leader of
the Labour Party
April
5th
– At 1830 hours the RENOWN (Flagship
Vice Admiral Whitworth) and destroyers
GREYHOUND and GLOWWORM plus Force WB,
HYPERION and HERO sailed from Scapa to
provide cover for Operation WILFRED.
The force set course for the Norwegian
coast into foul weather.
(Operation
WILFRED was a product of Winston
Churchill’s fertile mind. It was a
plan to mine the Norwegian
Indreled, or Inner Leads to force
cargo ships out of Norwegian
territorial waters and into
international waters, where the RN
could seize ships heading to
Germany, thereby disrupt the
German iron ore traffic. Following
months of discussion and concern
over the reaction from neutral
countries the British War Cabinet
gave its approval for the
operation on 3/4/40. The
minelaying was to be carried out
by three forces. Force WS was the
minelayer TEVIOTBANK and
destroyers INGLEFIELD, ILEX,
IMOGEN and ISIS. Force WV
comprised destroyers ESK,
IMPULSIVE, ICARUS and IVANHOE
escorted by destroyers HARDY,
HUNTER, HOTSPUR and HAVOCK. Force
WB was destroyers HOSTILE and
IVANHOE. When intelligence reports
were received that all four
Norwegian coastal defence ships
were at Narvik. The Admiralty
decided to send RENOWN to cover
Force WV which was to mine the
entrance to Vestfiord)
6th
– Overnight, due to the weather, the
escorting destroyers lost contact
RENOWN.
Early in the morning the destroyers
managed to regain contact with RENOWN.
At 0620 hours as GLOWWORM was
regaining contact she lost a man
overboard.
At 0645 hours GLOWWORM was given
permission to detach and search for
the missing crew member.
Later in the day HYPERION and HERO
detached to refuel in the Shetland
Islands.
(GLOWWORM
failed to find her missing crew
member and having lost contact
with RENOWN and without further
orders she turned south and headed
for Scapa. In the evening of the
6th the CinC Home Fleet learned
that GLOWWORM had been detached
and was out of contact with RENOWN
he ordered GLOWWORM to position
67N, 10E, through which he knew
RENOWN was due to pass)
7th
– When the CinC Home Fleet learned
that RENOWN’s screen was down to one
destroyer he ordered the cruiser
BIRMINGHAM and her escort destroyers
FEARLESS and HOSTILE to join RENOWN
off Vestfjord.
In the evening RENOWN and GREYHOUND
arrived off Vestfjord.
At
2157 hours RENOWN signalled BIRMINGHAM
and GLOWWORM that she intended to be
in position 67-15N, 10-40E at
0500/8/4/40 and will then patrol west
of a line from that position to
67-45N, 10-40E. Due to the weather
BIRMINGHAM and her escort failed to
make the RV.
(For
various strategic reasons Hitler
decided to invade Norway.
Operation Weserubung and was a
combined operation to land German
troops at various points in Norway
timed to commence at 0415/9/4/40.
The Germans achieved complete
surprise even though various
‘intelligence’ was available but
was ignored.
The
Y service that monitored German
radio traffic detected an increase
in German naval radio traffic in
the Baltic and this traffic was
analysed by Harry Hinsley at GC
and CS who informed the Admiralty
that a possible invasion was under
way. The Admiralty dismissed
Hinsley’s analyst out of hand.
At
0800/7/4/40, 24 miles west of
Horns Reef a RAF Hudson of 220
Sqd. sighted a cruiser
and six destroyers
steering
north. Report received by CinC
Home Fleet at 1120 hours.
The
23 Wellingtons of 9 and 115 Sqd.
and 12 Blenheims of 107 Sqd. sent
to attack this force failed to
locate them. However at 1415 hours
7 Blenheims of 21 Sqd located and
attacked another force comprising
a battlecruiser, pocket
battleship, 3 cruisers and 12
destroyers 78 miles NNW of Horns
Reef steering 335¼. Report
received by CinC Home Fleet at
1727 hours.
Following
this last report the CinC Home
Fleet decided that a German
assault on Norway was in progress
and at 2015/7/4/40 sailed from
Scapa with the Home Fleet. The
Admiralty judged that the German
fleet movements were to cover the
breakout of heavy fleet units into
the Atlantic)
(At
0000/7/4/40 Group 1 of Operation
Weserubung, the Narvik attack
force, sailed from Bremerhaven,
the Group consisted of
battlecruisers GNEISENAU and
SCHARNHORST and destroyers WILHELM
HEIDKAMP, GEORG THIELE, WOLFGANG
ZENKER, BERND VON ARNIM, ERICH
GIESE, ERICH KOELLNER, DIETHER VON
ROEDER, HANS LUDEMANN, HERMANN
KUNNE and ANTON SCHMIDT
carrying 2000 troops of
the 139th Gebirgsjager Regiment,
3rd Mountain Division.
At
0000/7/4/40 Group 2 of Operation
Weserubung, the Trondheim attack
force, sailed from Cuxhaven, the
Group consisted of cruiser ADMIRAL
HIPPER and destroyers PAUL JACOBI,
THEODOR RIEDEL, BRUNO HEINEMANN
and FRIEDRICH ECKHOLDT carrying
1700 troops of the 138th
Gebirgsjager Regiment, 3rd
Mountain Division.
At
0200 hours SW of Heligoland the
two groups joined up and steered
in a north easterly direction.)
8th
– Between 0430 and 0530 hours
minelaying Force WS laid their
minefield in Vestfiord the minelaying
force then RVed in position 65N, 2E.
ESK, IMPULSIVE, ICARUS and IVANHOE
remained to patrol the minefield.
(At
0759 hours GLOWWORM, who was in
position 65-04N, 6-04E and
steering north to RV with RENOWN,
sighted the German destroyers HANS
LUDEMANN and BERND VON ARNIM.
Immediately GLOWWORM sent off a
sighting signal and at 0801 hours
she engaged HANS LUDEMANN in an
indecisive action.
At
0855 hours GLOWWORM reported one
unknown ship bearing 000¼,
steering 180¼ in position 65-06N,
06-20E. The German destroyers
called for assistance and drew
GLOWWORM towards the HIPPER.
Mortally wounded by HIPPER's
gunfire, GLOWWORM rammed her,
tearing away 130 feet of the
cruiser's armour belt and
wrenching HIPPER's starboard
torpedo tubes from their
mountings.
At
0904 hours GLOWWORM
made her last signal before
sinking in position 64-13N, 06-28E)
At
0800 hours on receipt of GLOWWORM’s
sighting signal RENOWN and GREYHOUND
then in position 67-34N, 10-00E turned
south steering for GLOWWORM’s position
believing that the enemy force was
heading for Vestfiord and expecting to
meet them at 1330 hours.
The cruiser PENELOPE and destroyers
BEDOUIN, ESKIMO, PUNJABI and KIMBERLEY
were detached from the Home Fleet to
assist GLOWWORM.
At 1045 hours the Admiralty ordered
all destroyers of Force WV including
those patrolling the minefield to join
RENOWN.
(At
1100 hours the Admiralty, having
considered the aircraft sighting
reports of 7/4/40, signalled to
CinC Home Fleet ‘It seems possible
that these reports may be true and
German Forces are on their way to
Narvik’)
(At
1200 hours the German Groups 1 and
2 parted. Group 1 continued north
towards Narvik and Group 2 headed
west before turning east towards
Trondheim so as to co-ordinate the
timing of their attack with all
the other forces.
At
1400 hours the German Trondheim
Group was sighted by a Sunderland
flying boat of 201 Sqd. while
Force 2 was steering west to
adjust their arrival time at
Trondheim. They were identified as
a battlecruiser, two cruisers and
two destroyers. The Admiralty
decided that this was a German
squadron breaking out into the
Atlantic)
At
1330 hours RENOWN and GREYHOUND
reversed course and steered to the
north east to RV with the 8 destroyers
that were sailing to RV with RENOWN.
At 1715 hours off Skomvaer Light,
about seventy miles west of Bodo
RENOWN and GREYHOUND RVed with the
destroyers ESK, IMPULSIVE, ICARUS,
IVANHOE, HARDY, HUNTER, HOTSPUR and
HAVOCK. The force then turned south
but sailing with gale force winds from
the NW the force had great difficulty
in staying in company.
(In
the late evening of the 8/4/40 the
German Group 1 reached the
entrance to Vestfiord and as the
destroyers with the troops
embarked entered Narvik fjord to
disembark their troops at Narvik
the battlecruisers GNEISENAU and
SCHARNHORST turned out to sea to
draw the main part of the Home
Fleet away from the Norwegian
coast)
At
2100 hours the RENOWN force reversed
course on to 280¼ (this change of
course was resultant from a signal
from the Admiralty, who had at last
awoke to the true nature of the German
naval activity and at 1956 hours
ordered the CinC Battlecruiser
Squadron to concentrate on preventing
any German force proceeding to Narvik)
they were now steering into a full NW
gale.
9th
– At 0100 hours the RENOWN force
changed course on to 180¼.
At 0337 hours in position 67-22N,
09-36E, when steering 130¼, RENOWN
with destroyers GREYHOUND, ICARUS,
IVANHOE, ESK, IMPULSIVE, HARDY,
HUNTER, HAVOCK and HOTSPUR in company,
sighted two unknown ships at a
distance of 10 miles through a snow
storm, approaching from port, bearing
070¼. The ships were identified as a
battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser but
were in fact the German battlecruisers
GNEISENAU and SCHARNHORST (throughout
the engagement RENOWN continued to
believe that she was in action against
a battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser.
The Germans at first thought they were
in contact with a NELSON class
battleship).
At 0359 hours RENOWN, having now
positively identified the ships as
German, turned on 305¼, parallel to
the Germans.
At 0405 hours RENOWN opened fire with
her main armament at a range of 18,600
yards against the GNEISENAU and her
4.5in AA battery opened fire against
the SCHARNHORST. The destroyers also
joined in with their 4.7in guns.
At 0416 hours RENOWN had a 28cm shell
hit on her foremast, probably fired by
GNEISENAU. HARDY and HUNTER were able
to keep up with RENOWN for a time in
the heavy weather, but the other
destroyers fell behind. Also at about
this time RENOWN suffered damage to
her starboard anti torpedo bulge from
a combination of vibration and the
weather.
At 0417 hours a hit from RENOWN
sixteenth salvo put GNEISENAU’s fire
control out of action and GNEISENAU
turned away on to 30¼. SCHARNHORST
moved between her and RENOWN and
attempted to obscure GNEISENAU with
smoke.
At 0419 hours RENOWN scored a hit on
GNEISENAU’s A (Anton) turret and also
hit the after flak deck.
At 0420 hours RENOWN now shifted her
main armament to SCHARNHORST. It was
during this phase that RENOWN received
a further hit near the stern; it was
superficial but killed a crew member.
Also at this point SCHARNHORST’s radar
malfunctioned and she could not track
the target so both German ships turned
away to the north east and increased
speed.
RENOWN
followed but could only manage 20 to
23 knots without swamping A turret;
the wind was force 7 from the NNE. So
the German ships slowly pulled away.
(The German ships were also forced to
reduce speed but not before
SCHARNHORST’s A (Anton) turret had
been damaged by the heavy seas
crashing over her bow. She also
suffered damage to her starboard
turbine which reduced her speed to 25
knots).
At 0515 hours RENOWN briefly opened
fire on SCHARNHORST as she came into
range due to her reduction in speed.
At 0615 hours RENOWN lost contact with
the enemy ships and her escorting
destroyers. During the action RENOWN
fired 230 rounds of 15in and 1065
rounds of 4.5in. (SCHARNHORST fired
195 rounds of 28cm and GNEISENAU fired
54 rounds of 28cm).
At 0626 hours Vice Admiral Whitworth
ordered Captain D2 in HARDY to proceed
with all the destroyers to patrol the
entrance to Vestfiord.
At 0800 hours RENOWN turned west.
At 0900 hours the Admiralty ordered
RENOWN and other units of the Home
Fleet to concentrate off Vestfiord.
At 1400 hours RENOWN RVed with the
battlecruiser REPULSE, cruiser
PENELOPE and destroyers BEDOUIN,
KIMBERLEY, PUNJABI, ESKIMO and
HOSTILE.
PENELOPE was then detached to patrol
the entrance to Vestfiord and the rest
of the force moved to patrol 30 miles
to the west of PENELOPE.
10th
– At 0430 hours Captain D2 in HARDY
with HUNTER, HAVOCK, HOTSPUR and
HOSTILE in company commenced what
became known as the first battle of
Narvik.
At 0600 hours Vice Admiral Whitworth
detached PENELOPE and BEDOUIN,
KIMBERLEY, PUNJABI and ESKIMO from his
screen to proceed to the assistance of
Captain D2.
RENOWN and REPULSE continued to patrol
off the Lofoten Islands.
11th
- RENOWN and REPULSE continued to
patrol off the Lofoten Islands.
12th
- RENOWN and REPULSE continued to
patrol off the Lofoten Islands.
At 0730 hours in position 66-27N,
6-00E The RENOWN and REPULSE RVed with
the Home Fleet
that comprised battleships RODNEY,
flying the flag of Admiral Forbes,
CinC Home Fleet, VALIANT and
WARSPITE, aircraft carrier FURIOUS,
cruisers DEVONSHIRE, BERWICK and
YORK and destroyers ASHANTI,
COSSACK, ZULU, MAORI, ECLIPSE,
ESCORT, ISIS, ILEX, IMOGEN,
INGLEFIELD, JANUS, JAVELIN, JUNO,
FORESTER, FOXHOUND and FAULKNOR.
At 1450 hours VALIANT, REPULSE,
JANUS, JAVELIN and JUNO were
detached to make contact with convoy
NP 1.
Between 1615 and 1655 hours FURIOUS
flew off 17 Swordfish of 816 and 818
Sqds. armed with bombs to attack
enemy shipping in Narvik.
At 2000 hours Vice Admiral Whitworth
transferred his flag from RENOWN to
WARSPITE.
13th
– RODNEY,
RENOWN,
HAVOCK, HOSTILE, HERO, ESK, ICARUS
and IVANHOE patrolled off the
Lofoten Islands.
14th
– Continued to patrol
off the
Lofoten Islands.
15th
- Continued
to patrol
off
the Lofoten Islands.
In the evening the heavy units of
the Home Fleet departed from off
Norway for Scapa.
16th
– At 1000 hours news was received that
the cruiser SUFFOLK had sustained
serious bomb damage off Stavanger and
was proceeding slowly towards Scapa.
RENOWN and REPULSE were ordered to
assist SUFFOLK.
RENOWN and REPULSE proceeded through
Fair Isle Channel to join SUFFOLK.
Destroyers TARTAR, JAVELIN, GROM and
BLYSKAWICA, which departed Scapa Flow
at 1345/17th, anti-aircraft cruiser
CALCUTTA and destroyer FURY, and
destroyer ECLIPSE from escort duty,
joined the battlecruisers.
They were joined at sea by destroyers
KIMBERLEY and FORESTER.
18th
– At 0545 hours SUFFOLK and escort,
including RENOWN arrived at Scapa.
19th
– At 1630 hours RENOWN and VALIANT
sailed from Scapa for Rosyth.
20th
– Arrived at Rosyth,
21st
– Docked at Rosyth for repairs caused
by the weather and enemy action.
May
At
Rosyth under repair.
20th
– Commenced post repair trials in
Firth of Forth.
22nd
- Battlecruiser RENOWN was on DG
trials at Rosyth, escorted by
destroyers HIGHLANDER, ASHANTI,
BULLDOG. Fog prevented completion of
trials and she re-entered harbour.
23rd
– Sailed from Rosyth for Scapa
arriving in the evening.
June
3rd
– RENOWN (flying the flag of CinC
Battlecruiser Squadron Vice Admiral
Whitworth) at Scapa Flow with other
units of the Home Fleet, comprising
battleships VALIANT and RODNEY,
battlecruiser REPULSE, heavy cruiser
SUSSEX, light cruiser NEWCASTLE,
destroyers TARTAR, MASHONA, BEDOUIN,
ASHANTI, MAORI, ZULU, FORESTER,
FOXHOUND, KELVIN, INGLEFIELD, ELECTRA,
ENCOUNTER, ESCORT.
5th
– At 2130 hours RENOWN, REPULSE,
cruisers SUSSEX and NEWCASTLE with
destroyers MAORI, FORESTER, FOXHOUND,
ZULU and KELVIN sailed from Scapa Flow
to investigate a report from the
special services ship CAPE HOWE,
disguised as RFA PRUNELLA, who
reported a sighting at 1630 hours of
two unidentified warships northwest of
Norway in 64-45N, 00-24W making for
Iceland on course 265¼ at 20 knots.
6th
– At 0705 hours the CinC Battlecruiser
Sqd received an amplifying report from
the Admiralty stating that PRUNELLA
thought the ships sighted were
merchant ships, but they were hull
down and difficult to identify.
The RENOWN force continued towards the
position first given by PRUNELLA. And
after a search found nothing.
7th
– At 1300 hours the Admiralty informed
the CinC Home Fleet that the Brigadier
at Reykjavik had reported rumours of
an enemy landing on the north east
coast of Iceland at Seydisfjordour.
On receipt of the signal the RENOWN
force immediately went to investigate.
On arrival off Seydisfjordour MAORI
was detached to search the area and
the Walrus from SUSSEX searched up the
fjord. No sign of an enemy landing was
seen.
8th
– At 0313 hours RENOWN and destroyers
ZULU and KELVIN departed Icelandic
waters for refuelling at Scapa Flow.
(This
movement followed an order from
the Admiralty who considered it
desirable under present conditions
to have not less that two capital
ships available at Scapa to
proceed south in case of invasion)
9th
– At 0515 hours arrived at Scapa.
(At
0938 hours the CinC Home Fleet
received a report from the VALIANT
to the effect that she had met the
hospital ship ATLANTIS and that
the latter had reported sighting
an attack by enemy pocket
battleship [ it was actually the
cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER operating
with the battlecruisers
SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU and
engaged on Operation Juno]
on the empty troop transport SS
ORAMA 19840grt in position 67-44N,
03-52E at 0900/8/6/40)
At
– 1250 hours battleship RODNEY flying
the flag of CinC Home Fleet, RENOWN
and destroyers ZULU, KELVIN,
INGLEFIELD (D.3), ELECTRA and ESCORT
sailed from Scapa Flow steering for
position 66N, 00E to cover all slow
convoys returning from Norway.
(At
the time of the CinC Home Fleet
sailing the German battlecruisers
were safely in harbour at
Trondheim having, unbeknown at the
time to the Admiralty, sunk the
aircraft carrier GLOURIOUS and
destroyers ACASTA and ARDENT. The
SCHARNHORST having been damaged by
a torpedo hit on her port bow
fired by ACASTA. The Admiralty
became aware of the sinkings from
a German broadcast at 1615/9/6/40
)
10th
– (At 0846 hours a RAF Blenheim of
254 Sqd from Sumburgh on
reconnaissance over Trondheim
reported sighting 4 enemy cruisers;
this was subsequently amended to a
battlecruiser and a large transport
and 7 destroyers patrolling off the
fiord entrance)
At
1525 hours in position 66-40N, 2-30W
the CinC’s force RVed with ARK ROYAL
and her escorting destroyers ASHANTI,
HIGHLANDER and MASHONA. The Home Fleet
then steered in a generally eastward
direction until midnight.
11th
– At 0000 hours the Home Fleet turned
on to a north westerly course.
At 0900 hours the Home Fleet turned on
to a southerly course covering the
last of the convoys.
(RAF
Blenheims from 254 Sqd maintained
reconnaissance over Trondheim
keeping the CinC informed of the
situation in the port. The RAF
also carried out a bombing attack
with 12 Hudsons of 269 Sqd from
Wick 36 x 250lb AP bombs were
dropped but no hits were scored)
12th
– At 0630 hours the destroyers AMAZON,
ANTELOPE, ESCAPDE and FEARLESS joined
the CinC. The destroyers ACHERON,
DIANA and HIGHLANDER detached for
Scapa.
At 0935 hours the Home Fleet turned on
to course 080¼ to close the Norwegian
coast to launch an air strike against
enemy shipping at Trondheim.
13th
– At 0000 hours the Home Fleet reached
position 64-58N, 04-38E.
At 0030 hours the ARK ROYAL flew off a
strike force of 15 Skuas, 6 from 800
Sqd and 9 from 803 Sqd, each armed
with one 500lb SAP bomb.
(The dive bombing attack by the Skuas
was to be supported by an attack on
Vaernes airfield by 4 RAF Beauforts of
22 Sqd. Unfortunately the Beaufort
attack; instead of suppressing the
Luftwaffe it alerted them causing the
launch of Me 109 and 110 fighters.
Also the plan called for RAF Blenheim
fighters to provide cover over the
target).
At 0145 hours the 15 Skuas arrived
over the SCHARNHORST, who was ready
and waiting having been alerted when
the Skuas crossed the coast 20 minutes
earlier. 800 Sqd attacked stern to bow
and 803 Sqd attacked bow to stern. One
hit was achieved, which failed to
explode, returning pilots reported two
hits. In the attack 8 Skuas were shot
down. The RAF Blenheims arrived late
and played no part in the operation.
At 0345 hours in thick fog the 7
remaining Skuas had been recovered and
the Home Fleet steered west away from
the coast to avoid the expected
Luftwaffe counter attack which failed
to materialise.
At 1000 hours in thick fog destroyers
ELECTRA and ANTELOPE collided while
escorting ARK ROYAL. ZULU took ELECTRA
in tow and INGLEFIELD stood by
ANTELOPE.
At 1800 hours destroyers ASHANTI,
BEDOUIN, MAORI and TARTAR joined the
CinC.
14th
- The retirement of the two damaged
destroyers was covered by RODNEY,
RENOWN, TARTAR, FEARLESS, ASHANTI,
BEDOUIN, MASHONA and MAORI.
15th
– At 1640 hours RODNEY, RENOWN,
TARTAR, FEARLESS, ASHANTI, BEDOUIN,
MASHONA and MAORI arrived at Scapa
Flow.
19th
- RENOWN with destroyers TARTAR,
MAORI, MASHONA were carrying out
firing practices in Pentland Firth.
At 1304 and 1335 hours reports were
received of eight unknown destroyers
and three escort vessels east of the
Orkneys.
RENOWN and her destroyers were sent to
intercept.
It was later determined these unknown
ships were destroyer ZULU, proceeding
south from Lerwick and minesweepers
BRAMBLE, SEAGULL, SPEEDY in the swept
channel.
At 1500 hours RENOWN and her
destroyers returned to Scapa.
21st
– At 1220 hours RENOWN (Flag VA
Battlecruisers) and REPULSE with
destroyers FORESTER, ESCORT, ZULU,
INGLEFIELD (D.3) and DIANA sailed from
Scapa Flow and steered north east
towards the sighting position given by
the RAF Hudson, report received at
1120 hours.
At
2200 hours The RENOWN force was in
position 60-30N, 02-00E and RENOWN was
preparing to launch her aircraft when
they were attacked by three He 111. At
the same time the Admiralty became
aware that the SCHARNHORST was
entering harbour so the attempted
interception by the battlecruiser
force was called off.
(This
sailing was a result of a sighting
report timed 2234/20/6/40 from the
submarine CLYDE who reported one
battlecruiser, one pocket
battleship and one destroyer in
position 64-43N, 09-53E, course
335¼. The sighting report was
received by the CinC Home Fleet at
0245/21/6/40 [The enemy
force was actually the GNEISENAU,
HIPPER and the destroyer KARL
GALSTER. Their mission was to
attack the northern patrol south
east of Iceland and to provide a
diversion for the damaged
SCHARNHORST escorted by 4
destroyers and 3 torpedo boats to
return to Germany]
At 2145
hours CLYDE had torpedoed the
GNEISENAU hitting her in the
starboard bow and forcing the
enemy to abandon their mission and
return to Trondheim.
At
1104/21/6/40 in position 61N,
4-14E the SCHARNHORST and her
escort were sighted by an RAF
Hudson steering south at 25 knots,
the enemy force was shadowed for
an hour by the Hudson then a RAF
Sunderland of 204 Sqd from Sullom
Voe took over the shadowing.
At
1504 hours off Utsira Island 6
Swordfish of 821 and 823 Sqds FAA
from Hatson attacked with
torpedoes, no hits were achieved.
Two aircraft were lost one from
each Sqd.
At
1515/21/6/40 the RAF attacked the
SCHARNHORST with 6 Hudsons of 224
& 233 Sqds from Leuchars, no
hits were achieved in part due to
the escort of Me 109 and 110
fighters.
At
1530 hours 9 Beauforts of 42 Sqd
RAF from Wick attacked the
SCHARNHORST. The attack was
unsuccessful in part due to the
escort of Me 109 and 110 fighters.
At
1649 hours off Karm¿y Island 6
Hudsons of 269 Sqd RAF from Wick
attacked the SCHARNHORST. The
attack was unsuccessful in part
due to the escort of Me 109 and
110 fighters.
When
the Germans became aware that the
Home Fleet was at sea searching
for the SCHARNHORST, she was
ordered into Stavanger Bay where
she anchored at 2110/21/6/40)
22nd
– At 1120 hours RENOWN and REPULSE
with destroyers FORESTER, ESCORT,
ZULU, INGLEFIELD and DIANA arrived
back at Scapa Flow.
July
25th
– RENOWN was nominated for service
with Force H.
27th
– At 1855 hours Force
A, comprising the RENOWN (Vice
Admiral Battlecruisers) and REPULSE,
heavy cruisers, DEVONSHIRE (Vice
Admiral J H D Cunningham, flag 1CS,
commanding Force A) YORK and
AUSTRALIA of the 1st CS, light
cruiser SHEFFIELD escorted by
destroyers ASHANTI, MASHONA, TARTAR
(D6), PUNJABI, FIREDRAKE, FORTUNE,
ARROW, ANTHONY, and ACHATES sailed
from Scapa Flow in response to
reports that German battlecruiser
GNEISENAU was breaking back to
Germany.
(This
sailing was the result of a signal
from the Admiralty at 1212/27/7/40
resulting from a report of a
reconnaissance of Trondheim
harbour by a RAF Blenheim stating
the presence of a battlecruiser
and 3 cruisers or destroyers
preparing to sail. The Admiralty
took this to be the GNEISENAU
preparing to return to Germany. [The
vessels sighted by the Blenheim
were in fact merchant ships]
GNEISENAU and her escort had
sailed, undetected, on 25/7/40 and
arrived at Kiel on 28/7/40.
Further reconnaissance of
Trondheim to confirm the sailing
was hampered by misty weather)
At
2000 hours Force A passed the Pentland
Skerries and changed course to 062¼
speed 24 knots to pass through
position 59N, 1E and thence, if no
information was available to position
62N, 3-30E.
At 2312 hours the CinC Home Fleet
signalled CinC Force A, that if by
0800/28/7/40 there was no information
of the enemy surface force then Force
A should be turned to the westward at
the discretion of CinC Force A.
28th
– At 0400 hours in 60-00N, 01-50E the
destroyers MAORI and ZULU joined Force
A.
At 0800 hours with no information of
enemy surface force course was altered
to 290¼.
At 1257 hours a report was received
stating that air reconnaissance of
Trondheim had shown it to be clear of
warships, following which course was
shaped for Scapa.At 1800 hours
DEVONSHIRE detached from Force A and
CinC battlecruiser squadron in RENOWN
took over command.
29th
– At 0620 hours Force A arrived back
at Scapa Flow.
August
10th
– At Scapa Flow where at 1800 hours
the flag of Vice Admiral
Battlecruisers was struck.
At 1900 hours the flag of Vice Admiral
Sir James Fownes Somerville KCB DSO,
CinC Force H was hoisted.
13th
– At 1600 hours RENOWN,
escorted in the local approaches by
destroyers TARTAR, BEDOUIN, PUNJABI
and MASHONA sailed from Scapa Flow
and headed west.
14th
– At 1015 hours TARTAR, BEDOUIN,
PUNJABI and MASHONA detached
En route south she was ordered to
reverse course and proceed towards
Iceland and then to remain off the
east coast of Iceland.
(This
change of course was due to
information received by the
Admiralty of German embarkation
along the whole of the Norwegian
coast. The report was later
modified to the north Norwegian
coast. There were no developments
from these reports and at
0100/16/8/40 the Fleet and the
RENOWN reverted to their duties)
15th
– Patrolling off the east coast of
Iceland.
16th
– At 0130 hours RENOWN resumed her
journey south.
18th
– 750 miles west of Ushant RENOWN RVed
with
aircraft
carrier ARK ROYAL, cruiser
ENTERPRISE and destroyers HOTSPUR,
GALLANT, GREYHOUND, ENCOUNTER and
WRESTLER.
Force H then set course for
Gibraltar.
En route ENTERPRISE detached to
investigate a suspicious vessel.
19th
– At 0215 hours Force H received a
signal from the independent sailing
freighter ROWALLAN
CASTLE 7798grt, stating that she was
under attack from a raider.
The destroyers HOTSPUR,
GALLANT, GREYHOUND, ENCOUNTER and
WRESTLER were detached to Gibraltar
to refuel and RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
made for
ROWALLAN
CASTLE position off Southern
Portugal.
20th
– At 1230 hours it was established
that the ‘raider’ that had fired on
the ROWALLAN CASTLE was the AMC
CIRCASSIA. So RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
resumed their course for Gibraltar.
At 1100 hours they RVed with the
destroyers
HOTSPUR,
GREYHOUND, ENCOUNTER, GALLANT,
GRIFFIN and VELOX.
At 1900 hours Force H arrived at
Gibraltar.
21st
– At 0100 hours the Regia Aeronautica
carried out an air attack on
Gibraltar. In the attack RENOWN shot
down one of the two Savoia-Marchetti
SM 82 bombers that carried out the
attack.
25th
- At 0730 hours ARK ROYAL, ENTERPRISE
and destroyers GALLANT, HOTSPUR and
GRIFFIN sailed from Gibraltar to carry
out flying exercises in the Atlantic.
At 2025 hours RENOWN, escorted by
destroyers VELOX, ENCOUNTER, GREYHOUND
and VIDETTE sailed from Gibraltar to
join the ARK ROYAL force at sea.
26th
– Early in the morning the RENOWN
force and the ARK ROYAL force RVed and
all came under the command of CinC
Force H in RENOWN.
The whole of Force H then carried out
exercises together.
27th
– At 0600 hours 250 miles west of Cape
St Vincent Force H RVed with the
aircraft carrier ILLUSTRIOUS,
battleship VALIANT, light cruiser
SHEFFIELD, anti-aircraft ships
COVENTRY and CALCUTTA and the
destroyers FAULKNOR, FIREDRAKE,
FORESIGHT, FORESTER, FURY and FORTUNE
and the LSI ROYAL SCOTSMAN.
ENTERPRISE, VELOX and VIDETTE detached
and escorted ROYAL SCOTSMAN into
Gibraltar.
The combined force then carried out
battle practice under the command of
CinC Force H.
29th
– At 0600 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD,
FAULKNOR, FIREDRAKE, FORESIGHT,
FORESTER, FURY, FORTUNE and ENCOUNTER.
Force F comprising VALIANT,
ILLUSTRIOUS, COVENTRY, CALCUTTA,
GALLANT, GREYHOUND, GRIFFIN and
HOTSPUR arrived at Gibraltar.
Later in the day Force A the
destroyers JANUS, HERO, MOHAWK and
NUBIAN arrived at Gibraltar from
MALTA.
30th
– At 0845 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD,
FAULKNOR, FIREDRAKE, FORESIGHT,
FORESTER, FURY, FORTUNE, ENCOUNTER,
VELOX and WISHART. Force F comprising
VALIANT, ILLUSTRIOUS, COVENTRY,
CALCUTTA, GALLANT, GREYHOUND, GRIFFIN
and HOTSPUR. Force A comprising JANUS,
HERO, MOHAWK and NUBIAN sailed from
Gibraltar on Operation HATS.
(The objectives of Operation HATS for
Force H were: 1. To cover the passage
of Force F to the Sicilian Channel.
The ships of Force F were reinforcements
for the Mediterranean Fleet that en
route were to call into Malta to
offload military supplies. Force A
had been detached from the
Mediterranean Fleet to provide
additional escorts for Force F. 2.
To carry out air strikes on
Cagliari, Sardinia)
31st
– The fleet steered towards the south
of the Balearic Islands. During the
day Skuas from the ARK ROYAL shot down
two shadowing Italian seaplanes a Cant
Z 506B and a Cant Z 501.
At 2150 hours south east of the
Balearic Islands, Force W, VELOX and
WISHART were detached to carry out
Operation SQUAWK and steered for the
north of the Island of Minorca.
At 22.00 Forces F and H turned to the
south east and headed for southern
Sardinia.
(Operation SQUAWK required the two
destroyers to proceed to the north of
the Balearic Islands and then to make
extensive wireless signals as if they
were the entire fleet, in the hope
that any Italian radio monitoring
service would report that Force H was
heading for Genoa. This attempt at
deception may well have succeeded, for
on the morning of 1 September
Somerville reported that his fleet was
not being shadowed).
September
1st
– At 0330 hours in position 38-06N,
10-51E ARK ROYAL launched a strike
force of 9 Swordfish, each armed with
4 x 250lb HE bombs and 8 x 25lb
incendiaries, to attack the airfield
at Elmas, Cagliari. (Operation SMASH)
Following the launch the fleet
continued towards the
Sicilian Channel.
At 0600 hours the Swordfish attacked
the airfield and seaplanes in the
adjacent harbour.
At
0800 hours all the Swordfish were
recovered.
At 2200 hours half way between the
south-eastern tip of Sardinia and
the western tip of Sicily Force H
turned to the north, in preparation
for a second attack on Cagliari and
Force F maintained a south easterly
course heading for Malta and the
Mediterranean Fleet.
At 2300 hours Force H turned west
and headed for the south of
Sardinia.
2nd
- At 0330 hours launched a further
strike force of 9 Swordfish, each
armed with 4 x 250lb HE bombs and 8 x
25lb incendiaries, to attack the
airfield at Elmas, Cagliari power
station. (Operation GRAB) Following
the launch the fleet continued towards
Gibraltar.
The attacked had to be aborted due
to low cloud and mist obscuring the
targets,
3rd
– At 1100 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
5th
– The Force H destroyers GALLANT,
GREYHOUND, GRIFFIN and HOTSPUR, that
had been loaned to Force F, arrived
back at Gibraltar from Malta.
11th
- At 0512, destroyer HOTSPUR, which
was on anti-submarine patrol in
company with destroyers GRIFFIN, and
ENCOUNTER, sighted the Vichy French
Force Y.
(The
French Force Y, comprised the
Vichy light cruisers GEORGES
LEYGUES, MONTCALM and GLOIRE
escorted by the large destroyers
L’ AUDACIEUX, LE FANTASQUE and LE
MALIN. Force Y had departed Toulon
at 1600/ 9/9/40 for Libreville,
Gabon. Because of Operation MENACE
the Admiralty wanted Force Y
stopped from leaving the
Mediterranean. The Admiralty knew
of the sailing but the information
had not been communicated to
Admiral Sir Dudley North CinC
North Atlantic station due to an
oversight by the duty officer at
the Admiralty. The duty officer
received in
due course the expression of
their Lordships displeasure.
That is all he got, while
Admiral North got the sack. The
First Sea Lord received the
information about the Vichy
force in the morning during a
Chiefs of Staff meeting and
immediately ordered RENOWN and
the destroyers to raise steam)
At
0530 hours RENOWN and the destroyer
VIDETTE were bought to one hours
notice for steam.
At 1200 hours RENOWN and VIDETTE
reverted to two hours notice for
steam.
At 1600 hours RENOWN with destroyers
GRIFFIN and VIDETTE sailed from
Gibraltar with orders to intercept
French Force Y.
The destroyer VELOX joined at sea.
12th
– At 0800 hours RENOWN, GRIFFIN, VELOX
and VIDETTE were joined by the
destroyers HOTSPUR, ENCOUNTER, and
WISHART. Gibraltar now had no more
warships available for service.
At 1620 hours RENOWN’s Walrus aircraft
reported that there were no French
cruisers in Casablanca and later
sighted French Force Y steaming south
towards Dakar at high speed.
13th
- VELOX and VIDETTE were detached to
Gibraltar for refuelling.
14th
– En route back to Gibraltar ENCOUNTER
was detached to search for a RAF
London flying boat that had been shot
down by French fighters.
At 2015 hours RENOWN, GRIFFIN, HOTSPUR
and WISHART arrived back at Gibraltar.
17th
– At 0345 hours RENOWN and destroyers
GRIFFIN, ENCOUNTER, WRESTLER, and
VIDETTE sailed from Gibraltar for a
patrol in the vicinity of the Canary
Islands.
18th
– The destroyers GALLANT and FIREDRAKE
joined RENOWN and relieved destroyers
WRESTLER and VIDETTE which returned to
Gibraltar.
20th
– RENOWN, GALLANT and FIREDRAKE
arrived back at Gibraltar.
(Operation
MENACE the attack on Dakar took
place on 23/9/40. The first that
the CinC Force H knew of the
attack was from a BBC news
bulletin! His being kept in the
dark about the operation caused
Somerville much anger. In a letter
to his wife he wrote ‘it’s all a
proper muddle and we simply don’t
know where we are or whom we are
supposed to be fighting’)
24th
– Between 1250 and 1439 hours the
Vichy French air force carried out a
bombing attack on Gibraltar with Glenn
Martin bombers, 150 bombs in total
being dropped. The attack was made
through thick cloud and RENOWN was
near missed by two bombs, but was not
damaged.
At 1530 hours RENOWN got under way and
at 1550 hours sortied from Gibraltar
to avoid further air attacks whilst
alongside by giving herself sea room
and steered into the Mediterranean.
RENOWN was later joined by the
destroyers HOTSPUR, FIREDRAKE,
GRIFFIN, and ENCOUNTER.
At 1900 hours RENOWN and her escort
reversed course and sailed west into
the Atlantic.
(Vichy
French destroyers EPÉE, FLEURET,
FOUGUEUX, and FRONDEUR sailed from
Casablanca on the 24th to carry
out a demonstration off Gibraltar
to protest against Operation
MENACE. Following a contact report
by the armed boarding vessel
CHARLES MCIVER (428grt), the
destroyer WRESTLER made contact
with the French destroyers at
0500/25/9/40. The EPEE opened fire
at 0518/25/9/40 on WRESTLER off
Gibraltar. EPÉE fired fourteen
rounds, FLEURET was unable to fire
due to fire control equipment
defects, and FOUGUEUX and FRONDEUR
fired six rounds between them.
WRESTLER sustained no damage and
with WISHART pursued the
withdrawing French destroyers. All
four French destroyers returned to
Casablanca on the 25/9/40)
25th
- RENOWN with her destroyers preceded
in support of WRESTLER, but made no
contact with the Vichy force.
26th
– Continued patrol in the Atlantic.
(The
patrol was extended by 24 hours
when a signal was received stating
that Pierre Laval, the pro Nazi
Vichy deputy President, had asked
Germany to release the whole
Toulon fleet to attack Gibraltar
and Force H. Fortunately the
request came to nothing)
27th
- Destroyers FIREDRAKE and WISHART
joined relieving HOTSPUR and GALLANT
who returned to Gibraltar to refuel.
28th
– En route back to Gibraltar WISHART
was detached to investigate a
submarine contact.
At 1745 hours RENOWN arrived back at
Gibraltar. Off the harbour entrance
GRIFFIN was detached and returned to
assist WISHART.
29th
– At 0715 hours RENOWN and destroyers
FIREDRAKE, ENCOUNTER, HOTSPUR, and
GALLANT sailed from Gibraltar to
intercept the Vichy French battleship
RICHELIEU, reportedly en route to a
Biscay port from Dakar.
On leaving harbour, the Vichy French
destroyers EPEE and FRONDEUR were
sighted passing through the Gibraltar
Straits into the Mediterranean. The
RENOWN force took no action against
the Vichy destroyers.
(The
RICHELIEU in fact did not leave
Dakar; this soon became known to
CinC Force H.
However
RENOWN remained in the Atlantic
patrolling off the Azores
following reports that he received
of German troopships in the Bay of
Biscay that were thought to be
heading for the Azores. This
report turned out to be false;
however at the time the situation
relating to Spain, Gibraltar,
North West Africa and the Eastern
Atlantic Islands was of great
concern not only to Britain but
also to the USA. The possibility
of a German takeover of the
territories was discussed at a
meeting on 31/8/40 between Admiral
Ghormley USN, Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Dudley Pound RN First Sea Lord
and General Sir John Dill
Vice-Chief
of the Imperial General Staff.
From June 1940, various
Kriegsmarine studies called for
the establishment of naval and
air bases in such far-flung
outposts as Trondheim, Iceland,
Madagascar, Dakar, and the
Spanish and Portuguese island
groups off the coast of
Northwest Africa. Hitler
rejected most of the
Kriegsmarine studies, but
retained an interest in the
Azores, Canaries, Cape Verde
Islands, and French Morocco. The
USA believed that The execution
of the German Gibraltar-Africa
project in 1940 would have posed
a very serious threat to the
security of the United States
and the rest of the Western
Hemisphere.
Following
the aborting of Operation MENACE
two RM battalions were earmarked
for possible action in the Azores.
These were the 1st RM Battalion
embarked in the troopship MV
ETTRICK 11279grt and the 5th RM
Battalion embarked in the
troopship SS KARAJA 9891grt)
October
1st
- The RFA oiler ORANGELEAF, escorted
by WISHART joined Force H south of the
Azores to refuel RENOWN and her
destroyers.
7th
- RENOWN and her four destroyers
arrived back at Gibraltar.
12th
- Early in the morning RENOWN and
destroyers WISHART, GALLANT, GRIFFIN
and VIDETTE sailed from Gibraltar and
steered into the Atlantic.
In position 35-34N, 10-35W the Italian
submarine ENRICO TAZZOLI shelled then
torpedoed the Yugoslavian merchant
ship SS ORAO 5135grt.
(On 11/10/40 the ORAO had been
intercepted by the destroyer HOTSPUR
and ordered to Gibraltar. HOTSPUR had
put an armed guard on board to ensure
compliance)
WISHART, GALLANT, GRIFFIN, and VIDETTE
were detached to search for survivors.
GALLANT and GRIFFIN picked up the 30
survivors. WISHART scuttled the
steamer.
13th
– At 0724 hours RENOWN, WISHART,
GALLANT, GRIFFIN and VIDETTE were
joined by destroyer FIREDRAKE.
At 1300 hours Force H RVed with the
troopships ETTRICK and KARANJA
escorted by destroyer GREYHOUND.
VIDETTE detached and joined the
transport convoy.
14th
– Early in the morning WISHART
detached and joined the troopship
convoy.
Cruiser SHEFFIELD arrived at Gibraltar
and rejoined Force H.
At 1030 hours RENOWN, GALLANT,
FIREDRAKE and GRIFFIN arrived at
Gibraltar.
16th
– Docked for repairs to weather
damage.
31st
– At 0815 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, battleship BARHAM and
destroyers FORTUNE, FIREDRAKE, FURY
and GREYHOUND sailed from Gibraltar.
(Force
H following a sighting report of 5
Vichy destroyers, BRESTOIS,
BORDELAIS, SIMOUN, TEMPETE and
L'ALCYON sailing on a westerly
course towards the Strait of
Gibraltar)
GRIFFIN
detached and followed the Vichy French
destroyers through the Straits of
Gibraltar westward, with Force H
covering, when the Vichy ships turned
south, Force H reversed course and
returned to Gibraltar.
En route they carried out battle
exercises.
November
1st
– At 1030 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
(At
1640/5/11/40 in position 52-45N,
32-13W the panzerschiff ADMIRAL
SCHEER opened fire on convoy HX84.
The convoy was escorted by the AMC
JERVIS BAY and as soon Captain
Fegen realized that the convoy was
threatened he sent off a raider
sighting report, ordered the
convoy to scatter and made towards
ADMIRAL SCHEER. By 2000 hours the
ADMIRAL SCHEER had sunk the JARVIS
BAY and 5 ships of the 37 ship
convoy before making off the south
east. Captain Fegen’s raider
report was the first indication
that the Admiralty had that a
panzerschiff was at large. On
receipt of the report the
Admiralty signaled Admiral
Somerville to transfer his flag to
ARK ROYAL, arriving Gibraltar
1315/6/11/40, and RENOWN was
ordered to join convoy HG46 that
had sailed from Gibraltar on
31/10/40)
6th
– At 0500 hours RENOWN and destroyers
ENCOUNTER, FORESTER, one other sailed
from Gibraltar to escort convoys HG46
and SL53 in 40-00N, 20-30W at this
time.
At 1225 hours off Cape St Vincent
ENCOUNTER rammed submarine UTMOST,
mistaking her for a U-boat. UTMOST was
only slightly damaged and continued on
to Gibraltar. ENCOUNTER was more
seriously damaged and was escorted
back to Gibraltar by FORESTER.
8th
– Joined convoy HG46. Convoy SL53 was
within 100 miles of HG46 and slowly
SL53 reduced the distance so that
RENOWN could provide protection to
both.
The ocean boarding vessel CAMITO
joined the convoy.
10th
– RENOWN detached from HG46 and
returned to Gibraltar.
12th
– At 1400 hours RENOWN arrived back at
Gibraltar.
13th
- Somerville transferred his flag back
to RENOWN.
14th
- Aircraft carrier ARGUS, with 12
Hurricanes embarked for Malta, with
destroyers WISHART, WRESTLER, VIDETTE
arrived at Gibraltar later for
operation WHITE.
15th
– At 0400 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, aircraft carriers ARK ROYAL
and ARGUS, light cruisers SHEFFIELD
and DESPATCH, destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, WISHART, FIREDRAKE,
FOXHOUND, FORTUNE and DUNCAN sailed
from Gibraltar on Operation WHITE.
The forces were divided into Force A
comprised aircraft carrier ARGUS,
light cruiser DESPATCH, destroyers
FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FIREDRAKE,
FOXHOUND and FORTUNE.
Force B was RENOWN, aircraft carrier
ARK ROYAL, light cruiser SHEFFIELD,
destroyers FURY, WISHART and DUNCAN.
(Operation WHITE was an operation to
deliver of 12 Hurricanes to Malta. The
Hurricanes were to be flown off the
ARGUS)
17th
– At 0500 hours Force A detached and
went ahead to a flying off position
about 80 miles north of B™ne and 420
miles from Malta. In still air the
Hurricane had a range of 510 miles.
At 0615 hours the first flight of 6
Hurricanes lead by a FAA Skua took off
from ARGUS. Two Hurricanes crashed
short of Malta; the pilot of one was
rescued by a Sunderland Flying Boat.
The rest of this flight, the Skua and
four Hurricanes arrived safely at
Malta.
At 0715 hours the second flight of 6
Hurricanes lead by a FAA Skua took off
from ARGUS. All 6 of the second flight
were lost en route to Malta there were
no survivors from the Hurricanes. The
Skua crashed landed on southwest coast
of Sicily. The pilot and observer were
taken prisoner.
Force A rejoined Force B and course
was set for Gibraltar.
19th
– At 0300 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
(The
next operation that involved Force
H was Operation COLLAR.
Operation
COLLAR had three main
objectives:
1.
Six merchant ships [two
from Alexandria and four from
Gibraltar]
were to take supplies to Malta.
2.
Battleship RAMILLIES, too slow,
and the cruisers BERWICK, turbine
problems, and NEWCASTLE, boiler
problems, were being transferred
from the Mediterranean fleet
because Admiral Cunningham
considered them liabilities.
3.
Cruisers MANCHESTER and
SOUTHAMPTON [each
carrying some 700 RAF and Army
personnel for Egypt]
with
four corvettes fitted with LL
sweeps for sweeping magnetic mines
were to pass through the
Mediterranean and join the
Mediterranean Fleet.
Somerville
informed the Admiralty that
because of the possibility of the
Italian Navy intervening in
Operation COLLAR he considered the
inclusion of the battleship
ROYAL SOVEREIGN, which was
repairing at Gibraltar, should
be included in his force. The
Admiralty agreed, but ROYAL
SOVEREIGN could not be completed
in time for inclusion in the
operation. For operation Force H
was designated Force B and all
the other vessels sailing east
were designated Force F. Force F
was under the command of Vice
Admiral Holland who was of equal
rank to Somerville.
)
21st
– The cruiser MANCHESTER (flying the
flag of Vice Admiral Holland CS18) and
the troopship
FRANCONIA
(with RAF and Army personnel
embarked) escorted by DUNCAN and
FORESTER arrived at Gibraltar.
22nd
– The cruiser SOUTHAMPTON arrived at
Gibraltar.
23rd
– The destroyers JAGUAR and KELVIN and
the corvettes SALVIA, HYACINTH, PEONY
and GLOXINIA arrived at Gibraltar.
The cruiser DESPATCH arrived at
Gibraltar.
24th
– SHEFFIELD
arrived at Gibraltar.
In Gibraltar
harbour the 1400 RAF and Army
personnel were transferred to MANCHESTER
and SOUTHAMPTON, 700 embarked on
each.
At 2400 hours part of Force F
comprising the
destroyers
DUNCAN and HOTSPUR and the corvettes
PEONY, SALVIA, HYACINTH and GLOXINIA
sailed from Gibraltar and steered
into the Mediterranean to join the
British steamers CLAN FORBES
7529grt, CLAN FRASER 7529grt and NEW
ZEALAND STAR 10, 740grt. And
Operation COLLAR was under way.
25th
– At 0300 hours DUNCAN,
HOTSPUR, PEONY, SALVIA, HYACINTH and
GLOXINIA joined CLAN FORBES, CLAN
FRASER, NEW ZEALAND STAR and their
escort of destroyers VELOX, VIDETTE
and WRESTLER.
VELOX
and WRESTLER then detached for
Gibraltar.
At 0700 hours Force B (Force H)
comprising RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
SHEFFIELD, DESPATCH, FIREDRAKE,
FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY, WISHART,
DUNCAN, ENCOUNTER, JAGUAR and
KELVIN. The remainder of Force F
comprising MANCHESTER and
SOUTHAMPTON sailed from Gibraltar
and steered into the Mediterranean.
MANCHESTER and SOUTHAMPTON joined
the rest of Force F escorting the MT
ships.
Force B moved out to the north of
Force F to provide distant cover.
(The
sailing from Gibraltar was
communicated almost immediately to
Supermarina in Rome. Supermarina
took the decision to intercept the
British operation and ordered 2
battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and
14 destroyers to sea)
26th
– Force B and F continued on an
easterly course.
The speed of Force F was 16 knots,
which was the maximum speed of the MT
ships. However the best speed that the
corvettes could achieve was 14 knots
so the corvettes were left astern to
follow at their best speed.
27th
– At 0800 hours Force B was in
position 37-48N, 07-24E. ARK ROYAL
flew off 7 Swordfish reconnaissance
aircraft. Force F was in position
37-37N, 06-54E and the corvettes were
10 miles astern of Force F.
At 0900 hours Force B altered course
to the south west to close Force F to
provide additional AA defence in
anticipation of the first bombing
attack.
At 0906 hours a report was made by one
of ARK ROYAL’s Swordfish, timed at
0852 hours, of enemy surface forces,
but this report was not received by
any ship.
At 0920 hours Force B was in sight of
Force F.
At 0956 hours RENOWN received a visual
signal from ARK ROYAL, repeating an
aircraft report timed at 0920 hours,
of the presence of 5 enemy cruisers
and 5 destroyers.
By 1035 hours the plot in RENOWN was
showing the presence of enemy
battleships, cruisers and destroyers.
Somerville ordered DESPATCH to join
the MT ships and with COVENTRY,
DUNCAN, HOTSPUR and WISHART continue
towards their destination on course
120¼ to keep away from any action.
All other units to concentrate on
RENOWN.
At 1058 hours a Sunderland from Malta
closed RENOWN and reported the
position of Force D, RAMILLIES,
BERWICK and NEWCASTLE as being 34
miles, 070¼. Somerville ordered the
Sunderland to shadow and report the
composition of the enemy bearing 025¼.
At 1128 hours Force D was sighted
bearing 073¼ approximately 24 miles.
At 1130 hours ARK ROYAL, screened by
JAGUAR and KELVIN, flew off a strike
force of 11 Swordfish of 810 Sqd.
At 1140 hours RENOWN altered course to
050¼ and speed increased to 28 knots.
At this time MANCHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON
and SHEFFIELD were in line ahead about
5 miles fine on the port bow of RENOWN
with BERWICK and NEWCASTLE joining VA
CS18 from the eastward. RAMILLIES was
trying to catch up by cutting the
corner. The 9 destroyers were between
the cruisers and RENOWN. ARK ROYAL was
astern of RENOWN between her and the
MT convoy.
At 1154 hours the RAF Sunderland
reported 6 cruisers and 8 destroyers
bearing 330¼, 30 miles from RENOWN and
that no battleships had been sighted.
At
1207 RENOWN’s engine room reported a
hot bearing on one shaft causing a
speed reduction to 27½ knots.
At 1213 hours ARK ROYAL’s signal timed
1147 hours was received in RENOWN
reporting the enemy force as 2
battleships, 6 cruisers and
destroyers.
At 1220 the enemy opened fire on the
cruisers in the van; the first salvo
fell near MANCHESTER.
At 1222 hours BERWICK was hit by an
8in shell on Y turret.
At 1223 hours Somerville informed
Cunningham that he was engaging the
enemy.
At 1224 hours RENOWN opened fire at
the cruiser TRENTO at a mean range of
26,500 yards; six salvos were fired
before the target became lost in
smoke.
At 1226 hours RAMILLIES fired two
salvos at maximum elevation to test
the range. Thereafter proceeding at
her best speed of 20.7 knots she
dropped astern and took no further
part in the action.
At 1230 hours RENOWN fired two salvos
at the cruiser
BOLZANO.
At about 1230 hours the 11 Swordfish
attacked the enemy force with
torpedoes but no hits were achieved
and the enemy’s speed had not been
reduced.
At 1235 hours RENOWN fired 8 salvos,
but at 1245 hours fire was checked
when the target was lost in smoke.
At 1302 hours the cruisers in the
van sighted two Vichy passenger
liners bearing 320¼, they were left
unchallenged but did cause some
initial confusion.
At 1308 hours Somerville signalled
VA CS18, 'is there any hope of
catching cruisers', the answer was
'no'.
At 1311
hours RENOWN fired two ranging
salvos. Both salvos fell well short
as the range was rapidly opening as
the enemy speed away to the north.
At 1312 hours, with the coast of
Sardinia only 30 miles away and the
enemy force withdrawing at speed
northward, Somerville called off the
chase and ordered a course of 130¼
to close the MT convoy.
(Thus
ended what came to be called the
Battle of Cape Spartivento. The only
British success, other than forcing
the superior force to turn away, was
damage to the
Italian destroyer LANCIERE caused by
MANCHESTER. In the exchange of fire
the difference between Italian and
British gunnery was clearly
demonstrated; Italian telemetry was
far superior, but Italian salvos
were dispersed. British salvos were
well grouped but generally short).
At
1410 ARK ROYAL flew off a further
strike force of 9 Swordfish but no
hits were achieved.
At 1410 hours the RENOWN force was
attacked by the Regia Aeronautica
with 10 Savoia-Marchetti SM 79’s,
their bombs fell close to the
destroyers but no hits were
obtained.
At 1500 hours ARK ROYAL flew off a
strike force of 7 Skuas, they
claimed two near misses on a
cruiser. On their way back they shot
down an Italian IMAM RO 43
reconnaissance float plane.
At 1630 hours further bombing
attacks were made on ARK ROYAL by
two groups of high level SM 79’s
again without success.
At 1900 hours the convoy was
sighted.
After having seen Force F and the MT
convoy safely to the north of Cape
Bon Force H reversed course and
steered for Gibraltar.
29th
– At 1430 hours RENOWN, BERWICK,
SHEFFIELD and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FURY, FORESTER and FIREDRAKE arrived
at Gibraltar.
At 1530 hours ARK ROYAL, RAMILLIES,
NEWCASTLE, DESPATCH and destroyers
DUNCAN, ENCOUNTER, WISHART, KELVIN and
JAGUAR arrived at Gibraltar.
(Though
the operation had been completely
successful, Somerville was
criticized by the First Sea Lord
Admiral Dudley Pound in London for
not continuing the pursuit of the
Italian fleet. The Admiralty had
actually set up a Board of Inquiry
at Gibraltar before Somerville
returned to base. The admiralty had
dispatched
Admiral
Lord Cork
to run a board of enquiry at
Gibraltar. Lord Cork arrived on
the rock before Somerville had
even returned from the operation,
but any tension as to the result
must have disappeared when
Somerville received Lord Cork’s
congratulations on his successful
action. The board of enquiry sat
from the 3rd to 5th December and
their findings fully supported all
of Somerville’s decisions during
the fighting, and his career
continued uninterrupted)
30th
– RENOWN commenced a self refit carried
out by the ships staff. During which all
16 main bearings were removed one by
one, re-metalled, machined and refitted.
December
Under
self refit at Gibraltar.
14th
– At 1100 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK
ROYAL, SHEFFIELD and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FIREDRAKE, FORESTER,
FOXHOUND, FORTUNE, FURY, DUNCAN, ISIS
and ENCOUNTER sailed from Gibraltar to
patrol in the area north of the Azores
following reports of an invasion force
near the islands.
19th
– Force H returned to Gibraltar.
20th
– At 1715 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY, DUNCAN, ISIS
and ENCOUNTER sailed from Gibraltar on
Operation HIDE.
(Operation HIDE was an operation to
cover the passage of the battleship
MALAYA and convoy MG 1 from Malta to
Gibraltar)
21st
-
At 1250
hours MALAYA sailed from Malta
screened by destroyers HEREWARD,
HYPERION and ILEX and escorting convoy
MG 1 formed of the SS CLAN FORBES and
SS CLAN FRASER they were later joined
by destroyers HASTY and HERO.
22nd
- At 0156 hours 24
miles 087 degrees from Cape Bon Light
HYPERION was torpedoed and seriously
damaged by the Italian submarine
SERPENTE. ILEX was detached to assist
HYPERION.
At 0940 hours off Galita Island Force
H RVed with MALAYA, HASTY, HEREWARD
and HERO and the two mercantiles.
24th
– At 1000 hours Force H with MALAYA,
HASTY, HEREWARD and HERO and the two
mercantiles arrived at Gibraltar.
25th
– At 1038 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD, FAULKNOR,
FOXHOUND, FORTUNE, FIREDRAKE, DUNCAN,
HEREWARD, HERO and WISHART sailed from
Gibraltar into the Atlantic to go to the
aid of convoy WS 5A.
(In
evening of 24/12/40 the
German heavy
cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER located
convoy WS 5A [19 vessels with
almost 14000 troops embarked
including the 25th Australian and
5th New Zealand Brigades] nominal
speed of the convoy was 11 knots
course SSE. ADMIRAL HIPPER
shadowed the convoy by radar until
0838 hours; when in position
43-58N, 24-15W, and 754 miles west
of Cape Finisterre see opened fire
on the convoy. The ADMIRAL HIPPER
was first sighted by the corvette
CLEMATIS who turned towards
ADMIRAL HIPPER. CLEMATIS was saved
from destruction by the
intervention of the cruisers BERWICK,
BONAVENTURE and DUNEDIN. After
damaging BERWICK and two of the
convoy's merchant ships,
principally the 13,994 ton troop
transport EMPIRE TROOPER; ADMIRAL
HIPPER broke off the action at
0920 hours and disappeared into a
rain squall. Shortly after ADMIRAL
HIPPER opened fire the convoy
scattered)
Force
H sailed into heavy seas and RENOWN
sustained damage to starboard bulge
which peeled back for a distance of 30
feet forcing her to reduce speed to 20
knots.
27th
-
Destroyers
DUNCAN and HERO were detached to
assist troopship EMPIRE TROOPER.
SHEFFIELD detached to escort the SS
ESSEX to Gibraltar.
The remaining units of Force H spent
many hours rounding up the scattered
ships of convoy WS 5A.
30th
- Force
H comprising RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
destroyers FAULKNOR, DUNCAN, HASTY,
HERO, JAGUAR, FIREDRAKE arrived at
Gibraltar.
SHEFFIELD arrived at Gibraltar
escorting the SS ESSEX.
RENOWN went directly into dry dock
at Gibraltar to repair the weather
damage.
1
9 4 1
January
At
Gibraltar under repair.
(The
next operation that involved
Force H was Operation EXCESS.
Operation
EXCESS had three main
objectives:-
1.
To cover the passage of a convoy
of 4 merchant ships, SS CLAN
CUMMING, MV CLAN MACDONALD and SS
EMPIRE SONG for Piraeus and MV
ESSEX for Malta.
2.
Cover the passage of Force F,
reinforcements for the
Mediterranean Fleet.
3.
Cover the passage of Force B,
units from the Mediterranean Fleet)
6th
– In the evening Operation EXCESS
commenced with the sailing of Force F
from Gibraltar. Force F comprised the
4 merchant ships, the cruiser
BONAVENTURE and destroyers DUNCAN,
HASTY, HEREWARD and HERO (the cruiser
and the destroyers had embarked 400
troops from the damaged merchant ship
MV NORTHERN PRINCE) steered west into
the Atlantic and after dark they
reversed course and steered through
the strait of Gibraltar and continued
steering east.
7th
– At 0800 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, MALAYA, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD
and destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER,
FORTUNE, FIREDRAKE, FOXHOUND, FURY and
DUNCAN sailed from Gibraltar to cover
the EXCESS convoy.
When Force H caught up with the convoy
BONAVENTURE detached and joined Force
H.
Force H then took up a position to the
north east of the convoy.
9th
– At 0500 hours north of Cap de Fer
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY,
FORTUNE and FIREDRAKE increased speed
and moved ahead to allow ARK ROYAL to
fly off 5 Swordfish of 821X Squadron
to Malta.
At the same time MALAYA, BONAVENTURE
and destroyers FOXHOUND and DUNCAN
detached from Force H and joined the
convoy.
At 1020 hours off Galite Island Force
B comprising cruisers GLOUCESTER and
SOUTHAMPTON and the destroyer ILEX
RVed with the convoy and joined the
escort for the passage through the
Sicilian Narrows.
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY,
FORTUNE and FIREDRAKE remained in
contact with the convoy to the north.
The other 3 destroyers from Force H’s
screen joined the convoy to beef up
the anti-submarine.
At 1346 hours the force was attacked
by 10 Savoia-Marchetti SM79’s bombers,
no hits were made.
At 1530 hours north of Cape Bon Force
H reversed course and set course for
Gibraltar.
11th
– Force H arrived back at Gibraltar.
26th
– At Gibraltar where Captain Rhoderick
Robert McGrigor RN (nick name Wee Mac)
took over command of RENOWN.
28th
- RENOWN, ARK ROYAL and destroyers
FORESIGHT, ENCOUNTER, FIREDRAKE and
JERSEY, joined later by destroyers
FOXHOUND and JUPITER sailed from
Gibraltar to exercise.
In the evening FIREDRAKE attacked a
submarine contact.
29th
- RENOWN returned to Gibraltar.
31st
– At 1215 hours Force H sailed from on
Gibraltar Operations PICKET and
RESULT. Force H was split into 4
groups:
Group
1 was RENOWN, MALAYA, ARK ROYAL and
SHEFFIELD.
Group
2 was destroyers FEARLESS (D.8),
FOXHOUND, FORESIGHT, FURY, FIREDRAKE
and JERSEY.
Group
3 was destroyers DUNCAN (D.13),
ISIS, ENCOUNTER and JUPITER.
Group
4 was the refuelling group with the
RFA oiler ORANGELEAF and
anti-submarine trawlers ARCTIC
RANGER and HAARLEM.
(Operation
PICKET an air attack on Lake Omodeo
Dam, Central Sardinia and Operation
RESULT the bombardment of Genoa) (The
reason for the operations was that
following the attack on Taranto
the Italian Fleet withdrew to
Naples. On 10/1/41
Vickers Wellingtons operating
from Malta bombed the Italian
Fleet anchorage at Naples. The
battleship GIULIO CESARE was
damaged and the Italian Navy
withdrew its remaining
battleships further north to
Genoa. The
operation to bombard Genoa was
designed to undermine Italian
morale, cause damage to the port
and manufacturing capacity and
damage the Italian battleships
LITTORIO and GIULIO CESARE that
were thought to be undergoing
repairs. Even after it was
ascertained that the battleships
were not in port but were
actually being refitted in La
Spezia, Genoa was kept as the
primary target)
February
2nd
- At 0530 hours 60 miles west of Cape
Mannu, 8 torpedo armed Swordfish took
off from HMS ARK ROYAL to carry out an
air strike against the Santa Chiara
d’Ula dam on Lake Omodeo, central
Sardinia (Operation PICKET). Due to
the bad weather only 4 aircraft
reached the dam where they encountered
an intense barrage. One aircraft was
lost for no result.
By 0845 hours all aircraft had been
recovered.
(Note: Intended bombardment of Genoa
was cancelled due to bad weather)
3rd
– At 1830 hours north of Majorca in
worsening weather Somerville took the
decision to call off Operation RESULT.
En route back to Gibraltar all ships
carried out a practice shoot.
4th
- At 1800 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
(After
returning to Gibraltar it was
found that news of Operations
PICKET and RATION had leaked out
prior to Force H sailing, which is
why the Italians were ready and
waiting at the Santa Chiara d’Ula
dam? For the reasons the stated
above it was considered important
to carry out the bombardment of
Genoa, so the operation was
re-scheduled under strict security
and the employment of various
subterfuges. One of the
subterfuges was to divide Force H
into 3 groups which would sail at
different times and directions )
6th
– For the re-run of Operation RATION
Force H was divided into:
Group
1: RENOWN, MALAYA, ARK ROYAL and
SHEFFIELD
Group
2: Destroyers FEARLESS, FIREDRAKE,
FORESIGHT, FOXHOUND, FURY and
JERSEY.
Group
3: Destroyers DUNCAN, ENCOUNTER,
ISIS and JUPITER.
At
1400 hours convoy HG53 of 21
mercantiles escorted by the destroyer
VELOX and the sloop DEPTFORD sailed
from Gibraltar. Groups 1 and 2
attached themselves to this convoy and
sailed out into the Atlantic.
At 1800 hours Group 3 sailed from
Gibraltar and carried out an
anti-submarine sweep in the Strait of
Gibraltar.
At 2100 hours Groups 1 and 2 reversed
course and steered east into the
Mediterranean.
7th
– At 0200 hours al three groups RVed
in 36N, 04-30W. Course was then set to
pass between Ibiza and the Spanish
Mainland.
At 1900 hours FIREDRAKE and JERSEY
detached and remained off Majorca
simulating radio traffic for Force H.
(The
subterfuges failed and Supermarina
was aware from various sources
that Force H had sailed and
guessed that Genoa was the target.
On the 8/1/41 the Italian fleet
sailed to intercept Force H. The
battleships VITTORIO VENETO,
GIULIO CESARE and ANDREA DORIA
sailed from La Spezia at
1900/8/2/41 with an escort of 8
destroyers. Three cruisers TRENTO,
TRIESTE and BOLZANO of the 8th
squadron with two destroyers
sailed from Messina. The two
forces RVed at 0800/9/2/4, 40
miles west of the Strait of
Bonifacio)
8th
– At 0900 hours Force H was between
Majorca and Barcelona.
9th
- At 0400 hours ARK ROYAL and the
destroyers DUNCAN, ISIS and ENCOUNTER
detached to carry out an air strike
against the Azienda oil refinery at
Leghorn.
Between 0715 and 0745 hours whilst 10
miles off the Italian coast, sailing
east to west, RENOWN, MALAYA and
SHEFFIELD carried out a bombardment of
Genoa. The 2 Walrus aircraft from
SHEFFIELD with Swordfish from ARK
ROYAL carried out fall of shot
observations. The 3 ships fired 273
rounds of 15in, 125 rounds from
RENOWN, 782 rounds of 6in and 400
rounds of 4.5in. The result was the
Italians suffered 144 casualties, 28
civil vessels sunk or damaged and
harbour installations destroyed and
damaged.
At 0754 hours the bombarding force set
course to the south.
At 0845 hours the ARK ROYAL Force
rejoined and Force H made at best
speed, which at one point was only 17
knots as this was the best MALAYA
could make, for Gibraltar.
Somerville expected heavy retaliation
from the Regia Aeronautica but this
was not forthcoming.
(At
0745 hours the Italian Fleet was
off Punta Scorno, Sardinia, 210
miles south of Force H and in
an excellent
position to cut off the
withdrawal of
Force H on its
course back to Gibraltar.
However as Force H were sailing
out of the Ligurian Sea, Admiral
Iachino was steaming on a 330¼
course which was going to bring
him into contact at around
15:00. Instead, due to an
incredible series of
misunderstandings and poor
communications with Supermarina,
the Italian forces changed
direction toward Italy on a 30¼
course. Thus the Italians lost a
great opportunity and Force H
was completely unaware that at
1515/9/2/41 the Italian Fleet
was only 30 miles away)
11th
- At 1430 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
(On
the morning of 1/2/41the German
cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER sailed from
Brest on her second raiding
mission with orders to join up
with the battlecruisers GNEISENAU
and SCHARNHORST. At 0440/9/2/41 in
position 35-53N, 13-13W the 21
ship convoy HG53, with only the
sloop DARTFORD as escort, was
attacked by U 37, following the
attack U 37 made a sighting
report. On receipt of the report
Doenitz sensed an opportunity to
mount a combined U boat, air and
surface attack on the convoy.
Doenitz ordered U 37 to shadow the
convoy and transmit beacon
signals. At 1600/9/2/41 in 35 54N,
14 41W 5 FW 200’s made a low level
bombing attack on HG53 sinking 5
ships. At first the
Oberkommando
der Marine [OKM] was reluctant
to release the ADMIRAL HIPPER,
but at 1140/10/2/41 when in
approximate position 45N, 30W,
ADMIRAL HIPPER was ordered to
attack HG53. The ADMIRAL HIPPER
missed HG53 but found the 19
unescorted ships of convoy
SLS64. At 0925/12/2/41 in
position
37-10N,
21 20W, ADMIRAL HIPPER opened
fire on the ships of SLS64 and
quickly sank 7 and damaged 3.
[250 seamen from convoy SLS64
were lost. Their deaths have not
been acknowledged in convoy loss
statistics as the Admiralty
regarded these ships as
independents]
A
RRR raider report that was picked
up at 0930 hours by the SS
EGYPTIAN
PRINCE in convoy HG53.
When
the Admiralty received the raider
report part of their response was
to signal Somerville at
1240/12/2/41 ordering Force H to
sail to the aid of convoy HG53)
12th
– At 1600 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
SHEFFIELD and destroyers WISHART,
JERSEY, FOXHOUND, FIREDRAKE and FURY
sailed from Gibraltar to cover convoy
HG53.
At 2030 hours Force H was ordered to
locate and escort troop convoy WS6.
SHEFFIELD detached to find and escort
convoy HG53.
(At 2030/12/2/41 convoy WS6 was in
approximate position 53-30N 19-30W and
comprised 17 troop transports with
almost 23000 troops embarked and 12 MT
ships. The convoy was weakly escorted
by the cruisers BIRMINGHAM and PHOEBE
and the AMC CATHAY)
14th
– The destroyers WISHART, JERSEY,
FOXHOUND, FIREDRAKE and FURY detached
and returned to Gibraltar.
17th
– At 0830 hours in approximate
position 51N, 30W RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
RVed with convoy WS6 and its escort of
RODNEY, BIRMINGHAM, CATHAY and
destroyers ECLIPSE and ELECTRA.
(RODNEY, ECLIPSE and ELECTRA had
joined the convoy at 0700/15/2/41 in
approximate position 45-30N, 23W).
At 0900 hours RODNEY, ECLIPSE and
ELECTRA detached.
19th
– MALAYA joined Force H and convoy
WS6.
21st
- At 1000 hours in approximate
position 30N, 31W RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
detached from WS6 and returned to
Gibraltar.
25th
- RENOWN and ARK ROYAL arrived back at
Gibraltar. RENOWN went straight into
dry dock for essential repairs.
March
2nd
– RENOWN un-docked.
6th
- RENOWN with destroyers FORTUNE,
DUNCAN, and VELOX sailed from
Gibraltar to conduct exercises. They
were joined at sea by destroyers
FEARLESS, FORESIGHT, and FOXHOUND.
7th
- The ships arrived back at Gibraltar.
(At
1330/8/3/41 130 miles off Cape
Blanco the destroyer FORESTER, who
was well to the west of the convoy
SL67, briefly sighted the German
Battlecruisers SCHARNHORST and
GNEISENAU steaming towards the
convoy. The German ships were also
sighted at the same time by
MALAYA’s patrolling Swordfish)
8th
– At 2115 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, cruiser ARETHUSA,
and destroyers VELOX and WRESTLER
sailed from Gibraltar to go to the aid
of convoy SL67.
9th
- ARETHUSA, and destroyers VELOX and
WRESTLER detached and returned to
Gibraltar.
10th
– At 1200 hours RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
joined convoy SL67.
(At
1900/16/3/41RODNEY, who was
escorting convoy HX114, briefly
sighted a ship in approximately
46-15N, 45W. RODNEY signalled what
ship? and received the reply HMS
EMERALD, the ship then made off at
speed to the east. At 2000/16/3/41
RODNEY picked up 27 survivors from
the MV CHILEAN REEFER Which had
just been sunk by the GNEISENAU.
When the survivors were questioned
they were able to definitely
recognise the raider as the
GNEISENAU. This was the first
positive evidence for the
Admiralty that the raiders were
the battlecruisers GNEISENAU and
SCHARNHORST)
19th
– The cruiser KENYA joined and RENOWN
and ARK ROYAL detached from convoy
SL67 to return to Gibraltar.
As they left the convoy Somerville
received orders to proceeded
northwards and to search for a German
tanker the MV ANTARKTIS 10711grt that
had sailed from Vigo on 18/3/41. Also
the Admiralty informed Somerville of
the vessels sunk by the
battlecruisers, some of which it was
thought may have been captured and
could be en route to France.
In the evening in approximate position
45-22N, 23-35W a patrolling Swordfish
sighted a tanker that was definitely
identified as the Norwegian tanker MV
BIANCA 5688grt that was en route to
Bordeaux with a German prize crew.
20th
– RENOWN and ARK ROYAL continued
northward toward the sighting
position.
At 0900 hours the BIANCA was
re-located 60 miles away and RENOWN
set course to intercept.
At 1150 hours a searching Swordfish
reported sighting the British tanker
MV SAN CASIMIRO 8046grt. Shortly
afterwards another Swordfish sighted
the Norwegian tanker MV POLYKARP
6405grt.
When RENOWN came over the horizon the
German prize crew on BIANCA placed
explosives in the engine room and pump
room and opened all the valves, the
crew of 34 including the captain’s
wife and small son and the 10 prize
crew took to the boats. When RENOWN
arrived on the scene the boarding
party took some of the Norwegian crew
back on board, the fires were
extinguished and they closed all the
deck valves, but the engine room had
filled with water and the ship could
not be saved. The BIANCA was then sunk
by RENOWN in position 44-16N, 19-21W.
RENOWN then set course for the SAN
CASIMIRO and although ARK ROYAL’s
aircraft had attempted to stop the
scuttling of the SAN CASIMIRO, when
RENOWN arrived at her position she was
on fire and sinking and she sank in
position 45-12N, 19-42W. RENOWN picked
up 38 crew and 3 prize crew.
At 1730 hours with visibility closing
in one of the Fulmars sighted the
SCARNHORST and GNEISENAU sailing
north; the battlecruisers were in
position 46-50N, 21-25W, approximately
140 miles and 330¼ from RENOWN.
However due to a radio malfunction,
the Fulmar had to return to ARK ROYAL
to make a visual report.
At 1815 hours Somerville was made
aware of the presence of the
battlecruisers and RENOWN increased
speed and set course for the reported
position.
At 1830 hours RENOWN had completed the
rescue of the survivors from the two
tankers. During these operations the
POLYKARP had been lost.
In an attempt to locate the POLYKARP
before darkness ARK ROYAL launched two
Fulmars.
Another Fulmar was launched but when
it arrived in the area of the sighting
fog had descended on the area and the
battlecruisers were lost.
RENOWN and ARK ROYAL steamed through
the night closing the estimated
position at 27 knots. Because when
last sighted the Germans had been
sailing due north Somerville had
assumed that they were heading for
Iceland. However at 1800 hours the
battlecruisers had turned west and
were in fact heading for Brest.
(At
0845/22/3/41 the battlecruisers
arrived at Brest. The Admiralty
thought they were at Brest, but
due to low cloud over the port
their presence was not definitely
established until late on 28/3/41
when a PR Spitfire brought back
photographs of the battlecruisers)
21st
– At 0645 hours ARK ROYAL launched
Swordfish reconnaissance patrols to
attempt to relocate the
battlecruisers, all they found was
thick fog in the area.
At 2100 hours a RAF Hudson of 220 Sqd
sighted the battlecruisers with an
escort of two destroyers in position
47-17N, 07-13W, steering east at 21
knots.
With the chances of catching the
battlecruisers now gone and RENOWN’s
low fuel state, the Admiralty ordered
Somerville back to Gibraltar.
23rd
– RENOWN and ARK ROYAL returning to
Gibraltar were met by destroyers
FEARLESS, FORESTER, VELOX, and
WRESTLER.
24th
– RENOWN, ARK ROYAL and destroyers
FEARLESS, FORESTER, VELOX, and
WRESTLER arrived at Gibraltar and
immediately commenced to refuel.
Late in the day Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL and the destroyers
FORESIGHT, FORTUNE and FORESTER sailed
from Gibraltar to patrol off the Bay
of Biscay to intercept German
battlecruisers SCHARNHORST and
GNEISENAU should they attempt to leave
Brest.
25th
- Destroyers FORTUNE and FORESIGHT
detached from Force H.
26th
- Destroyer FORESTER detached from
Force H.
31st
– Force H were joined by the
destroyers NAPIER, NIZAM and FORTUNE.
April
1st
– Force H arrived back at Gibraltar.
2nd
– At 0300 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL (with twelve
Hurricanes embarked for Malta),
SHEFFIELD, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FEARLESS, FORESIGHT, FORTUNE and FURY
sailed from Gibraltar on Operation
WINCH.
(Operation WINCH was a ‘club run’ to
supply more Hurricane fighters to
Malta. These were desperately required
following the arrival of the Luftwaffe
in Sicily. Even though the Hurricanes
could cope with their Italian
opponents, and with the German bombers
the Bf 109Es posed a serious problem.
The aircraft carrier ARGUS brought the
12 Hurricanes from Britain and they
were transferred to ARK ROYAL in
Gibraltar harbour)
3rd
– At 0400 hours in position 37-42N,
6-52E the 12 Hurricanes were flown off
lead by 2 FAA Skuas of 808 Sqd. All
arrived safely at Malta.
Force H then reversed course for
Gibraltar.
En route back to Gibraltar ARK ROYAL
with destroyers FAULKNOR and FORTUNE
were detached and proceeded ahead to
prepare to transfer aircraft to and
from aircraft carrier FURIOUS
4th
– At 1045 hours ARK ROYAL, FAULKNOR
and FORTUNE arrived back at Gibraltar.
Followed shortly afterwards by the
remainder of Force H.
At 1900 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS, FORTUNE
and FORESIGHT, with FURIOUS sailed
from Gibraltar into the Atlantic.
5th
– At sea the transfer of Four
Swordfish, fitted with ASV of 825
Squadron and ten Fulmars of 807
Squadron from FURIOUS to ARK ROYAL and
four Swordfish and nine Skuas of 800
Squadron from ARK ROYAL to FURIOUS was
carried out.
At 1045 hours FURIOUS escorted by
destroyers FAULKNOR and FORTUNE
detached to join the REPULSE force
that had earlier sailed from Gibraltar
and return to the UK.
At 1600 hours FAULKNOR and FORTUNE
rejoined Force H.
At 2330 hours Force H arrived back at
Gibraltar.
(At
1535/6/4/41 the Admiralty
signalled 'Consider battlecruisers
will probably leave Brest
tonight'. This was because the
GNEISENAU had moved out of dry
dock into the inner harbour; which
was in fact due to a 250lb UXB in
the dock. At 0602/7/4/41 GNEISENAU
was hit in the stern, and put out
of action for 7 months, by a
torpedo dropped by Bristol
Beaufort OA-X of 22 Squadron RAF
flown by F.O. Kenneth Campbell,
who was posthumously awarded the
VC. However, this was not known to
the Admiralty for some time)
6th
– At 0230 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, cruisers FIJI and
SHEFFIELD, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FEARLESS and FORESIGHT departed
Gibraltar to operate in Biscay to
blockade the German battleships at
Brest.
At sea Force H was joined by the
destroyers HIGHLANDER and FURY, which
had been detached from the escort of
battlecruiser REPULSE.
7th
– The destroyers refuelled from
RENOWN.
8th
– In the evening Somerville assumed
command of all the blockading vessels
including Home Fleet units that were
operating in the Bay of Biscay.
9th
- The destroyers refuelled from
RENOWN.
Exercises were carried out using
SHEFFIELD as a target and FIJI using
her Type 284 radar to pass range and
bearing to RENOWN.
10th
- The destroyers refuelled from
RENOWN.
12th
- The destroyers refuelled from
RENOWN.
14th
- The destroyers refuelled from
RENOWN.
During the day RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
carried out 4.5in practise at a splash
target towed by one of the destroyers.
At 1630 hours Somerville handed over
command of the blockading force to
Admiral Tovey.
Force H then covered the minelayer
ABDIEL while she laid 300 mines in the
approaches to Brest.
Following which Force H set course for
Gibraltar.
16th
– At 1245 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
24th
- Aircraft carrier ARGUS escorted by
SHEFFIELD and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORTUNE and WRESTLER arrived at
Gibraltar. (ARGUS had embarked 23
Hurricanes for Malta that in Gibraltar
were transferred to ARK ROYAL)
25th
– At 2300 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD, and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT, FURY and FORTUNE sailed
from Gibraltar and set course east on
Operations DUNLOP and SALIENT.
An hour earlier Force S comprising
cruiser DIDO, minelayer ABDIEL, and
destroyers KELLY, KASHMIR, KELVIN,
KIPLING, JERSEY and JACKAL had sailed
from Gibraltar.
(Operation DUNLOP was the transport
and flying off of 24 Hurricanes to
Malta. Operation SALIENT was to
provide cover for Force S,
reinforcements for the Mediterranean
Fleet, through the Western
Mediterranean)
27th
– Between 0515 and 0613hours the 23
Hurricanes were flown off ARK ROYAL
lead by 3 FAA Fulmars.
By 1047 hours all had arrived safely
at Malta.
Force H waited to the south of
Sardinia to provide Force S with air
cover if required as it passed through
the Sicilian Narrows.
At 1000 hours Force H set course for
Gibraltar.
28th
– At 2000 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
May
1st
- In position 38-10N, 10W, 45 miles
off Cape Espichel the A/S trawler LOCH
OSKAIG captured the Vichy French
general cargo steamer SS CAP CANTIN
3317grt, which had departed Bayonne on
the 25th for Casablanca. The Vichy
ship was taken into Gibraltar for
inspection. However there was concern
that the Vichy French forces at
Casablanca may try to take back the
CAP CANTIN.
2nd
- At 0430 hours RENOWN and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FORESIGHT, FURY, FORESTER
and FORTUNE sailed from Gibraltar to
provide cover for the CAP CANTIN.
FORESIGHT was detached to escort the
CAP CANTIN.
In
the evening RENOWN, FAULKNOR, FURY,
FORESTER and FORTUNE arrived back at
Gibraltar.
(On
the 20/4/41the ships of convoy
WS8A were embarking troops in the
UK for the Middle East. Included
in the convoy were five 15 knot MT
ships loaded with 295 tanks and 53
crated Hurricanes. On the same day
General Wavell sent a message to
the CIGS in London, telling them
of his inferiority in armoured
vehicles, and that the situation
was to get worse. When Churchill
saw the message, he decided to
make a bold stroke and send the
ships carrying the tanks through
the Mediterranean to Egypt. The
Admiralty was opposed; Admiral
Cunningham thought the risks were
acceptable, despite the increased
air threat from the Luftwaffe
Fliegerkorps X. At Churchill’s
insistence the operation, code
named TIGER went ahead. Included
in Operation TIGER were
reinforcements for the
Mediterranean Fleet)
4th
– The cruisers FIJI from convoy SL72
and NAIAD from convoy WS8A arrived at
Gibraltar and embarked ammunition for
the passage to the Eastern
Mediterranean as part of Operation
TIGER.
At 1600 hours the battleship QUEEN
ELIZABETH and destroyers FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT, FORTUNE and VELOX sailed
from Gibraltar into the Atlantic to RV
with the Tiger convoy.
5th
– At 0000 hours 200 miles west of
Gibraltar QUEEN ELIZABETH and
destroyers FEARLESS, FORESIGHT,
FORTUNE and VELOX RVed with the 5 MT
ships, SS CLAN LAMONT 7268grt, SS CLAN
CHATTAN 7262grt, SS CLAN CAMPBELL
7255grt, MV NEW ZEALAND STAR
10,941grt, and SS EMPIRE SONG 9228grt,
of the TIGER convoy.
At 0615 hours the battlecruiser
REPULSE destroyers HAVELOCK, HESPERUS,
and HARVESTER detached from the convoy
and proceeded ahead to Gibraltar.
At 1000 hours Force B comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, cruisers FIJI and
SHEFFIELD and destroyers WRESTLER,
KASHMIR and KIPLING sailed from
Gibraltar into the Atlantic to RV with
the TIGER convoy.
At 1320 hours the cruiser NAIAD flying
the flag of RA 15th CS, Rear Admiral
Edward Leigh Stuart King, sailed from
Gibraltar into the Atlantic to RV with
the TIGER convoy.
At 1700 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
cruisers FIJI and SHEFFIELD and
destroyers WRESTLER, KASHMIR and
KIPLING joined the TIGER convoy.
At 1730 hours REPULSE destroyers
HAVELOCK, HESPERUS, and HARVESTER
arrived at Gibraltar.
At 2200 hours NAIAD joined the TIGER
convoy and RA 15thCS took command of
the convoy and the reinforcements for
the Mediterranean Fleet.
6th
– At 0200 hours the TIGER convoy
passed through the Strait of
Gibraltar.
At 0330 hours destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, HARVESTER, HAVELOCK
and HESPERUS sailed from Gibraltar to
join the escort of convoy TIGER.
At 0345 hours the cruiser GLOUCESTER
sailed from Gibraltar to join convoy
TIGER.
At 0500 hours GLOUCESTER, FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, HARVESTER, HAVELOCK
and HESPERUS joined convoy TIGER.
At 0630 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, FIJI,
SHEFFIELD and destroyers WRESTLER,
KASHMIR and KIPLING increased speed
and moved to the north east of the
convoy to provide cover should the
Italian navy decided to attack.
At 24000 hours RENOWN was
approximately 70 miles south of
Majorca and 150 miles east north east
of the convoy.
7th
– In the morning QUEEN ELIZABETH and
GLOUCESTER joined RENOWN and the
covering force.
At 0500 hours ARK ROYAL flew off her
new ASV-equipped Swordfish; these
searched out to 140 miles, south and
west of Sardinia and found no sign of
the Italian Fleet.
At 0830 hours Somerville determined
that with no sign of the Italian Fleet
the main threat to the convoy would be
from the air so the covering force
closed the convoy.
At 1115 hours an enemy signal was
intercepted stating that the convoy
had been sighted.
At 1300 hours the covering force
regained contact with the convoy.
VELOX detached from the TIGER convoy
and returned to Gibraltar.
8th
– At 0700 hours ARK ROYAL flew off a
Swordfish for A/S patrol.
At 1345 hours the first incoming raid
of 8 SM 79 torpedo bombers with an
escort of CR42 fighters was reported
approaching from the south east at low
level about 32 miles from the convoy.
In this attack RENOWN was targeted,
RENOWN turned to comb the tracts and
she avoided all save one which
appeared certain to hit her but it
reached the end of its run just yards
away. So RENOWN was saved. Three SM
79’s were shot down.
Through the day there were further air
raids by the Regia Aeronautica and the
Luftwaffe all of which were blunted by
the actions of ARK ROYAL’s Fulmars,
the AA fire of the ships and the poor
weather.
At 2015 hours the ships of Operation
TIGER had reached a position north of
Cap Bone where in accordance with the
plan Force B was to reverse course.
As RENOWN was turning she was attacked
by 3 SM 79 torpedo bombers, through
the brilliant ship handling of Captain
McGrigor all 3 torpedoes missed the
RENOWN.
During the attack with all the close
range weapons hammering away at the
attackers P3 twin 4.5in mounting fired
into the back of the twin P2 mounting,
killing six ratings and wounding Sub
Lt D. M. Brightman RNVR, and twenty
five ratings and destroying the gun.
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD and
destroyers HARVESTER, HAVELOCK,
HESPERUS and WRESTLER now proceed
west.
(The
TIGER convoy continued eastwards
into the Sicilian Narrows. The 5
MT ships were in line astern and
the F class destroyers of the 8th
DF acted as minesweepers. The 5 MT
ships also streamed paravanes but
in spite of these precautions
first the NEW ZEALAND STAR
exploded a mine that caused only
minor damage but at 0002/9/5/41
the EMPIRE SONG struck two mines.
The crew of the FORESTER were
going to attempt salvage when the
EMPIRE SONG blew up, 18 of her
crew were lost as were 57 tanks
and 10 Hurricanes. The remaining 4
MT ships arrived safely in Egypt
where they disembarked 135 Mk.II
Matilda Infantry Tanks, 82 Mk.I
Crusader Cruiser Tanks and 21
Mk.VIC light tanks and 43 crated
Hurricanes)
9th
– Force H sailed slowly along the
Algerian coast waiting for the
destroyers of the 8th DF to re-join
from Malta.
10th
– At 1400 hours Force H was off
Algiers when having received a signal
that the 5 destroyers of the 8th DF
were under air attack. So Somerville
reversed the course of Force H to go
the aid of the 8th DF.
At 1800 hours Force H RVed with
FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY, FEARLESS and
FORTUNE. FORESIGHT had returned to
Malta with engine problems.
11th
– The tug ST DAY and four motor
launches from Gibraltar RVed with the
destroyer FORTUNE. SHEFFIELD,
HARVESTER and HESPERUS detached from
Force H to provide an escort for the
damaged FORTUNE.
12th
– At 1815 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY,
FEARLESS, HAVELOCK, and WRESTLER
arrived at Gibraltar.
At 2040 hours SHEFFIELD, HARVESTER and
HESPERUS escorting the damaged
FORESTER arrived at Gibraltar.
16th
– At 1800 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, flying the flag of
VA Somerville, SHEFFIELD, and
destroyers WRESTLER, FEARLESS,
FORESTER, and FURY sailed from
Gibraltar into the Atlantic for
exercises.
17th
– In the morning RENOWN carried out a
‘throw off’ shoot with her main
armament; fall of shot spotting was
carried out by a Swordfish from ARK
ROYAL.
At 1900 hours Force H returned to
Gibraltar.
18th
– At 2000 hours the aircraft carrier
FURIOUS, (with 64 Hurricanes embarked
for Malta) heavy cruiser LONDON, dummy
battleship ANSON (old battleship
CENTURION with wooden guns), and
destroyer BRILLIANT, HAVELOCK,
HESPERUS, and HARVESTER arrived at
Gibraltar.
FURIOUS moored stern to stern with ARK
ROYAL and transferred 22 of the
Hurricanes to ARK ROYAL across a
timber bridge that was erected between
the two carriers.
19th
– At 0330 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD, and
destroyers HESPERUS, HAVELOCK, and
HARVESTER departed Gibraltar to feint
westwards into the Atlantic prior to
commencing Operation SPLICE.
(Operation SPLICE was a ‘club run’
delivering 48 of the Hurricanes,
bought out by FURIOUS, to Malta. The
balance of the Hurricanes, 16, were
landed at Gibraltar to await the next
‘club run’)
At 1500 hours FURIOUS, LONDON and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FOXHOUND, FURY
and FORESTER sailed from Gibraltar
westwards to RV with Force H.
At 1900 hours the two forces RVed,
following which LONDON and destroyers
HAVELOCK and HARVESTER were detached
to sail westward to cover the movement
of dummy battleship ANSON and
troopship ARUNDEL CASTLE.
Force H then formed up and turned
eastwards into the Mediterranean.
20th
– At 0700 hours the destroyer
BRILLIANT joined Force H from
Gibraltar.
21st
– Between 0600 and 0729 hours in
position 37-47N, 6-08E the 48
Hurricanes were flown off lead by 5
FAA Fulmars. 47 Hurricanes and 4
Fulmars arrived safely at Malta.
After the flying off her Hurricanes
FURIOUS and destroyers BRILLIANT and
HESPERUS were detached to return to
Gibraltar for a quick docking for the
aircraft carrier to repair damage and
repack her stern glands from the bomb
damage she received on the 5/5/41
whilst at Belfast.
The remainder of Force H then reversed
course steering at low speed for
Gibraltar, waiting for FORESIGHT to
join from Malta.
At 1600 hours failing to have RVed
with FORESIGHT, who sailed on to
Gibraltar, Force H increased speed and
headed for Gibraltar.
22nd
– At 2300 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
(On
18/5/41 German battleship
BISMARCK, flying the flag of
Admiral Gunther Lutjens, and heavy
cruiser PRINZ EUGEN departed
Gdynia on Operation RHEINUBUNG. On
21/5/41 the BISMARCK and PRINZ
EUGEN departed Korsfjord, near
Bergen, for a shipping sweep in
the North Atlantic. The sailing
was not confirmed until 22/5/41
when a Martin Maryland of 771
Squadron from Hatson advised the
German ships had sailed. At
1922/23/5/41 AB Alfred Newell the
starboard lookout of the cruiser
SUFFOLK sighted BISMARCK at a
distance of 7 miles NNE, SUFFOLK’s
position was 66-59N, 24-51W. At
1923 hours a sighting report was
made, but this was only picked up
by NORFOLK. At 2032 hours NORFOLK
made the radio report that she had
BISMARCK in sight at a range of 6
miles. Following the sighting
report the Admiralty started to
order various deployments of fleet
units. One of the forces deployed
was Force H)
24th
– At 0200 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD, and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER,
FORESIGHT, FOXHOUND, FURY and HESPERUS
sailed from Gibraltar to join and
escort convoy WS 8B. At the time Force
H sailed convoy WS 8B was
approximately 200 miles west of Orsay
sailing at 13.5 knots.
Force H set course for a RV with WS 8B
in position 47-20N, 26-05W
At 1245 hours destroyers FORESIGHT,
FOXHOUND and FURY were detached to
return to Gibraltar.
(Throughout
the 24/5/41 SUFFOLK and NORFOLK
shadowed the BISMARCK. During the
period she was being shadowed
BISMARCK made 22 radio
transmissions [the
decryption of these signals was
carried out by GC and CS at
Bletchley Park, but too late to be
of any tactical value] but
all the transmissions were
monitored by the Y service, that
by DF were able to give an
accurate longitude and approximate
latitude. At 0300/25/5/41 BISMARCK
turned to starboard making a 360¼
turn this during a zig zag by
SUFFOLK caused SUFFOLK to loose
contact. BISMARCK then set course
130¼ and was not immediately aware
that contact had been broken and
she made further signals that the
Y service DFed all of which
indicated to the OIC that BISMARCK
was making for France. Also GC and
CS advised that whereas the normal
control station for BISMARCK W/T
frequency was Wilhelmshaven,
control had been transferred to
Paris)
25th
– At 0330 hours Force H was in
position 39-35N, 14-10W, steering 310¼
at 24 knots.
At 0400 hours Force H was taken under
direct control by the Admiralty and
Somerville was ordered to ‘Cancel my
signal ordering Force H to join convoy
WS 8B. Steer to intercept the
BISMARCK’.
At 0900 hours destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER and HESPERUS were detached to
return to Gibraltar.
At 1100 hours Force H was in position
41-30N, 17-10W when the Admiralty
instructed Somerville to act on the
assumption that BISMARCK was
proceeding to Brest. Force H then
turned on to course 360¼.
At 1805 hours the Admiralty finally
signalled to Admiral Tovey CinC Home
Fleet that he should assume that
BISMARCK was making for Brest.
At 1215 hours Force H altered course
to 345¼, into the teeth of a north
westerly gale.
At 2340 hours Force H had to reduce
speed to 21 knots.
26th
– At 0112 hours as Force H ploughed on
into mountainous seas, the waves were
washing right over RENOWN and
SHEFFIELD, speed had to be reduced,
ultimately to 17 knots.
At 0300 hours Force H altered course
to 360¼. Somerville reasoned that in
consequence of Force H’s reduction in
speed which BISMARCK with a following
sea would not have suffered this was
the best course to keep Force H to the
east of BISMARCK.
At 0835 hours in position 48-26N,
19-13W, ARK ROYAL flew off 10
Swordfish to carry out a search for
the BISMARCK in a 180¼ arc from south
west to north east. The weather
conditions at this time were wind
force 7 from 330¼, overcast, and
visibility 10-12 miles. ARK ROYAL’s
rounddown was rising and falling up to
56 feet.
At 0930 hours Force H was proceeding
at 15 knots on course 015¼.
At 1030 hours, report received in
RENOWN at 1050 hours, Catalina Z/209
sighted BISMARCK in position 49-33N,
21-47W (the position was 35 miles out)
course 150¼, speed 20 knots. At this
time Force H was 112 miles at 285 ¼
from BISMARCK crossing the track that
the German ship would take for Brest.
RENOWN was the nearest capital ship to
the BISMARCK. Battleships KING GEORGE
V and RODNEY were 135 miles and 125
miles behind sailing at 21 knots to
BISMARCK’s 20 knots so unless she
could be slowed down they would never
catch up. Now it was all down to ARK
ROYAL’s Swordfish.
Admiral Tovey, with the destruction of
the HOOD in mind, ordered Somerville
not to engage BISMARCK with RENOWN.
At 1114 hours Swordfish A2H of 810 Sqd
from ARK ROYAL made contact with the
BISMARCK, but reported her as cruiser,
and gave a position making the enemy
77 miles to the west of Force H. A
strike force of 15 Swordfish was made
ready by ARK ROYAL.
At 1145 hours the Admiralty concerned
that Somerville would attempt to
engage with RENOWN, signalled ‘that
RENOWN was not to become engaged with
BISMARCK unless the latter was heavily
engaged with either KING GEORGE V or
RODNEY’.
At
1200 hours Force H turned on to course
115¼ parallel and to the north of
BISMARCK.
At 1315 hours SHEFFIELD was ordered by
visual signal to make contact with the
BISMARCK, then about 40 miles to the
south west, shadow from the stern and
report.
At 1345 hours Somerville informed the
Admiralty that SHEFFIELD had been
detached to make contact with
BISMARCK. The Admiralty then repeated
Somerville’s signal to all ships but
the signal was not immediately
de-coded in ARK ROYAL.
At 1450 hours ARK ROYAL commenced
flying off the 15 strong Swordfish
strike force all were armed with
torpedoes fitted with magnetic heads.
When the aircraft took off the crews
were unaware that SHEFFIELD had been
detached.
At 1600 hours the 14 strong strike
force (one had turned back),
attacked SHEFFIELD, dropping 11
torpedoes all of which missed, 3 of
the aircraft realised their error and
didn’t attack. This attack showed up
the unreliability of the duplex
pistols in magnetic heads.
At 1720 hours the strike force
returned to ARK ROYAL.
During all the flying operations
RENOWN had been to the east of ARK
ROYAL in order to keep between
BISMARCK and France. If it became
necessary for RENOWN to take on
BISMARCK Somerville determined to
attack from astern and upwind. This
would force BISMARCK to turn to meet
the threat thus slowing her down.
At 1747 hours SHEFFIELD gained contact
with BISMARCK at a range of 10 miles
and made her first sighting report.
At
1915 hours in position 48-35N, 16-54W,
ARK ROYAL launched a second strike
force of 15 Swordfish armed with
contact pistol torpedoes.
At 1950 hours the U-556 found herself
in an ideal position to torpedo both
RENOWN and ARK ROYAL as they sailed
towards her, but she was returning to
base and was out of torpedoes.
At 2039 hours U-556 surfaced and her
CO, Kapitanleutnant Wohlfarth,
signalled ‘enemy in view, a
battleship, an aircraft carrier,
course 115¼, enemy is proceeding at
high speed. Position 48-20N, 16-20W’.
At 2050 hours the second strike force
commenced their attack on the
BISMARCK.
By
2100 hours the attack was over. Two
possibly three hits were achieved the
significant one being the hit on the
stern that jammed her rudder and she
carried on turning to port.
SHEFFIELD reported BISMARCK’s change
of course. When Tovey received the
signal, he uttered the deadly insult,
‘SHEFFIELD has joined the reciprocal
club’ – meaning of ships that have
steered a course 180 degrees off true.
But she hadn’t.
At 2115 hours Lutjens signalled OKM
that the ship was no longer steerable.
At 2140 hours SHEFFIELD ventured too
close to BISMARCK and BISMARCK opened
fire. Her first salvo missed.
SHEFFIELD made smoke and retreated,
but her second salvo of HE shells
straddled SHEFFIELD causing 14
casualties, three later died, minor
splinter damage and smashing
SHEFFIELD’s radar aerials, so ending
SHEFFIELD’s ability to shadow.
At 2142 hours SHEFFIELD lost touch
with BISMARCK.
At 2152 hours the destroyers COSSACK,
MAORI, SIKH, ZULU and PIORUN of the
4th DF joined SHEFFIELD and were given
the position of BISMARCK.
At 2205 hours Group West informed
Lutjens that the 8 U-boats in the area
had been ordered to close her.
At 2220 hours ARK ROYAL reported that
one torpedo had definitely hit
BISMARCK amidships.
At 2235 hours ARK ROYAL reported that
a second hit had most probably been
obtained aft.
At 2235 hours Lutjens signalled ‘am
surrounded by RENOWN and light
forces’. Although at this time RENOWN
was not in sight of the BISMARCK.
At 2345 hours RENOWN was in position
48-42N, 15-17W.
27th
– At 0036 hours ARK ROYAL reported
that since the air strike the BISMARCK
had turned two complete circles at
reduced speed and had come to rest on
a northerly heading.
At 0112 hours Somerville signalled
Tovey that RENOWN, at 2345 hours, was
165¼, 41 miles from BISMARCK.
At 0509 hours ARK ROYAL launched a
Swordfish to spot fall of shot for
KING GEORGE V, but the aircraft failed
to find her and had to return to ARK
ROYAL.
At 0800 hours the 3 ships Force H was
approximately 20 miles to the south of
BISMARCK.
At 0847 hours KING GEORGE V and RODNEY
opened fire on BISMARCK. The sound of
gunfire was clearly heard in the ships
of Force H.
At 0940 hours SHEFFIELD rejoined
RENOWN and ARK ROYAL.
At 0947 hours Somerville signalled
Tovey that ARK ROYAL and SHEFFIELD had
been detached and RENOWN was closing
him from the southward.
At 0955 RENOWN sighted and shortly
afterwards engaged enemy aircraft.
At 1025 hours Somerville asked Tovey
if he had disposed of the enemy. Tovey
replied that he could not sink her by
gunfire, adding that he was forced to
discontinue the action on account of
fuel.
At 1036 hours the BISMARCK sank.
At 1039 hours Tovey signalled that
BISMARCK had been sunk.
At 1045 hours as ARK ROYAL was
recovering her aircraft Force H came
under attack form the Luftwaffe He
111’s. AA fire from RENOWN and
SHEFFIELD kept the bombers away and
the closest bombs fell 600 yards
astern of ARK ROYAL.
At 1152 hours ARK ROYAL had completed
recovery of her aircraft and Force H
shaped course for Gibraltar at 24
knots.
Force H then set course for Gibraltar.
After the action Somerville made the
following signal to SHEFFIELD: "Much
regret to hear of your casualties
while shadowing BISMARCK. I wish to
express my sympathy in the loss of
your shipmates. I trust the wounded
are progressing favourably. I consider
your tenacity and your shadowing was
in a large degree responsible for the
striking force and destroyers making
contact, which fixed the BISMARCK and
led to her eventual
destruction."
29th
– At 0830 hours in position 36-20N,
9-35W Force H were joined by
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER, FURY
and WISHART from Gibraltar.
En route to Gibraltar FORESTER and
FURY were detached to search for a
reported U-boat.
At 1334 hours both of SHEFFIELD’s
Walrus aircraft were catapulted off.
One to carry out an A/S patrol around
Force H and the other to deliver a
message to the RENOWN and then to fly
on to Gibraltar to collect mail.
At 1340 hours, having dropped his
message on RENOWN’s forecastle, the
Walrus flew low over the stern of
RENOWN and as it flew through the hot
gases from the funnel it went out of
control and crashed hitting RENOWN’s
stern before crashing into the sea and
killing the three crew. A passenger
RPO Marjoram, who was on board to
collect the mail, was picked up by
destroyer WISHART, but died of
injuries.
At 1900 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
SHEFFIELD, FAULKNOR and WISHART
arrived back at Gibraltar.
30th
– At 2400 hours aircraft carrier ARGUS
with 29 cased Hurricanes embarked,
escorted by destroyers FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT and FOXHOUND arrived at
Gibraltar.
ARGUS berthed astern of FURIOUS, who
whilst Force H had been in the
Atlantic had had her stern glands
re-packed and had embarked the 16
Hurricanes left over from Operation
SPLICE
31st
- The cased Hurricanes from ARGUS were
off-loaded on to FURIOUS and assembly
commenced in preparation for flying to
Malta.
June
(The
next ‘club run’ for Force H was
Operation ROCKET the flying off to
Malta of 44 Hurricanes from ARK ROYAL
and FURIOUS. In order to address some
of Somerville’s concerns the plan for
Operation ROCKET was to be different
from the previous ones. All the
Hurricanes were fitted with auxiliary
fuel tanks to increase their range so
they could be launched 600 miles from
Malta. They would be launched from one
carrier at a time so the un-engaged
carrier could provide fighter cover.
The escorts would be RAF Blenheims to
preserve Force H’s precious Fulmars)
4th
- FURIOUS was moored stern to stern
with ARK ROYAL and transferred 24 of
the Hurricanes to ARK ROYAL across a
timber bridge that was erected between
the two carriers.
Nine RAF Blenheims arrived at
Gibraltar from Britain; these were the
aircraft that were to act as escorts
for the Hurricanes.
5th
– At 1200 hours Force H sailed from
Gibraltar on Operation ROCKET. For the
operation the force was divided into
two groups.
Group
1 was RENOWN, FURIOUS, and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESIGHT,
FORESTER and FOXHOUND.
Group
2 was ARK ROYAL, SHEFFIELD, and
destroyers FEARLESS and FURY.
6th
– At 0900 hours Force H formed into
its two groups and Group 1 moved to
the north of the mean line of advance
and group 2 moved to the south.
At 1000 hours in approximate position
39N, 3E the fly off of the 44
Hurricanes commenced. One Hurricane
returned to FURIOUS the remaining 43
all arrived safely at Malta.
Force H then set course for Gibraltar.
At 1100 hours a Swordfish from ARK
ROYAL carried out a reconnaissance of
Mers-el-Kebir harbour.
(The
reason for the reconnaissance was
to see if the DUNKERQUE was in
harbour as there had been
intelligence that she may have
sailed to Toulon. The Admiralty
wanted to know her location as
Operation
EXPORTER,
the invasion of the Vichy French
in Syria was due to commence on
the night of 7/6/41)
7th
– Before entering Gibraltar ARK ROYAL
flew off ten Fulmars to provide an air
defence should Vichy aircraft attack
following the British invasion of
Syria.
At 0845 hours Force H returned to
Gibraltar.
At 2230 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, FURIOUS, SHEFFIELD
and destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FOXHOUND, FORESTER and FURY sailed
from Gibraltar into the Atlantic so as
to be clear of the harbour should
Vichy aircraft attack. Then to proceed
to RV with aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS.
9th
– At 0700 hours west of the Straits of
Gibraltar Force H RVed with aircraft
carrier VICTORIOUS, with 48 Hurricanes
for Malta embarked, and light cruiser
NEPTUNE, escorted by destroyers
VANSITTART, WIVERN, WILD SWAN and
WRESTLER who were sailing north,
VICTORIOUS and NEPTUNE having detached
from convoy WS 8X.
FURIOUS and SHEFFIELD detached from
Force H to return to the UK.
An exchange of aircraft and personnel
took place between ARK ROYAL and
VICTORIOUS.
Destroyers VANSITTART, WIVERN, WILD
SWAN and WRESTLER were detached and
preceded to Gibraltar.
NEPTUNE was detached to Gibraltar to
land German prisoners and captured
documents from the German supply ship
GONZENEHEIM.
11th
– Force H with VICTORIOUS arrived at
Gibraltar.
(The next ‘club run’ for Force H was
Operation TRACER the flying off to
Malta of 47 Hurricanes from ARK ROYAL
and VICTORIOUS. TRACER was to be a
repeat of ROCKET except the escorts
would be RAF Hudson’s)
13th
– Force H comprising RENOWN, ARK
ROYAL, VICTORIOUS, and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FEARLESS, FORESIGHT,
FORESTER, FOXHOUND, HESPERUS and
WISHART departed Gibraltar to fly off
47 Hurricanes to Malta, Operation
TRACER.
14th
- In position 38-56N, 3E the fly off
of the 47 Hurricanes was carried out,
of which 43 arrived safely at Malta.
15th
– At 1030 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
At 1800 hours Force H comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, VICTORIOUS, and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FOXHOUND, FORESIGHT, FORESTER and
HESPERUS sailed from Gibraltar to
escort VICTORIOUS part way to the UK.
In order to attempt to confuse
watchers in Spain they sailed east
into the Mediterranean.
At 2050 hours Force H reversed course
and passed through the straits and set
course for position 49N, 29-30W.
16th
– At 0200 hours Somerville received a
report, timed at 2100/15/6/41, of two
unidentified vessels departing from
Brest. They could have been the
SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, so Force H
was ordered to take up a blocking
position and cover convoy WS9A. Aerial
reconnaissance later confirmed that
the two battle cruisers were still in
Brest and the two unidentified vessels
were merchant ships.
17th
– RENOWN refuelled HESPERUS.
VICTORIOUS and HESPERUS were detached
to proceed to the UK.
18th
- Destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FORESIGHT, FORESTER and FOXHOUND were
detached from Force H to return to
Gibraltar.
21st
– At 0800 hours RENOWN and ARK ROYAL
returning to Gibraltar RVed with
destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FORESTER and FOXHOUND in position 36N,
13W.
22nd
– At 0230 hours RENOWN arrived back at
Gibraltar.
ARK ROYAL with FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FORESTER and FOXHOUND carried on into
the Mediterranean to carry out
exercises.
At 1000 hours ARK ROYAL, FAULKNOR,
FEARLESS, FORESTER and FOXHOUND
arrived back at Gibraltar.
25th
– At 1830 hours aircraft carrier
FURIOUS, with 64 Hurricanes embarked
for Malta and 9 Swordfish of 816
Squadron, cruiser HERMIONE, and
destroyers LEGION and LANCE, from the
Home Fleet, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FEARLESS, FORESTER, FOXHOUND and FURY,
who had joined west of Gibraltar on
the 24th, arrived at Gibraltar.
On arrival FURIOUS transferred 22
Hurricanes and the 9 Swordfish of 816
Squadron to ARK ROYAL.
(The next ‘club run’ for Force H was
Operation RAILWAY 1 the flying off to
Malta of 22 Hurricanes from ARK ROYAL)
26th
– At 0400 hours RENOWN, ARK ROYAL,
HERMIONE, and destroyers FAULKNOR,
FORESTER, FURY, LANCE and LEGION
sailed from Gibraltar on Operation
RAILWAY 1.
27th
– At 0500 hours in approximate
position 39N, 3E, ARK ROYAL commenced
flying off the 22 Hurricanes, the RAF
provided an escort of Blenheims. One
Hurricane crashed on landing the
remaining 21 Hurricanes arrived safely
at Malta.
28th
– At 0930 hours Force H arrived back
at Gibraltar.
FURIOUS transferred 26 Hurricanes to
ARK ROYAL.
(The next ‘club run’ for Force H was
Operation RAILWAY 11 the flying off to
Malta of 26 Hurricanes from ARK ROYAL
and 16 Hurricanes from FURIOUS).
At 1800 hours Operation RAILWAY 11
commenced with Force A comprising
FURIOUS, HERMIONE, and destroyers
FEARLESS, FOXHOUND, LANCE and LEGION
sailing from Gibraltar and feinting to
the west. After dark Force B reversed
course.
29th
– At 0130 hours Force B comprising
RENOWN, ARK ROYAL, and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FURY, FORESTER, WISHART and
AVONVALE.
At 0700 hours Force A and Force B
joined forces. WISHART and AVONVALE
detached and returned to Gibraltar.
30th
– At 0430 hours FURIOUS, FEARLESS,
LANCE and LEGION detached and moved to
the south in preparation for flying
off the Hurricanes.
At 0515 hours in approximate position
39N, 3E, ARK ROYAL commenced flying
off her 26 Hurricanes; the RAF
provided an escort of Blenheims.
At 0630 hours FURIOUS commenced flying
off her 16 Hurricanes; the RAF
provided an escort of Blenheims. The
first 9 Hurricanes were flown off
without problems; the tenth
aircraft crashed into the bridge
structure during take off and a long
range fuel tank fell off starting a
fire on the flight deck. The accident
caused the death of 12 and injured 10.
The accident prevented the last six
aircraft from being flown off.
(On 30/6/41 Somerville received a
signal from the Admiralty advising him
that the RENOWN would be relieved by
the REPULSE so that RENOWN could
return to the UK for a long-awaited
refit)
July
(On
1/7/41 Somerville was advised by the
Admiralty that the REPULSE would
be
available
to relieve the RENOWN around the end
of the month. Somerville informed the
Admiralty that he was convinced that
the REPULSE was totally unsuited for
any operation which involved facing
modern heavy ships or aircraft. The
Admiralty, after consideration of
Somerville’s opinion, changed their
orders so that, on 16/7/41, when the
RENOWN was ordered home to refit she
was to be relieved instead by the
battleship NELSON)
1st
– At 1000 hours Force H arrived back at
Gibraltar.
(The
next operation for Force H was Operation
SUBSTANCE. This involved the passing of
a convoy, GM 1, consisting of 6 MT ships
and a personnel ship; together with
troops embarked in the escorting
warships to Malta. Also to cover the
passage of convoy MG 1, 7 empty MT
ships, from Malta to Gibraltar. For the
operation Force H was reinforced by a
battleship, three cruisers and 5
destroyers from the Home Fleet. Force X
was the designated escort to take GM 1
through to Malta and Force H was the
designated covering force)
20th
– At 0145 hours cruiser EDINBURGH, Flag
of RA E N Syfret, 18thCS, cruiser
minelayer MANXMAN, and destroyers
NESTOR, LIGHTNING, FARNDALE, AVON VALE
and ERIDGE sailed from Gibraltar to take
over the escort of convoy WC.9C. The
convoy comprised the MT ships, MV
DEUCALION 7740grt, MV DURHAM 10893grt,
SS CITY OF PRETORIA 8046grt, MV
MELBOURNE STAR 12086grt, MV PORT
CHALMERS 8535grt and MV SYDNEY STAR
11219grt.
At 1200 hours in position 36N, 9-10W,
EDINBURGH, MANXMAN, and destroyers
NESTOR, LIGHTNING, FARNDALE, AVON VALE
and ERIDGE joined convoy WC.9C.
Following which destroyers FEARLESS,
FIREDRAKE, FOXHOUND, FURY, FORESIGHT and
FORESTER detached for Gibraltar.
20th
– At 2345 hours Convoy WS.9C entered the
Strait of Gibraltar. There was thick fog
in the Strait which caused problems with
timings in the early part of Operation
SUBSTANCE.
21st
- At 0145 hours having passed through
the Strait of Gibraltar the convoy
number changed to GM1.
At 0200 hours The RFA oiler MV BROWN
RANGER 3400grt escorted by destroyer
BEVERLEY sailed from Gibraltar.
At 0320 hours cruisers MANCHESTER and
ARETHUSA sailed from Gibraltar to join
convoy GM1. (the troop carrier MV
LEINSTER 4302grt, with 914 military
personnel embarked including RAF
maintenance personnel for Malta, sailed
at the same time but in the fog she ran
aground off Carnero Point, south of
Algeciras, Spain).
At 0430 hours Force H comprising RENOWN,
NELSON, ARK ROYAL, HERMIONE and
destroyers FAULKNOR, FEARLESS,
FIREDRAKE, FOXHOUND, FURY, FORESIGHT and
FORESTER sailed from Gibraltar. Owing to
the fog all the units of Force H were
ordered to proceed independently to the
eastward until daylight.
At 0530 hours destroyers COSSACK, MAORI
and SIKH sailed from Gibraltar, these
should have been escorting the LEINSTER.
At
0600 hours all the ships of Force H had
formed on RENOWN.
At 0630 hours three Swordfish from
Gibraltar airfield arrived over ARK
ROYAL. They were ordered to search ahead
for 40 miles to locate and report the
position of all ships. These aircraft
reported sighting LEINSTER, although at
the time she was aground on the Spanish
coast.
At 0630 hours Somerville signalled that
the ships formed on RENOWN would be
known as Group 4, and those formed on
the MT ships as Group 5. (This was
because Force H and X were mixed up and
would not revert to H and X until the
Skerki Channel was reached)
At 0815 hours COSSACK, MAORI and SIKH
joined Group 4.
At 0915 hours Somerville was informed by
VA North Atlantic that LEINSTER was
aground.
(Because the RAF personnel were urgently
required at Malta, Somerville did
consider sending HERMIONE back to embark
them, but rejected the move on several
grounds).
At 1000 hours clocks were advanced by
two hours.
At
1230 hours Group 4 now comprising
RENOWN, NELSON, ARK ROYAL, HERMIONE and
destroyers FIREDRAKE, FOXHOUND, COSSACK,
MAORI and SIKH, was abeam and to the
north of Group 5.
At 1255 hours RENOWN in position 36-28N,
03-16W, a merchant ship, probably Vichy,
was sighted westbound, 15 miles north of
RENOWN.
At 1500 hours Group 4 altered course to
060¼ to open out from Group 5.
At 1600 hours the two groups were 30
miles apart.
At 1900 hours RENOWN in position 37-02N,
00-41W, a merchant ship, probably Vichy,
was sighted northbound, 10 miles ESE of
RENOWN.
22nd
– At 0400 hours with RENOWN in position
38-16N, 01-59E Group 4 altered course to
070¼.
At 0700 hours with RENOWN in position
38-41N, 03-03E Group 4 altered course to
130¼.
At 0715 hours ARK ROYAL flew off fighter
and A/S patrols.
At 0850 hours an unidentified floatplane
was sighted about 10 miles north of
Group 4. A few minutes later an Italian
signal was intercepted timed at 0850,
which appeared to refer to Group 4.
At 1200 hours in position 37-41N, 04-32E
Group 4 reversed course to the westward
to close the distance from Group 5.
At 1400 hours Group 4 turned east. At
the same time aircraft were detected
passing 25 miles north of RENOWN.
At 1453 hours a visual signal was passed
to the escorting RAF Sunderland to
locate Group 5 and inform RA 18thCS that
group 4 would remain 20 miles to the
eastward of Group 5 during the night and
close during the day.
At 1732 hours the Sunderland returned to
Group 4 and signalled Group 5 bearing
240¼, 25 miles from RENOWN.
At 1800 hours in position 37-49N, 05-04E
Group 4 streamed paravanes.
At 2030 hours Group 4 turned west.
At 2315 hours in position 38-03N,
05-45E, proceeding at 15 knots on course
085¼, NESTOR, who was on the starboard
wing of the destroyer screen reported a
torpedo approaching from starboard.
RENOWN carried out a drastic turn to
port shortly afterwards 4 explosions
were felt, the closest about a cable
ahead of RENOWN.
(Whilst
on the surface on patrol off Bougie,
Algeria, the Italian submarine
DIASPRO fired four torpedoes
against, what she reported was an
aircraft carrier, but failed to hit
it anything. NESTOR who had heard
the torpedoes running, then launched
an attack on the DIASPRO who then
fired two torpedoes against the
NESTOR, narrowly missing NESTOR)
23rd
– At 0648 hours ARK ROYAL flew off the
first fighter patrol of the day, and
Group 4 closed Group 5.
At 0657 hours RENOWN reported a
shadowing aircraft in sight ahead of
Group 4.
At 0729 hours a second shadowing
aircraft was reported 10 miles to the
north.
At 0745 hours Group 4 took up position
on the port side of Group 5 in a
flexible column with the objective of
providing AA protection. RENOWN and
HERMIONE remained in loose contact with
ARK ROYAL to provide her with radar
early warning and protective AA fire.
At 0910 hours a group of 8 enemy
aircraft was detected at 60 miles
bearing 055¼.
At 0942 hours in 37-40N, 8-20E the air
attack commenced and developed into a
synchronised high level bombing attack
by the 8
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79’s
and a torpedo
attack from ahead by 7 Savoia-Marchetti
SM.79’s.
By 0947 hours the attack was over.
In the attack the destroyer FEARLESS
was torpedoed on the port side aft, 26
crew were killed, all electrical power
was lost causing FEARLESS to be
entirely disabled. Somerville ordered
FORESTER to take off the crew and sink
FEARLESS. This action was completed by
1055 hours.
Also torpedoed in the attack was the
cruiser MANCHESTER who was hit on the
port side aft. MANCHESTER had 26 crew
killed and 1 wounded, also 13 military
personnel were killed and 4 wounded
(MANCHESTER had embarked 750 military
personnel, mostly the 8th Battalion
King's Own Royal Regiment). She was
severely damaged and only her
starboard outer shaft was operational.
Somerville ordered MANCHESTER back to
Gibraltar escorted by AVON VALE.
At 1011 hours in position 37-47N,
08-22E, 5 high level bombers, probably
Fiat
BR.20’s, attacked from 17,000 feet
bombs fell close to FOXHOUND and SIKH
who were on the port bow of the
screen.
At
1643 hours a group of aircraft was
detected at 43 miles, flying at 5000
feet, bearing 338¼, closing the convoy.
At 1658 hours 5 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79
torpedo bombers led by a Cant Z.506B
floatplane were sighted low down on the
port quarter being chased by FAA
Fulmars. The Fulmars broke up the attack
and no attack developed on the convoy.
At 1713 hours the entrance to the Skerki
Channel was reached. HERMIONE was
detached from Group 4 to take
MANCHESTER’s place in Force X.
Force H comprising RENOWN, NELSON, ARK
ROYAL, DUNCAN, FAULKNOR, FURY,
FORESIGHT, FORESTER and LIGHTENING
remained to the west of the Skerki
Channel.
At
1945 hours, north of Cape Bon, a the
high level bombing attack took place
on the convoy, in which FIREDRAKE was
seriously damaged when she was
narrowly missed by a 500kg bomb which
exploded on her starboard side, close
alongside No.1 boiler room, causing
severe structural damage; the side
plating which was blown inwards from
upper deck to bilge keel over most of
the length of No.1 boiler room, and
over the fore end of No.2 boiler room;
both boiler rooms were flooded and
Nos.1 and 2 boilers actually shifted
position as a result of the blast.
Syfret ordered ERIDGE to stand by
FIREDRAKE.
By 2038 hours ERIDGE had FIREDRAKE
under tow heading west for Gibraltar.
24th
– At 0100 hours in position 37-42N,
07-17E, ARK ROYAL flew off 6 Swordfish
fitted with long range tanks for Malta,
All arrived safely.
At 0615 hours Force H was in position
37-35N, 05-15E. ARK ROYAL flew off two
Swordfish to locate the MANCHESTER.
At 0710 hours the Swordfish reported
MANCHESTER in position 37-19N, 03-44E.
At 0816 hours a
Cant Z.506B floatplane shadower was
sighted 10 miles east of RENOWN and
was shot down by a Fulmar.
At 1000 hours Force H was in position
37-18N, 04-30E, steering 290¼ at 18
knots. Convoy MG 1, which had sailed
from Malta commencing 0500/23/7/41,
was in three groups ranging from 20
miles to 40 miles east of Galita
Island, with one ship just having left
Malta.
ERIDGE and
FIREDRAKE were south of Galita Island
making 8 knots and AVON VALE and
MANCHESTER were about 60 miles west of
RENOWN making 11 knots.
At 1345 hours in approximate position
37-48N, 03-24E, Force H reversed
course and steered eastward.
At 1445 hours in position 37-45N,
03-47E ARK ROYAL flew off 5 Swordfish
to search to a depth of 90 miles
between bearings 000¼ and 100¼.
Nothing was sighted.
25th
– At 0130 hours in approximate position
37-40N, 08-15E, Force H reversed course
and steered westward.
At 0330 hours Force H reversed course
and steered eastwards to RV with Force
X.
At 0512 hours a flashing light was
sighted to the north east, of RENOWN,
this turned out to be the Italian
hospital ship SORRENTO.
At 0556 hours in position 37-37N,
07-32E, ARK ROYAL flew off 3 Swordfish
to carry out a search for enemy forces
between Force H and Force X. Nothing was
sighted.
At 0615 hours ARK ROYAL flew off a
fighter patrol.
At 0815 hours in position 37-49N,
08-56E, Force H RVed with Force X, which
was minus FARNDALE who had remained at
Malta with condenser trouble. Course was
then set for Gibraltar at NELSON’s best
speed.
At 1035 hours a large group of aircraft
was detected bearing 080¼, 69 miles and
closing. The attack was broken up by the
Fulmars and the attackers jettisoned
their bombs away on RENOWN’s port
quarter.
At 1720 hours FORESTER was detached to
proceed at her best speed for Gibraltar
to land the wounded and survivors from
FEARLESS.
26th
– During the day the units of Force H
and X passed the ERIDGE and FIREDRAKE
now escorted by AVON VALE. Somerville
signalled all the ships of the Force to
cheer the FIREDRAKE as they passed her,
and every ship with all their crews on
deck cheered FIREDRAKE they sailed by.
The supply ship BRECONSHIRE and the MV
TALABOT, both part of convoy MG 1,
escorted by destroyer ENCOUNTER arrived
at Gibraltar.
The destroyer FORESTER with the MV
AMERIKA and the MV THERMOPYLAE, both
part of convoy MG 1, arrived later in
the day at Gibraltar.
27th
– At 0300 hours ARETHUSA, HERMIONE and
MANXMAN were detached to proceed to
Gibraltar.
At 0600 hours ARK ROYAL, EDINBURGH and 4
destroyers were detached to proceed to
Gibraltar.
On arrival off Gibraltar, Somerville
carried out an exercise to test the
efficiency of the Fortress Artillery.
The result of which Somerville stated
that the exercise demonstrated the
lamentable inefficiency of the Fortress
Artillery.
At 0900 hours RENOWN and the remainder
of the force entered Gibraltar.
Later in the day the SS SETTLER and the
MV HOEGH HOOD, both part of convoy MG 1,
arrived at Gibraltar.
28th
– The tanker MV SVENOR, part of convoy
MG 1, who was damaged by bombing on
24/7/41, arrived at Gibraltar.
(So ended Operation SUBSTANCE. All the
ships of convoy GM 1 had arrived at
Malta and delivered 65,000 tons of food,
equipment, fuel and ammunition. The 7 MT
ships of MG 1 had reached Gibraltar
safety. Somerville was surprised to
learn that a number of women and
children had been embarked in the ships
of MG 1. Had he have known before the
vessels sailed he said he would have
provided more destroyer escorts)
29th
– At Gibraltar where Somerville hauled
down his flag in RENOWN and hoisted it
in NELSON.
(The next operation for Force H was
Operation STYLE. This operation was
necessary to convey the military
personnel and equipment that had been
embarked in the LEINSTER and MANCHESTER
to Malta. The forces involved were split
into Force H and Force X. Force X
carried the military personnel and
equipment to Malta while Force H would
create a diversion and provide cover)
30th
– At 0030 hours in thick fog Force H
comprising ARK ROYAL and destroyers
COSSACK, MAORI, NESTOR, FAULKNOR, FURY,
FORESIGHT, FORESTER, FOXHOUND,
ENCOUNTER, and ERIDGE sailed from
Gibraltar on Operation STYLE.
At 0600 hours NELSON and RENOWN sailed
from Gibraltar on Operation STYLE, they
should have sailed with the rest of
Force H but were unable to leave due to
the fog.
The combined Force H then steered
eastwards.
Force S the RFA oiler BROWN RANGER
escorted by AVON VALE sailed from
Gibraltar.
31st
– Force X comprising cruisers HERMIONE
and ARETHUSA and cruiser minelayer
MANXMAN with destroyers SIKH and
LIGHTNING sailed from Gibraltar with
1746 military personnel embarked for
Malta.
At 1900 hours in position 40-23N,
04-05E, COSSACK and MAORI were detached
from Force H and proceeded to Alghero,
Sardinia.
August
1st
– At 0200 hours COSSACK and MAORI
entered Alghero harbour, using their
searchlights and firing star shell they
attempted to find targets of opportunity
but the harbour was empty of shipping so
they demolished the Custom House.
Following which they withdrew to re-join
Force H.
At 0310 hours in position 40-47N, 6-20E
ARK ROYAL flew off a strike force of 9
Swordfish to carry out a bombing attack
on Alghero airfield.
(These two events were meant to make the
Italian’s believe that a landing was
about to be made on the north Sardinian
coast).
At 0600 hours in position 40-00N, 06-30
E, ARK ROYAL commenced recovery of the
Swordfish. The third aircraft to land on
had a 40lb GP bomb which ‘had hung up’,
as the aircraft touched down the bomb
fell off and exploded, killing the crew
and two of the deck party. After
carrying out temporary repairs the
remaining aircraft landed.
Force H then steered south to provide
cover for Force X.
During the day the Force H destroyers
re-fuelled from BROWN RANGER.
2nd
– At 0900 hours Force X arrived at
Malta. They quickly unloaded the
reinforcements and stores.
At 1600 hours Force X departed Malta
with destroyer FARNDALE with her
condenser problems repaired. However,
FARNDALE with further problems that
reduced her speed to 18 knots had to
return to Malta for additional repair.
3rd
– At 0600 hours in position 37-26N,
7-48E, Force H RVed with Force X. Course
was then set for Gibraltar at RENOWN’s
best speed, which was much reduced due
to damage to her port bulge.
4th
– At 1900 hours Force H and Force X
arrived back at Gibraltar.
RENOWN immediately entered dry dock to
have her bulge repaired.
(This successful operation was the last
time RENOWN would operate with Force H
as she had been nominated for a UK
refit. Since joining Force H RENOWN had
steamed 74,164 miles and had spent 232
days at sea)
8th
– At 0145 hours RENOWN, the troopship
PASTEUR, carrying 15 officers and 157
ratings of damaged light cruiser
MANCHESTER, escorted by destroyers
COSSACK, MAORI, ZULU, and LIGHTNING
sailed from Gibraltar for the UK.
12th
- At 1700 hours in position 55-45N, 13W,
INGLEFIELD, IMPULSIVE, and ECLIPSE
joined and COSSACK, MAORI, ZULU,
LIGHTNING and PASTEUR detached.
14th
– At 1100 hours RENOWN arrived at Rosyth
for her refit.
(Statistical Note: RENOWN had steamed
185,000 miles since 3/9/39 and had spent
381 days at sea)
16th
– Refit commenced.
26th
– At Rosyth where Captain Sir Charles
Saumarez Daniel, CBE, DSO, RN took over
command of RENOWN.
September
Under
refit at Rosyth.
During the refit she received a major
overhaul of the boilers, engines and
auxiliary equipment.
Deck penetrations, mainly valves,
through the armoured deck were modified
by fitting heavy duty valves. This
modification was carried out following
the loss of the HOOD.
Close range AA armament was enhanced by
fitting 6 single 20mm Oerlikons.
She was fitted with the latest radar
equipment: Type 273/M/P: Surface warning
(this replaced the Type 271 fitted
earlier in the year); Type 281 Long
range air warning; Type 282 Pom-pom
directors; Type 284/M/P Main armament
directors; Type 285/M/P x 3. Also HA
directors FH 2 and HF/DF.
October
Under
refit at Rosyth.
24th
– Undocked.
November
At
Rosyth carrying out harbour trials.
21st
– At 1600 hours RENOWN departed Rosyth
escorted by destroyers ARROW, VIMIERA,
and WALLACE, for Scapa Flow.
22nd
– At 0900 hours RENOWN arrived at Scapa
Flow to commence working up. On arrival
Vice Admiral Sir Alban Thomas Buckley
Curteis CB RN,
Vice-Admiral Commanding 2nd Battle
Squadron & Second-in-Command, Home
Fleet hoisted his flag in RENOWN.
December
20th
– At Scapa Flow the Flag of Vice
Admiral, Second in Command Home Fleet
was transferred from RENOWN to base ship
DUNLUCE CASTLE.
At 1500 hours RENOWN with destroyers
MONTROSE, WORCESTER, and FORESTER
departed Scapa Flow to RV with
battleship RODNEY with destroyers
WALKER, VERITY, and WITHERINGTON in
position 61-00N, 14-30W.
21st
– At 1400 hours RENOWN and RODNEY RVed
and exchanged escorts.
22nd
– At 1245 hours RENOWN, with destroyers
WALKER, VERITY, and WITHERINGTON arrived
at Hvalfjord.
(This
deployment followed from ENIGMA
decrypts indicating that TIRPITZ was
ready to leave the Baltic and that
the SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU and PRINZ
EUGEN were preparing to break out
from Brest. RENOWN was positioned to
intercept the German vessels should
they attempt a breakout into the
Atlantic)
1
9 4 2
January
11th
– At Hvalfjord where heavy cruiser
KENT flying the flag of Vice Admiral
Curteis. On arrival the flag of Vice
Admiral Curteis was transferred to
RENOWN.
February
3rd
– RENOWN, RODNEY and aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS sailed from Hvalfjord to
carry out exercises.
12th
– RENOWN, escorted by destroyers
ICARUS, INGLEFIELD and MARNE sailed
from Hvalfjord to carry out exercises.
19th
- RENOWN with INGLEFIELD, FURY and
ECHO remained at Hvalfjord.
Battleship KING GEORGE V, aircraft
carrier VICTORIOUS, heavy cruiser
BERWICK and destroyers ONSLOW,
BEDOUIN, TARTAR, ESKIMO, ASHANTI,
PUNJABI and ICARUS sailed from
Hvalfjord to launch an air strike on
Tromso.
March
(The
next operation RENOWN was involved in
was covering the passage of convoys PQ
12 and QP 8. On the 23/2/42 the
TIRPITZ was joined in Trondheim Fjord
by the ADMIRAL SCHEER and the damaged
PRINZ EUGEN. Therefore there was a
strong possibility that the next
arctic convoys might be attacked by
Kriegsmarine
heavy surface units. To counter this
possibility the Home Fleet mounted
an operation with all its heavy
units to provide a heavy covering
force. Admiral Tovey the CinC Home
Fleet believed that the most
dangerous area would be between Jan
Mayer and Bear Islands. Therefore on
26/2/42 Tovey asked that the next
outward and homeward Arctic convoys
be sailed simultaneously so that
they would pass through the danger
area at the same time. For the first
eight days of the operation the
weather conditions were extreme with
storms up to force 10, snow showers,
icing and poor visibility)
1st
– Convoy PQ 12 sailed from Reykjavik
with local escort of trawlers ANGLE,
CHILTERN, STELLA CAPELLA and whalers
SHERA and STEFA. (STELLA CAPELLA and
SHERA lost believed overwhelmed by the
weather conditions)
2nd
– At 1330 hours the battleship DUKE OF
YORK, light cruiser KENYA and
destroyers FAULKNOR, ESKIMO, PUNJABI
and ECLIPSE arrived at Hvalfjord from
Scapa.
3rd
– At 0600 hours the 2nd Battle
Squadron of the Home Fleet comprising
RENOWN Flag VA 2ndBS, DUKE OF YORK,
KENYA and destroyers FAULKNOR, FURY,
ECHO ESKIMO, PUNJABI and ECLIPSE
sailed from Hvalfjord northwards
around Iceland to provide distant
cover for convoy PQ 12.
4th
– At 0600 hours the Home Fleet
comprising battleship KING GEORGE V,
Flag Admiral Sir John Cronyn Tovey DSO
RN, CinC Home Fleet, aircraft carrier
VICTORIOUS, cruiser BERWICK and
destroyers ASHANTI, BEDOUIN, ICARUS,
INTREPID, LOOKOUT and ONSLOW sailed
from Scapa.
At 0700 hours the 2nd Battle Squadron
was off the NW of Iceland, where
FAULKNOR and ESKIMO were detached to
refuel in Seidisfjord.
At 1600 hours BERWICK detached to
return to Scapa with engine trouble
and was escorted by BEDOUIN.
At 2300 hours KENYA detached from the
Home Fleet and proceeded ahead to join
the escort of PQ 12.
At 2300 hours BEDOUIN detached from
BERWICK with orders to proceed to the
aid of the damaged SHEFFIELD, mined
off Seidisfjord.
5th
– At 0600 hours A Fw 200
reconnaissance aircraft of Gruppe 1,
KG40 from Trondheim-Vaernes airfield,
sighted and reported PQ 12 in position
69-22N, 08-27W, 100 miles south of Jan
Mayen Island.
(The
signal was picked up by the Y
service and passed to Bletchley
Path who, because they had broken
the GAF Enigma, decoded it almost
immediately. The information was
then passed to Tovey)
At
1200 hours the 2nd Battle Squadron was
in position 66-45N, 06-30W about 100
miles south of PQ 12 and steering
northerly.
At 1200 hours the Home Fleet was about
100 miles bearing 154¼ from the 2nd
Battle Squadron and steering
northerly.
At 1900 hours KENYA joined the escort
of PQ 12.
At 2000 hours the 2nd Battle Squadron
altered course easterly to affect a RV
with the Home Fleet.
6th
– At 1030 hours In position 71-00N,
4-30E the 2nd battle squadron RVed
with the Home Fleet, the two forces
joined together, continuing to steer
northerly.
The home Fleet now comprised KING
GEORGE V, RENOWN, DUKE OF YORK,
VICTORIOUS and destroyers ASHANTI,
ICARUS, INTREPID, LOOKOUT, ONSLOW,
FURY ECHO, PUNJABI and ECLIPSE
At 1100 hours the TIRPITZ sailed from
the upper Trondheim Fjord on Operation
SPORTPLAST, escorted by destroyers
FRIEDRICH IHN, HERMANN SCHOEMANN and
Z25 and steered north to intercept the
convoy reported by the Fw 200
reconnaissance aircraft
At 1400 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the south.
At 1801 hours the submarine SEAWOLF
sighted TIRPITZ off Trondheim, but was
forced to dive and therefore unable to
report until she surfaced.
At 1945 hours SEAWOLF surfaced and
signalled the Admiralty reporting 'a
large warship, either a battleship or
a heavy cruiser'.
7th
– At 0010 hours Tovey received the
news of SEAWOLF’s sighting. Tovey now
knew that TIRPITZ was out but was
unsure if TIRPITZ is intending to
attack the convoy or break out into
the Atlantic.
(Early
in the morning Tovey planned that
VICTORIOUS would launch
reconnaissance aircraft to search
out to 120 miles in the sector
065¼ to 115¼. However due to the
severe icing conditions no flying
was possible. TIRPITZ who at the
time was approximately 90 miles
away had planed to launch two Ar
196 aircraft to fly a
reconnaissance, but had to abandon
the reconnaissance for the same
reason)
At
1122 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the south.
At 1200 hours convoys PQ 12 and QP 8
passed each other 200 miles SW of Bear
Island
At 1630 hours in approximate position
72-35N, 10-30E, the German destroyer
FRIEDRICH IHN, which was
detached from TIRPITZ, sank a
straggler from QP 8, the Russian MV
IJORA 2815grt.
At 1750 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the east. At the same time
the destroyers ICARUS and INTREPID
detached to Iceland to refuel.
At 2000 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the north. At the same time
the destroyers ONSLOW (D17), ASHANTI,
ECHO, ECLIPSE, FURY and PUNJABI were
detached to sweep north between the
Home Fleet and the Lofoten Islands
along what Tovey considered to be the
enemy’s most likely return route,
before returning to Iceland to refuel.
(This
deployment was based on
intercepted signals from TIRPITZ
that were read almost
simultaneously by BP and passed to
Tovey)
At
2400 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the south so that Tovey
could be in position off the Lofoten
Islands to launch a strike force at
dawn.
8th
– At 0400 hours Tovey, who’s Fleet now
comprised KING GEORGE V, VICTORIOUS,
DUKE OF YORK, RENOWN and the destroyer
LOOKOUT, decided that he had missed
TIRPITZ and since he was without
destroyers in dangerous waters, he
turned SW towards Iceland to collect
some destroyers.
At 0800 hours the destroyers ONSLOW
(D17), ASHANTI, ECHO, ECLIPSE, FURY
and PUNJABI having sighted nothing set
course for Seidisfjord to refuel.
At 1820 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the north east.
At 1830 hours Tovey broke radio
silence with a signal to the Admiralty
requesting destroyers and refuelling
facilities for his destroyers.
(On
receipt of this signal the
Admiralty ordered 4 cruisers to
positions between Jan Mayer and
Bear Islands to refuel destroyers
and assembled all available
destroyers which were then sailed
to the aid of the Home Fleet)
At
2000 hours the TIRPITZ when SE of Bear
Island and steering W away from PQ 12,
decided to abandoned her search for
the convoy. She had passed only 80
miles astern of the convoy at
1200/8/3/42. TIRPITZ then set course
to return to Trondheim.
9th
– At 0240 hours the Admiralty
signalled Tovey that TIRPITZ was
heading south.
At 0243 hours the Home Fleet altered
course to the south east to close the
Lofoten Islands.
At 0640 hours Tovey ordered VICTORIOUS
to fly off a reconnaissance force of 6
Albacores on a diverging search
between 105 degrees and 155 degrees to
a depth of 150 miles to search for the
TIRPITZ.
At 0730 hours a strike force of 12
torpedo-carrying Albacores, 5 from 817
Sqd and 7 from 832 Sqd, was flown off
VICTORIOUS. At the time of launch
TIRPITZ was 115 miles to their east.
At 0802 hours Albacore F of 832 Sqd
sighted the TIRPITZ and the destroyer
FRIEDRICH IHN sailing south, and made
a report. Shortly after being sighted
TIRPITZ and FRIEDRICH IHN turned east
for Vestfjord and Narvik
At 0917 hours TIRPITZ was attacked by
the strike force of 12
torpedo-carrying Albacores. The attack
failed although one torpedo only
missed TIRPITZ’s stern by 30 feet, 2
Albacores were shot down.
At 0940 hours the Home Fleet turned
west then SW
At 1545 hours the Home Fleet was
attacked by 3 Ju 88 bombers, one bomb
landed close astern of VICTORIOUS but
no damaged was caused.
At 1620 hours TIRPITZ and FRIEDRICH
IHN arrived at Narvik.
At 1840 hours FAULKNOR, BEDOUIN,
ESKIMO and TARTAR joined the Home
Fleet.
At various times during the Home
Fleets return to Scapa the Fleet was
joined by the destroyers that the
Admiralty had assembled at Tovey’s
request. These were the destroyers
JAVELIN, INCONSTANT, VERDUN,
LANCASTER, LEDBURY, GROVE, WOOLSTON
and WELLS joined the fleet.
10th
– At 2300 hours KING GEORGE V,
VICTORIOUS, DUKE OF YORK, RENOWN,
LOOKOUT, FAULKNOR, BEDOUIN, ESKIMO,
TARTAR, JAVELIN, INCONSTANT, VERDUN,
LANCASTER, LEDBURY, GROVE, WOOLSTON
and WELLS arrived at Scapa.
(So
ended what for both sides had been
a frustrating operation. The
appalling weather affected both
sides operations. The
Kriegsmarine
were poorly served by the
Luftwaffe who only sighted PQ 12
once and completely missed QP
8and B-Dienst were completely
unaware of the Home Fleets
presence until Tovey broke radio
silence. Even so TIRPITZ failed
by a very narrow margin in
finding the convoys. In contrast
Tovey was well served by good
intelligence from the Admiralty
which was based on appreciations
by OIC and decoded intercepts
from BP. This intelligence led
to air strike against TIRPITZ
which almost succeeded and was
the only time that the FAA were
to attack TIRPITZ in the open
sea)
20th
– Sailed from Scapa to carry out
exercises with the destroyer FAULKNOR.
21st
- Sailed from Scapa to carry out
exercises with the destroyer FAULKNOR.
22nd
– At Scapa where the flag of the VA
2nd BS was hauled down and moved the
KING GEORGE V.
(The next operation RENOWN was
involved in was covering the passage
of convoys PQ 13 and QP 9. The TIRPITZ
was in Trondheim Fjord with the
ADMIRAL SCHEER and the ADMIRAL HIPPER.
The Admiralty considered that another
sortie by the
Kriegsmarine
heavy surface units was a
possibility. So Tovey again had to
provide heavy distant cover for the
two convoys. What was not known by
the Admiralty was that the
Kriegsmarine
heavy unit were limited by lack of
destroyers and low fuel stocks. This
operation again took place in
exceptionally bad weather )
22nd
– The Home Fleet comprising KING
GEORGE V, DUKE of YORK, RENOWN,
VICTORIOUS cruisers KENT and EDINBURGH
and destroyers ASHANTI, ECHO,
ESCAPADE, ESKIMO, FORESIGHT, ICARUS,
INGLEFIELD, MARNE, ONSLOW, PUNJABI and
TARTAR sailed from Scapa to provide
distant cover for convoys PQ 13 and QP
8.
28th
– The Home Fleet returned to Scapa.
April
12th
– At 0830 hours RENOWN with the
anti-aircraft cruiser CHARYBDIS, and
destroyers INGLEFIELD (D3) and ECHO
sailed from Scapa for the Clyde.
The Broad Pendant of Captain C.S.
Daniel, CBE, DSO, Royal Navy, was
hoisted in the RENOWN.
13th
– At 0740 hours RENOWN, CHARYBDIS, and
destroyers INGLEFIELD (D3) and ECHO
arrived in the Clyde off Greenock.
(RENOWN was to take part in Operation
CALENDAR. The operation to fly off RAF
Spitfires from the US carrier USS
WASP. The WASP arrived in the Clyde on
10/4/42 and entered the King George V
dock, where on the 12 and 13 of April
she took on board 47 Spitfire Vcs and
Spitfire pilots of 601 and 603 RAF
Squadrons. The WASP had landed most of
her air component but retained 12 F4F
Wildcat fighters for self defence)
14th
– At 0700 hours Force W comprising
RENOWN (Senior Officer), USS WASP and
destroyers INGLEFIELD (D 3), ECHO,
PARTRIDGE, ITHURIEL, USS MADISON and
USS LANG sailed from the Clyde for
Gibraltar on Operation CALENDER.
(The
Spitfires as loaded were painted
in standard camouflage schemes. En
route the Spitfires were over
painted with US Navy Blue to
afford them some camouflage whilst
over the sea for the flight to
Malta. Also whilst on board it was
found that the long range fuel
tanks, guns and radios were
defective. The crew of the WASP
and the small number of RAF
maintenance personnel embarked did
their best to remedy the
deficiencies)
17th
– The destroyers ANTELOPE, VIDETTE,
WESTCOTT, WISHART and WRESTLER from
Gibraltar joined the escort and
INGLEFIELD, ECHO, PARTRIDGE, ITHURIEL,
MADISON and LANG detached to refuel at
Gibraltar.
19th
– In the early hours of the morning
Force W passed through the Strait of
Gibraltar.
Off Gibraltar the anti-aircraft
cruisers CHARYBDIS and CAIRO joined
the escort.
20th
– At 0500 hours in position 37-30N,
03-20E, WASP commenced flying off her
12 F4F Wildcat fighters to provide a
combat air patrol whilst the Spitfires
were launched.
At 0545 hours the flying off of the 47
Spitfires commenced, all being
successfully launched.
At 0650 hours Force W reversed course
and steered for Gibraltar.
(All
47 Spitfires arrived safely at
Ta’Qali airfield
but
many were destroyed in German
bombing raids, launched to
coincide with their arrival. After
48 hours only 7 were operational.
Within three days all had been
lost. On the 26/4/42 Winston
Churchill asked President
Roosevelt to let the carrier WASP
make a second run to Malta to
deliver further Spitfires.
Churchill said 'without this aid I
fear Malta will be pounded to
bits'. Malta's defence, he added,
is aiding Russia's defence, where
the worst winter in 140 years is
ending. Roosevelt agreed to WASP
making a further ferry run to
Malta. The second operation was
named Operation BOWERY)
21st
– At 0600 hours off Gibraltar RENOWN,
CHARYBDIS and CAIRO detached from the
WASP force and entered Gibraltar
harbour.
(WASP
returned to the Clyde where she
loaded 50 Spitfires for Malta.
After loading the Spitfires WASP
sailed from the Clyde on 3/5/42 on
Operation BOWERY)
May
3th
- USS WASP escorted by INTREPID, ECHO,
STERETT, and LANG left the Clyde for
Gibraltar for Operation BOWERY
7th
– Off the Strait of Gibraltar the USS
WASP and destroyers INTREPID, ECHO,
USS STERETT and USS LANG were joined
by destroyers ANTELOPE, WESTCOTT,
WISHART and WRESTLER.
Following which INTREPID, ECHO, USS
STERETT and USS LANG detached for
Gibraltar.
8th
– In early hours Force W comprising
RENOWN (Senior Officer), CHARYBDIS,
aircraft carrier EAGLE with 14
embarked Spitfires for Malta and
destroyers ITHURIEL, PARTRIDGE,
VIDETTE, GEORGETOWN and SALISBURY
sailed from Gibraltar and joined the
USS WASP and destroyers ANTELOPE,
WESTCOTT, WISHART and WRESTLER on
Operation BOWERY.
9th
– At 0500 hours in position 37-30N,
03-20E, WASP commenced flying off her
12 F4F Wildcat fighters to provide a
combat air patrol whilst the Spitfires
were launched.
By 0630 hours all 64 Spitfires had
been launched from both WASP and
EAGLE. One crashed on take off from
WASP and another one from WASP, flown
by Pilot Officer Jerrold Alpine
'Jerry' Smith, had to ditch its long
range tank so circled WASP until the
last Spitfire had been flown off.
Despite orders stating that pilots in
trouble were to bale out, Smith
decided to land back on. His first
attempt he was too high and the Deck
Landing Officer waved him off. Smith
went round for another attempt and
although approaching a little too
fast, was given the signal to cut his
engine. The Spitfire bumped down on
the deck and Smith immediately applied
full brakes and, although he took
almost the full length of the deck,
managed to stop about fifteen feet
from the end. This was the first
landing of a Spitfire on a carrier
deck, which was quite a feat without
an arrester hook.
The US Navy pilots of VF-71, the
Wildcat Squadron on board the WASP,
were so impressed that they presented
Smith with a cake and a pair of Navy
Wings in appreciation of his feat.
The remaining 62 aircraft arrived
safely at Malta.
At 0743 hours Force W reversed course
and steered for Gibraltar.
(This
time the Spitfires were
distributed between the airfields
of Ta’Qali, Hal Far and Luqa
airfields.
As they
came in to land the new arrivals
were guided by ground crews to
blast pens, where they were
re-armed, refuelled and were
immediately taken over by
experienced Malta pilots who
were ready for action within 30
minutes of the aircraft landing.
On 11/5/42
Churchill
sent a message to the WASP
stating 'Many Thanks To You For
All The Timely Help. Who Said a
Wasp Can't Sting Twice?')
10th
– As Force W approached the Strait of
Gibraltar the destroyers
INTREPID,
ECHO, USS STERETT and USS LANG
joined.
Following which CHARYBDIS, EAGLE,
ANTELOPE, WESTCOTT, WISHART,
WRESTLER, PARTRIDGE, VIDETTE,
GEORGETOWN and SALISBURY detached
for Gibraltar.
Having passed into the Atlantic,
Force W steered for Scapa.
11th
- ITHURIEL detached from Force W to RV
with the MALAYA.
14th
- The Broad Pendant of Commodore C.S.
Daniel, CBE, DSO as Senior Officer,
Force W, was struck in the RENOWN.
15th
- At 0830 hours RENOWN, USS WASP,
INTREPID, ECHO, USS LANG, and STERETT
arrived at Scapa
23rd
– The RENOWN, cruiser CUMBERLAND and
destroyers SOMALI (D6), MATCHLESS and
ECHO sailed from Scapa for Hvalfjord.
25th
- The RENOWN, CUMBERLAND and
destroyers SOMALI (D6), MATCHLESS and
ECHO arrived at Hvalfjord.
June
14th
- RENOWN, VICTORIOUS and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FURY, ECLIPSE, ECHO, and
WHEATLAND sailed from Hvalfjord to
Scapa.
16th
- RENOWN, VICTORIOUS and destroyers
FAULKNOR, FURY, ECLIPSE, ECHO, and
WHEATLAND arrived at Scapa.
24th
– RENOWN and destroyers SOMALI (D 6),
WILTON, and LEDBURY sailed from Scapa
for Hvalfjord.
26th
- RENOWN and destroyers SOMALI (D 6),
WILTON, and LEDBURY arrived at
Hvalfjord.
July
25th
– RENOWN and destroyers OFFA,
INGLEFIELD, and INTREPID sailed from
Hvalfjord for Scapa.
27th
- RENOWN and destroyers OFFA,
INGLEFIELD, and INTREPID arrived at
Scapa.
August
26th
– RENOWN and destroyers FARNDALE,
PARTRIDGE, and PUCKERIDGE sailed from
Scapa for the Clyde to give crew leave
and undertake minor repairs.
27th
– RENOWN and destroyers FARNDALE,
PARTRIDGE, and PUCKERIDGE arrived off
Greenock.
September
24th
- RENOWN escorted by destroyers
ROTHERHAM, OBDURATE and PORCUPINE
sailed from Greenock for Scapa.
25th
- RENOWN escorted by destroyers
ROTHERHAM, OBDURATE and PORCUPINE
arrived at Scapa.
October
15th
- RENOWN and battleship DUKE OF YORK,
escorted by destroyers FAULKNOR,
MIDDLETON, ESCAPADE, and MARNE left
Scapa for Rosyth for docking.
16th
- RENOWN and battleship DUKE OF YORK,
escorted by destroyers FAULKNOR,
MIDDLETON, ESCAPADE, and MARNE arrived
at Rosyth for docking.
19th
- RENOWN escorted by destroyers
ONSLOW, TARTAR, and FORESTER sailed
from Rosyth for Scapa.
20th
- RENOWN escorted by destroyers
ONSLOW, TARTAR, and FORESTER arrived
Scapa from Rosyth.
(The next operation that RENOWN took
part in was Operation TORCH the Allied
invasion of North West Africa. RENOWN
was to be part of Force H, which was
reinforced by units from the Home
Fleet and would be under the command
of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Neville
Syfret CB RN. The task of Force H was
to hold off any attack by the Italian
fleet and to provide cover for the
Centre and Eastern Task Forces that
would land at Oran and Algiers)
30th
– Force X comprising the battleships
DUKE OF YORK (Flag Officer Commanding,
Force H) and NELSON, RENOWN, cruiser
ARGONAUT and destroyers MILNE, MARTIN,
METEOR, ASHANTI, TARTAR, ESKIMO, and
HMAS QUIBERON sailed from Scapa to RV
with carrier force from the Clyde.
31st
– In position 55-30N, 10W Force X RVed
with the carrier force comprising
aircraft carriers VICTORIOUS (Rear
Admiral Aircraft Carriers, Home Fleet)
and FORMIDABLE and destroyers
PATHFINDER, PARTRIDGE, PORCUPINE,
QUENTIN, and QUALITY. The combined
force became Force H which then set
course for Gibraltar.
November
6th
– In the early hours Force H passed
through the Strait of Gibraltar.
During the day the ships of Force H
refuelled at Gibraltar.
7th
– In the early hours Force H sailed
from Gibraltar and steered into the
Mediterranean to take up their
covering position for Operation TORCH.
8th
– At 0100 hours the assault by the
Eastern and Centre Task forces
commences. Force H takes up a covering
position south of the Balearic Islands
to longitude 4-30E.
At 1715 hours a group of German He 111
and Ju 88 torpedo bombers evaded the
fighter patrols and in the gathering
dusk they attacked Force H. No damage
was caused; much of the credit for
repelling the attack was down to the
alertness of RENOWN’s anti-aircraft
batteries.
10th
– At 0354 hours in position 37.53N,
03.57E, U-431 fired four torpedoes at
Force H and reported three hits on a
Leander-class cruiser, which blew up
and a destroyer damaged. However, the
only ship hit was the destroyer MARTIN
who blew up and sank with the loss of
161of her crew.
15th
– Force H returned to Gibraltar.
24th
– Force H comprising NELSON, RENOWN,
FORMIDABLE, FURIOUS and destroyers
ESKIMO, LOOKOUT, METEOR, MILNE,
PARTRIDGE, PATHFINDER, PENN,
PORCUPINE, PUCKERIDGE and TARTAR
sailed from Gibraltar for
Mers-el-Kebir.
25th
– Force H arrived at Mers-el-Kebir.
26th
– Force H sailed from Mers-el-Kebir
and patrolled south of Mallorca to
prevent any possible intervention by
Vichy ships from Toulon.
(This deployment resulted from Allied
decrypts of German signals stating
that the French Fleet was to be seized
by German forces. The allies were
unsure of what the Vichy reaction
would be so Force H was deployed as a
precaution should the Vichy Fleet side
with the Germans. In the event when
the Germans moved against the Vichy
Fleet in the early hours of 27/11/42
the fleet scuttled. The Vichy French
destroyed
3 battleships, 7 cruisers, 15
destroyers, 13 torpedo boats, 6
sloops, 12 submarines, 9 patrol
boats and 19 auxiliary ships)
30th
– Force H returned to Mers-el-
Kebir.
December
4th
– Force H comprising NELSON, RENOWN,
FORMIDABLE, FURIOUS, cruiser CHARYBDIS
and destroyers ANTELOPE, METEOR,
MILNE, PARTRIDGE, PATHFINDER, PENN
PORCUPINE, PUCKERIDGE, QUALITY and
QUIBERON sailed from Mers-el- Kebir
for Gibraltar.
6th
– Force H arrived at Gibraltar.
1
9 4 3
January
1st
– At Gibraltar RENOWN was visited by
the First Sea Lord Admiral of the
Fleet Sir Dudley Pound RN.
2nd
– At Gibraltar where Captain William
Edward Parry CB, RN took over as
captain of RENOWN.
February
2nd
– RENOWN and aircraft carrier FURIOUS
with destroyers BOREAS, BRILLIANT,
VANOC, WISHART and WIVERN sailed from
Gibraltar for the UK.
In the Atlantic off the Strait of
Gibraltar they RVed with aircraft
carrier ILLUSTRIOUS and destroyers
PANTHER, PATHFINDER and PENN.
5th
– In the morning RENOWN, FURIOUS and
ILLUSTRIOUS arrived in the Clyde.
In the afternoon, RENOWN and
destroyers BOADICEA and LAUDERDALE
sailed from the Clyde for Rosyth.
7th
– RENOWN and destroyers BOADICEA and
LAUDERDALE arrived at Rosyth to
commence a refit.
22nd
– Docked for commencement of refit.
March
to April
Refitting
at Rosyth.
May
Refitting
at Rosyth.
During the refit her aircraft and
aircraft facilities were removed. One
hanger was turned into a cinema and
the other into a seaman's mess.
Radar Type 283/M fitted to provide
Anti-aircraft Barrage Control for Main
and Secondary armament.
Nine 20mm single Oerlikons fitted.
June
Refitting
at Rosyth.
19th
– Un-docked on completion of refit.
20th
– At 2100 hours RENOWN and destroyers
OBEDIENT, ONSLAUGHT and SCORPION
sailed from Rosyth for Scapa.
21st
– At 0800 hours RENOWN, OBEDIENT,
ONSLAUGHT and SCORPION arrived at
Scapa.
22nd
– At Scapa commenced working up
exercises.
28th
– At Scapa where the flag of Vice
Admiral Sir H.R. Moore, KCB, CVO, DSO,
as Vice Admiral Second in Command,
Home Fleet was hoisted.
29th
- Flag of Vice Admiral Second in
Command, Home Fleet, transferred to
ANSON
July
At
Scapa carrying out working up
exercises.
August
At
Scapa carrying out working up
exercises.
(On
5/8/43 Winston Churchill sailed
from the Clyde in the liner Queen
Mary and arrived in Quebec on
10/8/43to attend the QUADRANT
conference which lasted until
24/8/43. The conference
discussions led to plans for
Operation Overlord being given
priority over operations in the
Mediterranean. A new theatre
command in Southeast Asia
(SACSEA), with Admiral Lord Louis
Mountbatten as the Supreme
Commander. Offensives were
authorized to further aid the
Chinese war effort. Churchill and
Roosevelt signed the secret
'Quebec Agreement'
about
the development of the atomic
bomb. In it they pledged not to
use nuclear weapons against one
another and not to employ
nuclear weapons against another
country or share information
about the weapons with another
country, without mutual consent.
After
the conference Churchill remained
in North America, Canada and the
USA, to remain in close
consultation with President
Roosevelt during the negotiations
with the Italian Government of
Marshal Badoglio over the Italian
surrender terms. When Churchill
was ready to return to the UK,
RENOWN was made available to
collect him and his party)
24th
– At 0015 hours RENOWN and destroyers
MATCHLESS and ORWELL sailed from Scapa
for Halifax on Operation QUADRANT.
27th
– In storm conditions the destroyers
MATCHLESS and ORWELL detached for St
Johns.
29th
– At 1100 hours RENOWN arrived at
Halifax.
September
14th
– At 1500 hours RENOWN with the Prime
Minister, two of his daughters, First
Sea Lord, and their respective Staffs
and a large number of WRNS Cypher
Officers embarked and escorted by
cruiser KENT and destroyers OBDURATE
and OPPORTUNE sailed from Halifax for
the Clyde.
16th
– At 1400 hours the cruiser NORFOLK
from Hvalfjord and at 1600 hours the
destroyers MATCHLESS and ORWELL from
St Johns joined at sea. Following
which OBDURATE and OPPORTUNE detached
for Argentia.
18th
– At 0300 hours SCORPION and SCOURGE
joined from Londonderry.
At 1030 hours KENT and NORFOLK
detached for Scapa and MATCHLESS and
ORWELL detached for Londonderry.
19th
– At 0900 hours RENOWN, SCORPION and
SCOURGE arrived off Greenock where the
Prime Minster and his party
disembarked.
21st
– At 1400 hours RENOWN escorted by
SCORPION and SCOURGE sailed from
Greenock for Scapa.
22nd
– At 1100 hours RENOWN escorted by
SCORPION and SCOURGE arrived at Scapa.
October
All
month at Scapa.
November
8th
– At 1300 hours RENOWN and battleship
QUEEN ELIZABETH and destroyers ORIBI
and URCHIN sailed from Scapa for
Plymouth.
Off Cape Wrath URCHIN detached and
returned to Scapa.
9th
– In position 52-46N, 5W the destroyer
ROCKET joined the escort
10th
– In position 50N, 4-15W QUEEN
ELIZABETH and destroyer ROCKET
detached for Portland.
At 2000 hours RENOWN and destroyer
ORIBI arrived at Plymouth.
(RENOWN
had deployed to Plymouth to
collect the Prime Minster and the
First Sea Lord and their staffs
together with the American
Ambassador and convey them to
Gibraltar from where they would
fly to Cairo for the SEXTANT
conference. In the event when they
arrived at Gibraltar the aircraft
was not available; so Churchill
suggested that they continue their
journey in RENOWN, which is what
happened. The SEXTANT conference
was held between November 23 and
26 and the attendees were
Churchill, President Roosevelt and
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek)
12th
– At 1830 hours RENOWN with Churchill
et al embarked, escorted by cruiser
LONDON (Flag of Rear Admiral
Commanding First Cruiser Squadron)
also with some of the conference party
embarked escorted by destroyers
ROCKET, TEAZER and ULSTER sailed from
Plymouth for Gibraltar on Operation
SEXTANT.
15th
– At 1900 hours RENOWN, LONDON,
ROCKET, TEAZER and ULSTER arrived at
Gibraltar.
At 1930 hours RENOWN and LONDON sailed
from Gibraltar for Algiers. (RENOWN
sailed without her escorts as they
were refuelling, so the order was
given ‘destroyers clear the harbour’.
In the event destroyers ANTELOPE,
ANTHONY, DOUGLAS and GRENVILLE cleared
the harbour and managed to catch up
with RENOWN, who had worked up to 26
knots.
16th
– At 1300 hours RENOWN, LONDON and
destroyers ANTELOPE, ANTHONY, DOUGLAS
and GRENVILLE arrived at Algiers.
At 1900 hours, after refuelling,
RENOWN and LONDON sailed from Algiers
for Malta. The destroyer escort was
GRENVILLE as she was the only
destroyer who at 1300 hours had not
gone to 4 hours notice for steam.
17th
– At 1930 hours RENOWN, LONDON and
destroyers GRENVILLE, INGLEFIELD and
ROCKET arrived at Malta.
Whilst at Malta the Prime Minster
became ill. Most of his party
transferred to LONDON on which they
then proceeded to Cairo.
18th
– At 2350 hours RENOWN escorted by
destroyers ECHO, GRENVILLE, ROCKET and
ULSTER sailed from Malta for
Alexandria.
21st
– At 1210 hours RENOWN and destroyers
ECHO, GRENVILLE, ROCKET and ULSTER
arrived at Alexandria where the Prime
Minster disembarked.
23rd
– At 1645 hours RENOWN sailed from
Alexandria for Algiers.
26th
– At 1300 hours RENOWN arrived at
Algiers.
27th
– At 0030 hours RENOWN escorted by
destroyers ISIS, GRENVILLE and ULSTER
sailed from Algiers for Gibraltar.
28th
- At 1800 hours RENOWN and destroyers
ISIS, GRENVILLE and ULSTER arrived at
Gibraltar.
At 2240 hours RENOWN escorted by
destroyers ROCKET, TUMULT and ULSTER
sailed from Gibraltar.
29th
– At 0730 hours in position 44-30N,
13-15W RENOWN and destroyers ROCKET,
TUMULT and ULSTER RVed with destroyers
JANUS and HMCS ATHABASKAN.
Following which ROCKET, TUMULT and
ULSTER detached.
December
1st
– At 2300 hours in the Pentland Firth
RENOWN and destroyers JANUS and HMCS
ATHABASKAN RVed with destroyers
OPPORTUNE and METEOR.
Following which destroyers
JANUS and HMCS ATHABASKAN detached
for Scapa.
2nd
– At 1200 hours RENOWN
and destroyers OPPORTUNE
and METEOR arrived at Rosyth.
3rd
– Commenced a short refit and
tropicalisation to prepare her for
service with the Eastern Fleet.
During the refit she was fitted with
the following additional close range
AA weapons - 19 x 20mm Oerlikons, 7
twin and 5 single and one quadruple
pom-pom .
4th
– At Rosyth where Captain Basil
Charles Barrington Brooke, RN took
over as captain.
15th
– At Rosyth where the Flag
of Vice Admiral A.S. Power, CB, CVO,
Vice Admiral, Second in Command,
Eastern Fleet and Commanding 1st
Battle Squadron was hoisted.
27th – At
1215 hours RENOWN sailed from Rosyth.
At 1700 hours off the mouth of the
Firth of Forth she RVed with the
destroyer
VERULAM
who then escorted RENOWN to Scapa.
28th – At
0400 hours RENOWN and VERULAM arrived
at Scapa.
|
|
30th
-
At
1700
hours Group A of the First Battle Squadron Eastern
Fleet comprising battle
cruiser RENOWN (Flag of Vice Admiral A.J. Power, CB,
CVO, as Vice Admiral
Commanding First Battle Squadron and Second in Command
Eastern Fleet)
battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT and destroyer
TUSCAN and the frigates
BLACKWOOD, DOMETT and BERRY sailed from Scapa and
proceeded through the Minches
to RV with the Carrier Force to the westward of
Skerryvore lighthouse.
In a heavy sea in the Pentland Firth, the TUSCAN
sustained damage to her forecastle and breakwater. She
continued with the
Squadron until off Skerryvore when she was detached to
the Clyde for repairs.
31st - At 1030 hours in approximate position 56-24N,
8-18W the TUSCAN detached for the Clyde to repair her
weather damage and
At the same time Group A were joined by the aircraft
carriers ILLUSTRIOUS (Flag Rear Admiral C. Moody, Rear
Admiral, Aircraft
Carriers, Eastern Fleet) and UNICORN escorted by the
destroyers TERMAGANT,
TENACIOUS and KEMPENFELT from the Clyde.
Also joining were the frigates DUCKWORTH, COOKE,
ESSINGTON and PARRETT from Londonderry. All the
frigates of EG 3, Western
Approaches Command were now part of the escort.
The combined force then shaped course to the westward
to make good a speed of 16 knots along a route which
had been ordered by the
Admiralty and which was expected to enable the force
to pass the Straits of
Gibraltar on the night of 5th – 6th
January.
At 1200 hours the Force were in position 56-15N,
9-30W.
In the afternoon, a signal was received from the
Admiralty ordering a change of route, after passing
the longitude of 10 degrees
west. This diverted the Squadron further to the
westward and added about 150
miles to the distance to be covered. Course was
altered accordingly.
1944
January
1st - At 1200 hours the Force was in position 51-50N,
17-13W.
2nd - At 1200 hours the Force was in position 46-57N,
22-47W.
3rd - At 1200 hours the Force was in position 41-03N,
22-20W.
4th - At 1200 hours the Force was in position 36-41N,
16-50W
At 1700 the Force divided into two groups in order
that the capital ships that were to fuel at Gibraltar
might go on ahead at a
greater speed of advance than the diesel escort
vessels could maintain.
The first group, consisting of the RENOWN, QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT and the destroyers TERMAGANT,
TENACIOUS and KEMPENFELT
and the frigates DUCKWORTH and ESSINGTON made good 18
knots speed of advance,
steering for Gibraltar.
The ILLUSTRIOUS and UNICORN escorted by the frigates
COOKE, BLACKWOOD, DOMETT, BERRY and PARRETT, followed
at 16 ½ knots.
5th - At 0800 hours in position 35-41N, 10W the
battleship group RVed with the destroyers ANTHONY,
ACTIVE, BRILLIANT,
INGLEFIELD, ISIS and URCHIN from Gibraltar. These
destroyers were ordered to
join the carrier group so that the diesel frigates and
PARRETT could be
released to refuel.
At 1200 hours the battleship group were in position
35-30N, 08-39W.
At 2130 hours the RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT
and TERMAGANT, TENACIOUS and KEMPENFELT arrived at
Gibraltar and commenced
fuelling from tankers. Precautions were taken to
minimize the risk of the ships
being sighted from neutral Spain.
6th - At 0415 hours the RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and
VALIANT the destroyers TERMAGANT, TENACIOUS and
KEMPENFELT and the frigates
DUCKWORTH and ESSINGTON sailed from Gibraltar and
steered for a prearranged RV
with the carriers 50 miles to the eastward of Europa
Point.
At 0800 hours the RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT
the destroyers TERMAGANT, TENACIOUS and KEMPENFELT and
the frigates DUCKWORTH
and ESSINGTON RV with the ILLUSTRIOUS and UNICORN and
the destroyers ANTHONY,
ACTIVE, BRILLIANT, INGLEFIELD, ISIS and URCHIN. The
Force then continued to the
eastward at a speed of advance of 14 knots.
(It
had been
intended that four of the destroyers from Gibraltar
should be detached when the
rendezvous was made, but, as the frigates could not
yet catch up, the four
destroyers were retained until the next morning.
During
the day fighter patrols and A/S air patrols were
flown from the
carriers, but all the aircraft were landed on before
sunset. Shore based
fighters provided for the dusk period, and also a
night A/S patrol ahead of the
force from dusk to daylight, and night fighters
patrolled to the north)
7th
- At 0800
hours the frigates COOKE, BLACKWOOD, DOMETT and BERRY
rejoined the Force,
relieving the destroyers ISIS, BRILLIANT, ANTHONY and
ACTIVE who then detached
and returned to Gibraltar.
(Shortly
after parting company, the
destroyers were diverted to hunt a U boat off Cape
de Gata. This U boat had
been fixed by D/F bearings and was subsequently
sighted by aircraft during the
night)
At
1200 hours the
Force was in position 37-16N, 03-06E
At
2300 hours the
destroyers KEMPENFELT, TENACIOUS and TERMAGANT
detached for Bizerte to refuel.
8th -
At 1200 hours the Force was in position 37-17N,
10-05E.
At
1400 hours the
destroyers KEMPENFELT, TENACIOUS and TERMAGANT
rejoined from Bizerte.
At
1530 hours when
passing north of Bizerta, the destroyer INGLEFIELD was
detached to Bizerta and
took with her a hospital case from the ESSINGTON.
At
2359 hours the
destroyer URCHIN was detached to proceed to Malta to
refuel.
9th
- The Force
proceeded to the south of Malta on a generally south
easterly course.
(In
the early morning there was a certain
amount of enemy air activity off Cyrenaica, some
four hundred miles to the east
of the Force and a convoy off Apollonia, Crete,
reported at about 0100 hours
that it was under air attack.
A
diversion was ordered in the forenoon to take effect
from 1200 hours.
This diverted the Force into the Gulf of Sidra, some
60 miles to the southward
of the original route. It kept them clear of the
convoys which were converging
on the Benghazi Corner; and it added some ninety
miles to its distance from
enemy radar stations in Crete during the early hours
of darkness; and it
enabled the force to make most of the passage
between Benghazi and Tobruk in
daylight)
At
1200 hours the
Force was in position 33-29N, 15-35E. At this time the
Squadron altered course
to the southward into the Gulf of Sidra.
10th
- At 1200
hours the Force was in position 33-05N, 22-05E.
(Shortly
after 2000 hours a signal was
received that the Force and a slow eastbound convoy,
[probably convoy GUS 27] which
was about 70 miles to the westward, had probably
been sighted by enemy aircraft
about 1730 hours)
11th - Between 0930 and 1100 hours
dummy
torpedo attacks
on the Force were carried out by shore based aircraft
and interception by
fighters from ILLUSTRIOUS was exercised.
At
1200 hours the
Force was in position 31-30N, 28-06E.
At
1615 hours an
aircraft was sighted by RENOWN and reported as a Ju
88. ILLUSTRIOUS flew off
fighters to intercept, but without success. One
Corsair crashed on taking off.
A signal was later received that the Force had been
sighted by German aircraft
at 1640 hours.
12th
- At 0120
hours warning of enemy aircraft in the vicinity was
received from shore. Speed
was increased to elude a possible enemy air search.
One enemy aircraft
approaching from the southwest was driven off by a RAF
Beaufighter, possibly
from 272 Sqd.
At
0700 hours the
Force arrived off Port Said. The frigates DUCKWORTH,
COOKE, BLACKWOOD, DOMETT,
BERRY and ESSINGTON detached to Port Said.
Arrangements
had
been made for ships to enter the Canal in the order of
draught with the lighter
ships first. QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT had to enter
Port Said harbour to
reduce their draught by discharging fuel oil.
At
0900 hours the
first ships of the Force entered the Suez Canal, these
were the destroyers
KEMPENFELT, TENACIOUS and TERMAGANT followed by the
UNICORN, ILLUSTRIOUS and
RENOWN.
At
1700 hours the
KEMPENFELT, TENACIOUS, TERMAGANT, UNICORN, ILLUSTRIOUS
and RENOWN arrived in
the Great Bitter Lake. At this point the KEMPENFELT,
TENACIOUS and TERMAGANT
were recalled to Port Said. The UNICORN, ILLUSTRIOUS
and RENOWN anchored for
the night.
At
2200 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT sailed from Port Said and
entered the canal.
13th
- At 1000
hours The UNICORN, ILLUSTRIOUS and RENOWN arrived at
Suez.
At
1300 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT arrived at Suez.
It
was decided to
devote the remaining part of the day and the following
day to fuelling all
ships and to allow time for making good essential
defects. Meetings were held
with shore authorities in order to arrange for a programme
of exercises for the ships, and for cooperation with
R.A.F. shore based
aircraft for exercises in the harbour and at sea.
14th
- The Force
was at Suez.
15th
- At 0800
hours the RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT sailed
from Suez and carried out
day and night exercised in the Gulf of Suez.
16th
- At 0200
hours the RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT returned
to Suez.
At
0800 hours the
ILLUSTRIOUS and UNICORN and the destroyers PETARD,
PALADIN, PATHFINDER and
ROCKET sailed from Suez to carry out H.A. firings in
the Gulf of Suez before
continuing the passage to the East.
At
1030 hours the
RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT sailed from Suez
and headed south.
At
1200 hours the
battleship force was in position 29-34N, 32-31E.
The
carrier force
under Rear Admiral Aircraft Carriers, was acting
independently of the
battleship force, and was ordered to overtake during
the night and to be about
20 miles south of the battleships on the morning of
17/1/44.
(In
this way
considerable progress in training was possible
without delaying the passage.
Flying training by the carriers, radar tracking by
both forces during the
night, 15 inch full calibre firing range and
inclination exercises by the
battleships, and dummy torpedo attacks by aircraft
was among the exercises from
which great benefit was obtained. The comparative
security of the northern half
of the Red Sea from enemy air and submarine activity
made this training
possible by permitting a slight relaxation of
preparedness and by allowing a
wider dispersion of units than could have been
accepted in any other waters
through which the force would pass)
17th
- At 1200
hours the battleship force was in position 23-37N,
36-27E.
18th
- At 1200
hours the Force was in position 18-08N, 39-50E.
At
1630 hours the
RENOWN and ILLUSTRIOUS detached and increased speed to
21 knots proceeded ahead
of the other ships in order to reach Aden before high
water on the afternoon of
19/1/44.
(It
was not possible for all five heavy ships
to be berthed and fuelled simultaneously in Aden
harbour, and the draught of
the QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT restricted their
movement in the shallow
harbour and approaches to a short time either side
of high water. It was
therefore arranged that RENOWN and the two carriers
should fuel between the
daylight tides of the 19th and 20th
January while the
battleships remained at sea, and vice versa on the
20th to 21st
January)
19th - At 1000 hours the
RENOWN and ILLUSTRIOUS were in
approximate position 12-26N, 44-02E, at which time
they RVed with the
destroyers ROTHERHAM (D11), ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and
RAPID.
At
1100 hours the
destroyers ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and RAPID detached to RV
with the battleships.
At
1200 hours the
RENOWN
and
ILLUSTRIOUS were in position 12-24N, 44-50E.
At
1200 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH, VALIANT, UNICORN and the destroyers
PETARD, PALADIN,
PATHFINDER and ROCKET were in approximate position
12-21N, 43-45E.
At
1300 hours in
approximate position 12-30N, 44-02E the QUEEN
ELIZABETH, VALIANT, UNICORN and
the destroyers PETARD, PALADIN, PATHFINDER and ROCKET
RVed with the destroyers
ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and RAPID.
At
1315 hours in
approximate position the UNICORN and the destroyers
PETARD, PALADIN, PATHFINDER
and ROCKET detached for Aden.
At
1530 hours the
RENOWN, ILLUSTRIOUS and the destroyer ROTHERHAM
arrived at Aden and commenced
to refuel.
At
1545 hours the
UNICORN and the destroyers PETARD, PALADIN, PATHFINDER
and ROCKET arrived at
Aden and commenced to refuel.
At
1800 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH, VALIANT and the destroyers ROEBUCK,
RACEHORSE and RAPID
arrived off Aden.
20th
- During the
morning the QUEEN ELIZABETH, VALIANT and the
destroyers ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and
RAPID remained off Aden.
At
1300 hours the
ILLUSTRIOUS followed by the RENOWN, UNICORN and the
destroyer ROTHERHAM got
under way and departed Aden.
At
1430 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH and VALIANT entered Aden to refuel.
The
RENOWN,
ILLUSTRIOUS and UNICORN escorted by the destroyers
ROTHERHAM, ROEBUCK,
RACEHORSE and RAPID then stood to the southward until
midnight, and then to the
north eastward until daylight.
21st
- At 1200
hours the RENOWN, ILLUSTRIOUS, UNICORN and the
destroyers ROTHERHAM, ROEBUCK,
RACEHORSE and RAPID were in position 11-59N, 45-37E.
At
1700 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH, VALIANT and the destroyers PETARD,
PALADIN, PATHFINDER, ROCKET
and HMAS NORMAN sailed from Aden.
At
1800 hours the
QUEEN ELIZABETH, VALIANT and the destroyers PETARD,
PALADIN, PATHFINDER, ROCKET
and NORMAN RVed with the RENOWN, ILLUSTRIOUS, UNICORN
and the destroyers
ROTHERHAM, ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and RAPID off Aden. The
destroyers ROTHERHAM,
ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and RAPID then detached for Aden to
refuel.
The
RENOWN, QUEEN
ELIZABETH, VALIANT, ILLUSTRIOUS, UNICORN and the
destroyers PETARD, PALADIN,
PATHFINDER, ROCKET and NORMAN then headed east at 13
knots.
22nd
- At 1100
hours the destroyers ROTHERHAM, ROEBUCK, RACEHORSE and
RAPID rejoined from
Aden.
At
1200 hours the
Force was in position 12-44N, 48-48E.
(The
passage across the Indian Ocean was made
without any noteworthy incident. The weather
continued to be fine throughout
and thus there were opportunities every day for
continuing the sea training of
the ships and squadron. Various new cruising orders
were tried out, with
particular reference to the best position for the
carriers when cruising in
company with capital ships)
23rd
- At 1200
hours the Force was in position 13-40N, 55-28E.
24th
- At 0630
hours the Squadron was formed into a suitable cruising
order for the destroyers
to fuel from the battleships. NORMAN fuelled from
QUEEN ELIZABETH, PALADIN and
PATHFINDER from VALIANT, and PETARD from RENOWN. The
other four destroyers
carried more fuel and were able to make the passage
without oiling at sea.
(In
the refueling operation NORMAN sustained
slight damage and fouled her propeller when a spring
parted during fuelling.
She managed to complete the passage but as there was
considerable vibration at
the speed of the fleet she was stationed astern so
that that she could follow
at her most suitable speed. On arrival at Colombo,
NORMAN was docked for
repairs)
At
1200 hours the
Force was in position 12-02N, 61-46E.
25th
- At 1200
hours the Force was in position 12N, 68 08E.
26th
- At 1200
hours the Force was in position 8-44N, 73-51E.
Around
midday a
long range aircraft from Ceylon made contact with the
Force to start air
cooperation exercises which continued until the RENOWN
arrived at Colombo.
At
1800 hours in
approximate position 8-24N, 74-42E, the UNICORN
escorted by the destroyers
ROEBUCK and RAPID detached and proceeded to Cochin,
where she arrived a.m.
27/1/44.
27th
- RAF long
range aircraft shadowed the Squadron through the night
and made reports on
which a striking force of torpedo bombers was led into
a dummy torpedo attack
on the ships at first light.
At
0730 hours in
approximate position 7N, 78-30E, the destroyers HMAS
NIZAM and NAPIER joined
the Squadron from the southward.
At
0830 hours the
RENOWN escorted by the destroyers ROTHERHAM and
NORMAN, detached and proceeded
to Colombo where they arrived at 1400 hours and
entered harbour.
At
1200 hours the
remaining ships of the Force were in position 6-38N,
79-23E.
28th
- At 0730
hours ILLUSTRIOUS Flew off her aircraft to RNAS China
Bay.
At 1030 hours the ILLUSTRIOUS, QUEEN ELIZABETH,
VALIANT and the destroyers
RACEHORSE, PETARD, PALADIN, PATHFINDER, ROCKET, NIZAM
and NAPIER arrived at
Trincomalee.
29th
- QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT, remained at Trincomalee and
started to clean their
boilers; this work had been deferred until the end of
the passage. It was
estimated that boiler cleaning and repair of normal
machinery defects would be
completed by 11/2/44.
February
1st
to 16th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT were at Trincomalee carrying out
maintenance.
17th
- QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT sailed from Trincomalee to carry
out exercises in the Bay
of Bengal.
18th
- QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT returned to Trincomalee.
19th
to 28th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH and VALIANT were at Trincomalee.
(Owing
to the unfortunate lack of destroyers,
the capital ships were confined to
harbour
drills and exercises.
It
had
been intended that RENOWN, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and a
destroyer screen should
proceed to sea for exercises on 29/2/44 but heavy
rain reduced visibility to
about half a mile and practices had to be postponed)
March
1st
to 5th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH was at Trincomalee.
(On
5/3/44 Admiral Sir James Fownes
Somerville, Commander-in-Chief,
Eastern Fleet, visited
Trincomalee and
held a meeting
of flag and commanding officers in the RENOWN
concerning future operations)
6th
- QUEEN
ELIZABETH escorted by the destroyers HMAS NIZAM,
QUICKMATCH, and QUALITY sailed
for Colombo to store to full capacity there. Full
calibre and other firing
practices were carried out on passage.
7th
- QUEEN
ELIZABETH and escort on passage to Colombo.
8th
- South west
of Colombo the destroyers NIZAM, QUICKMATCH, and
QUALITY detached and returned
to Trincomalee for Operation INITIAL
QUEEN
ELIZABETH
arrived at Colombo to complete with stores.
9th
to 12th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH was at Colombo.
13th
- At 1600
hours the QUEEN ELIZABETH escorted by the destroyers
HMAS NORMAN, NEPAL and
HNMS TJERK HIDDES sailed from Colombo.
14th
- At 1430
hours the QUEEN ELIZABETH and the destroyers NORMAN,
NEPAL and TJERK HIDDES
arrived at Trincomalee.
15th
to 20th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH was at Trincomalee.
21st
– The
Eastern Fleet comprising battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH,
VALIANT, battlecruiser
RENOWN (Flag Vice Admiral 2iC Eastern Fleet), aircraft
carrier ILLUSTRIOUS,
heavy cruisers LONDON and CUMBERLAND, light cruisers
CELYLON and GAMBIA and the
destroyers PATHFINDER, QUALITY, QUEENBOROUGH, QUILLIAM
(D4), HMAS NAPIER (Wearing
the broad pennant of Commodore S
H T ARLISS RN Commander D Eastern Fleet),
NEPAL, NORMAN
and QUIBERON and HMNLS TJERK HIDDES and VAN GALEN
sailed from Trincomalee and
Colombo on Operation DIPLOMAT.
The
ships from
Trincomalee and Colombo RVed south of Ceylon and then
steered south carrying
out exercises en route to the refueling RV.
(Operation
DIPLOMAT was an exercise with
three objectives:-
1
- For the
various units to operate together as
a fleet and to see how well they had adapted to
the climatic conditions.
2
- To practice refueling/replenishment at sea.
[This was an operation that up to this
time the RN had only carried out as a last resort.
With the naval war moving to
the Indian and Pacific Oceans it was an operation
that the RN had to master. It
was stressful for the bridge and engine room
staffs as constant adjustments
were necessary in direction and speed. The engine
designers had not
envisaged this type of fine speed control being
necessary, and the tachometers
fitted to the engines only gave rough readings, so
fine adjustments of the
throttle valves had to be made continuously]
3
- To RV with US Task Group 58.5 which
comprised the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA and
her escort)
24th – In
position
approximate 6-15S, 80-30E the Eastern Fleet RVed
with the refueling force of
three RFA oilers escorted by the cruiser HMNLS
TROMP. The refueling operation
then commenced with the Fleet steering a south
easterly course.
25th - During the
daylight hours
the Eastern Fleet continued the refueling operation.
26th – In
approximate
position 12S, 86E the refueling was completed and
the Fleet steered to RV with
US Task Force 58.5.
27th – at 1200
hours SW of
the Cocos (Keeling) Islands the Eastern Fleet RVed
with US Task Force 58.5
comprising the aircraft carrier SARATOGA and the
destroyers DUNLAP, CUMMINGS and
FANNING. TF 58.5 had sailed from
Freemantle on 24/3/44.
(The
loan of the SARATOGA was a result of the agreement
between
Roosevelt and Churchill at the Casablanca
Conference in January 1943. At the
meeting Roosevelt had agreed that as soon as
American resources would allow, an
American carrier would be dispatched to aid the
British Fleet operating in the
Indian Ocean. The objective would be to disrupt
Japanese oil supplies from the
Dutch East Indies which were the main source of
Japanese oil supplies.
The SARATOGA had
embarked Air Group 12 which comprised
squadrons:-
VF-12
equipped
with 44 F6F-3 Grumman Hellcat fighters
VB-12
equipped
with 19 SBD-5 Douglas Dauntless scout bombers
VT-12
equipped
with 17 TBF-1C Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers)
The combined
force then steered
northwards towards Trincomalee carrying out
exercises en route.
(During the two
days of joint exercises air crew from the
SARATOGA gave the FAA pilots the benefit of their
combat experience against the
Japanese. A
circular
cruising formation designed for up to three
carriers was tried out. It was
considered to have many advantages and the CO of
the SARATOGA favored circular
formations and circular screens.
The
circular
screen favored by the USN was first tried out at
the Battle of Midway
following which the action report recommended;
Òscreening vessels
must
close the carrier to not less that 1500 yards and
all available CAs and
DDs should be on the same circleÓ.
Also the action report stated that, Òthe 5"
battery and close range
weapons of surface ships are only partially
effective in repelling a determined
torpedo attack because of the low rate of fire of
the 5" battery and fuse
failures; short effective range of the 20mm guns;
and the failure of short
range weapon gunners to lead the target
sufficiently)
31st - At 0845
hours ILLUSTRIOUS
and SARATOGA flew off their aircraft to RNAS China
Bay, Trincomalee.
At
1000
hours the combined force arrived at Trincomalee.
(The
report by Vice Admiral 2iC Eastern Fleet
stated the Operation DIPLOMAT had provided
excellent opportunities of improving
the efficiency of all ships and enabled the
American Task Force to shake down
with the Eastern Fleet. The Task Force is a very
considerable addition to the
strength of the Fleet)
April
1st
to
10th - QUEEN ELIZABETH was at Trincomalee carrying
out boiler cleaning and
minor maintenance
(3/4/44 Admiral Somerville, Commander in
Chief, Eastern Fleet, visited
Trincomalee to exchange calls with the Commanding
Officers of U.S.S. SARATOGA
(Captain J.H. Cassidy, USN), and of the U.S.
destroyers CUMMINGS, DUNLAP and
FANNING, forming Task Group 58.5)
(On
10/4/44 the Free French Battleship
RICHELIEU arrived at Trincomalee from the UK.
Following an extensive refit at
the New York Navy Yard, the RICHELIEU had served
with the Home Fleet from 11/43
to 3/44.
The arrival of the RICHELIEU was also
resultant of the Casablanca Conference where
Roosevelt and Churchill had united
the Free French General
Henri-HonorŽ Giraud and Brigadier
General Charles de Gaulle, the two rivals for the
leadership of French forces
opposed to the Vichy regime. The Generals agreed
that Free French forces would
oppose Axis forces in all theatres)
11th
to 15th - All
the Fleet units including Task Group 58.5 carried out
exercises in the Bay of
Bengal. This included Night exercises to improve
efficiency in night fighting
and bombardment firings, using the bombardment range
at Foul Point, [Foul Point
is on the southern side of the entrance to Trincomalee
Harbour] also dawn and
night attacks were made on the Fleet by MTBs of the
16th MTB Flotilla who
simulated enemy E-Boats.
(The
16th MTB Flotilla comprised MTBs
numbered 275,
277, 278, 279,
280, 282, 291, 292, 293, 299 and 300. These were 37
ton, 40-knot Vosper MTBs
that were built under licence in the USA and shipped
from America to India.
They were manned by RIN crews with RNVR officers;
the CO of the Flotilla was
Lieutenant Sir Kenneth
Alston
Cradock-Hartopp RN.
Their depot ship was the HMIS BARRACUDA, which was
the ex Danish merchant ship
SS HEINRICH JESSEN 3335grt, and was moored in
Trincomalee harbour)
15th
- The Fleet
returned to Trincomalee.
(On
15/4/44 the US Tenth Air Force with
twelve B 24's flying from India attacked shipping
and other targets
at Port Blair in
the
Andaman Islands. This was a diversionary raid made
so that should the Japanese
sight the Eastern Fleet departing Trincomalee they
would believe that the
Eastern Fleet were about to attack Port Blair)
16th
- At
Trincomalee where in the morning Admiral Somerville,
Commander in Chief,
Eastern Fleet, hoisted his flag in the QUEEN
ELIZABETH.
At
1100 hours the
Eastern Fleet which was divided into two forces, Force
69 and 70, sailed from
Trincomalee on Operation COCKPIT.
Force 69 comprised the battleships QUEEN ELIZABETH
(Flag CinC Eastern Fleet), VALIANT and FS RICHELIEU, light cruisers NEWCASTLE (Flag C4), NIGERIA, CEYLON,
HMNZS GAMBIA and HMNLS TROMP, screened by the
destroyers PENN, PETARD,
ROTHERHAM (D11), RACEHORSE, and HMAS NAPIER (Wearing
the broad pennant of
Commodore D Eastern Fleet), NEPAL, NIZAM and QUIBERON
and HMNLS VAN GALEN.
Force
70
comprised the battle cruiser RENOWN (Flag 2iC Eastern
Fleet), the aircraft
carriers ILLUSTRIOUS (Flag Rear Admiral Aircraft
Carriers Eastern Fleet), USS
SARATOGA, the heavy cruiser LONDON, screened by the
destroyers HMAS QUILLIAM
(D4), QUEENBOROUGH and QUADRANT and the USS CUMMINGS,
DUNLAP and FANNING.
Course
was set
south easterly in an arc to reach the approximate
position 4-30N, 94-30E by
sunrise on 19/4/44.
(Operation
COCKPIT was an air strike by FAA
and USN aircraft against the harbour installations,
oil tanks, shipping,
aircraft and facilities at Lho
Nga airfield at Sabang on the island
of Pulau Weh at the northern tip of Sumatra. The
operation was carried out at
the request of Admiral King, to put pressure on the
Japanese in South-East
Asia, while the US Army landings at Hollandia, Dutch
New Guinea, Operation
RECKLESS, were carried out. The landings took place
on 22/4/44)
17th and 18th - The Eastern Fleet continued towards the flying off
position for Operation COCKPIT.
During the approach Fleet exercises were
carried out. These included 15" throw off firings by
the battleships.
19th
- At 0530
hours in approximate position 4-30N, 94-30E the
ILLUSTRIOUS and SARATOGA
commenced flying off the strike force for the attack
on Sabang. The strike
force comprised 46 bombers, (17
British
and 29 American) and 37 fighters (13 British and 24
American).
(The strike force arrived
over the target at approximately 0620 hours
attacking from different directions.
The Japanese were caught by surprise and only
responded with AA fire after the
first bombs had landed. A total of 30 tones of bombs
were dropped damaging
and/or destroying dockside installations, shipping
in the harbour, the power
station, wireless station and oil storage tanks.
Attacks on Lho Nga airfield
damaged or destroyed up to 30 aircraft. One US
Hellcat was lost, it crashed
into the sea about one mile off Sabang and the pilot
was rescued by the
submarine TACTICIAN.
The
raid was declared a success and Admiral Somerville
said that the
Japanese Òhad been caught with their kimonos upÓ.
The destruction of the oil
installations and the damage to shipping made a
positive contribution to the
stalling of the Japanese offensive in the Arakan)
By 0800 hours all aircraft had been
recovered and the Fleet set course to return to
Trincomalee.
During the retirement the Fleet came
under air attack from three Japanese Nakajima B5N
(Kate) torpedo bombers. All
were shot down by the CAP and/or ships AA fire.
20th - The Eastern Fleet continued towards Trincomalee.
During
the
return Fleet exercises were carried out.
21st - At 0400 hours the Eastern Fleet
commenced to enter Trincomalee harbour.
In the afternoon the CinC Eastern
Fleet held a meeting on board the QUEEN ELIZABETH of
all the
Flag
and
Commanding Officers that took part in Operation
COCKPIT.
22nd
to 29th - QUEEN
ELIZABETH was at Trincomalee.
(At
0900/23/4/44 the submarine TACTICIAN
arrived at Trincomalee with the pilot of the Hellcat
aircraft which had been
shot down over Sabang)
30th
- The
destroyers that were in Trincomalee harbour went
alongside the battleships so
that they could be assisted in fitting the TBS (Talk
Between Ships a V H/F
Radio Telephone system).
(The
US Navy had processed the TBS system for
some years. The system allowed direct voice
communication between all ships
within a 10 mile radius. The system had the
advantage of immediately being able
to contact any ship within range, but the
disadvantage was that if too many
callers tried to use the system simultaneously chaos
ensued)
May
(The
next
operation undertaken by the Eastern Fleet was
Operation TRANSOM. On
27/4/44 SARATOGA had been recalled to the USA for
a refit and Admiral King CinC US Fleet,
suggested that en route
back to Australia SARATOGA, supported by the
Eastern Fleet might launch an air
strike against the port of Surabaya on Java; as a
diversion to the campaign in
New Guinea, Operation STRAIGHTLINE. Admiral
Mountbatten CinC SE Asia Command agreed and
Somerville commenced planning the
operation)
6th – At 1500 hours the Eastern Fleet
sailed from
Trincomalee on Operation TRANSOM.
TF 65 comprised the battleships
QUEEN
ELIZABETH
(Flag CinC Eastern Fleet), VALIANT and FS RICHELIEU,
cruisers NEWCASTLE,
NIGERIA and HMNLS TROMP and destroyers PENN,
RACEHORSE, ROTHERHAM, HMAS NAPIER,
NEPAL, QUIBERON and QUICKMATCH, and HMNLS VAN GALEN.
TF
66 comprised
the battlecruiser RENOWN (Flag Vice Admiral 2iC
Eastern Fleet), aircraft
carriers ILLUSTRIOUS and USS SARATOGA cruisers
CEYLON and HMNZS GAMBIA and
destroyers HMAS QUILLIAM, QUADRANT, QUEENBOROUGH and
USS
DUNLAP,
CUMMINGS and FANNING.
The
Fleet steered
south easterly towards Exmouth Gulf, Western
Australia.
15th
–
During the morning TF 65 and TF 66 arrived at
Exmouth Gulf and commenced
refueling from TF 67.
(At
1100/30/4/44 Task Force 67, consisting of
the oilers RFA EAGLESDALE, ECHODALE, ARNDALE,
APPLELEAF, PEARLEAF and the
distilling
ship
RFA BACCHUS,
escorted by the heavy cruiser LONDON and SUFFOLK
had sailed from Trincomalee
Harbour on Operation TRANSOM. Off the Harbour
entrance the frigate FINDHORN
joined Task Force 67. Course had then been set for
Exmouth Gulf, Western
Australia. TF 67 had arrived at Exmouth Gulf on
12/5/44)
At
1900 hours TF
65 and TF 66 with LONDON and SUFFOLK attached,
sailed from Exmouth Gulf and
steered northerly towards eastern Java.
The
cruiser HMAS
ADELAIDE was left in Exmouth Gulf to guard the
tankers.
17th
– At 0630
hours in position 9-48S, 113-00E, approximately 180
miles south of Surabaya,
the carriers commenced launching the strike
aircraft. ILLUSTRIOUS launched 18
Avengers, 2 of which crashed on take off, and 16
Corsairs, SARATOGA launched 12
Avengers and 18 Dauntlasses, one of which returned
with engine trouble, and 34
Hellcats.
At
0830 hours the
strike force arrived
over the
target and caught the Japanese by surprise. Ten
ships in the harbour were
attacked, oil tanks were destroyed, dock facilities
destroyed and 14 aircraft
were destroyed on the ground. One US plane was lost
over the target.
The submarine TALLY-HO was positioned
as the rescue vessel but was
not required.
At 0930 hours recovery of the strike
force commenced. Following
which the Fleet set course for Exmouth Gulf.
(In
the
evening Surabaya was attacked by seven B 24's of
the US 380th Bombardment
Group who flew from Corunna Downs airfield in
Western Australia a round trip of
1860 nautical miles)
18th – At 1800 hours in approximate position 18S, 113E the
Eastern Fleet changed into line ahead and they
manned ship following which
SARATOGA,
DUNLAP,
CUMMINGS and FANNING
sailed
down the line and then with QUIBERON they detached
for Freemantle.
The
eastern Fleet
then proceeded to Exmouth Gulf.
19th – At 0600 hours the Eastern Fleet
arrived at Exmouth
Gulf and commenced refuelling.
At 1600 hours the Eastern Fleet sailed
from Exmouth Gulf and set
course for Trincomalee.
27th
– At
1500 hours the Eastern Fleet arrived back at
Trincomalee. Fuel remaining on
return was less than 20%.
June
At Trincomalee.
July
(The
next
operation that QUEEN ELIZABETH took part in was
Operation CRIMSON. This
was an air strike and bombardment of the harbour
and oil installations of
Sabang. Admiral Somerville wanted to make use of
his three capital ships, also
it was to be the last time he was to lead a Fleet
to sea for he was to shortly
hand over command to Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser; and
he was to take up the post
of Head of the Admiralty delegation in Washington)
22nd – At 1600 hours TF 62 comprising the battleships
QUEEN
ELIZABETH
(Flag CinC Eastern Fleet), VALIANT and FS
RICHELIEU, battlecruiser RENOWN (Flag 2iC Eastern
Fleet),
aircraft carriers ILLUSTRIOUS and VICTORIOUS, heavy
cruiser CUMBERLAND, light
cruisers CEYLON, KEYNA, NIGERIA, PHOEBE, HMNZS
GAMBIA and HMNLS TROMP and
destroyers QUALITY, RACEHORSE, RAIDER, RAPID,
RELENTLESS (Wearing
the broad pennant of Commodore D
Eastern Fleet), ROTHERHAM, ROCKET, ROEBUCK and
HMAS
QUICKMATCH, sailed from
Trincomalee on Operation CRIMSON.
(HM
Submarines
TANTALUS and TEMPLAR were deployed off Sabang for
air sea rescue)
25th – At 0300 hours in approximate
position 6N, 94-10E TF
60 divided into:
The bombardment group comprising
QUEEN
ELIZABETH,
VALIANT, RENOWN, RICHELIEU, CUMBERLAND, CEYLON,
KEYNA, NIGERIA, GAMBIA, TROMP
and destroyers
QUALITY,
QUICKMATCH,
RACEHORSE, RAPID, RELENTLESS, ROTHERHAM and ROCKET.
The air group comprising
ILLUSTRIOUS, VICTORIOUS, PHOEBE and
destroyers RAIDER and ROEBUCK.
The bombardment group steered for
position 6N, 95-30E.
The air group steered for position
5-25N, 94-42E.
At 0535 hours in position 5-25N,
94-42E ILLUSTRIOUS commenced
launching her aircraft. Followed shortly afterwards
by VICTORIOUS. The strike force launched was
50
Corsairs and 9 Barracudas, 8 of the Corsairs were to
act as spotters, reporting
fall of shot for the capital ships. To assist in
spotting each of the four
capital ships fired shells that burst with a
different colour.
At 0630 hours in position 6N, 95-30E
the bombardment group opened
fire.
At 0650 hours fire was checked, during
the 20 minutes the four
capital ships fired 294 rounds of 15".
At 0700 hours the TROMP lead the
destroyers into the bay to attack
targets of opportunity.
At 0730 hours
ILLUSTRIOUS and
VICTORIOUS recovered their
strike aircraft.
At
1000 hours the
two groups RVed and course was set for Trincomalee.
During
the return
the fleet was twice attacked by Japanese aircraft,
none of the attackers got
passed the CAP and of the 12 attackers 5 were shot
down.
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