Ca-class
Fleet Destroyer of the 11th Emergency
Flotilla built by John Brown of
Clydebank and to be fitted for use as a
Flotilla Leader with additional
accommodation
for the Staff Officers. The ship was
laid down on 3rd April 1943 and was
intended to carry the name RANGER)
but before her launching on 14th
February 1944 this was changed to CAESAR
to conform with the new naming
policy. She was the sixth Royal Navy
warship to carry the name, first
introduced in 1642 and previously
been carried by a battleship sold in
1921. After completion en 5th October
1944 she joined the Home Fleet
to work-up for operational service.
B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
GLORIOUS
FIRST
OF JUNE 1794 - CUT
OF GIBRALTAR 1801 -
STRACHAN'S ACTION 1805 - BASQUE
ROADS 1809
-
WALCHEREN
1809 - BALTIC 1854
H
e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge:
On a Field Blue. the
head of Caesar, gold.
M
o t t o
Veni,
vidi vici : ' I
came, I saw I conquered’
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)
1
9 4 4
September
Builders
trials and commissioning.
October
Passage
to Clyde for full power trials
5th
Build completed trials and
commenced Acceptance Trials.
(Note:
Recommendations
made for changes to ventilation in
Gearing Room and Type 293
radar
office. See BRITISH DESTROYERS by Edgar
March).
Carried
out
work-up at Scapa Flow with ships of Home
Fleet.
November
Joined
7th Destroyer Flotilla Home Fleet after
work-up at Scapa Flow.
14th
Part of escort for HM Escort
Aircraft Carrier PURSUER and HM Cruiser
EURYALUS
with
HM Destroyers
NUBIAN, VENUS and ZEPHYR during air
attacks on shipping off
Tromso.
(Note:
German
Patrol craft V6413 was sunk during this
operation..
For
details
of Hone Fleet operations in this period
see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE
CLOSELY
by Corelli Barnett).
29th
Part of escort for HM Cruiser
BELLONA, HM Escort Carriers CAMPANIA and
NAIRANA
with
snips of the 7th Flotilla
and HM Destroyers ONSLOW, OBEDIENT,
OFFA, ORIBI,
ONSLAUGHT
and
ORWELL.
(Note:
These
ships were being deployed to provide
cover for passage of Russian Convoy
JW62
to
Kola Inlet. For details off all Russian
Convoy operations see ENGAGE THE
ENEMY
MORE CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett, CONVOY
! by P Kemp, CONVOYS TO
RUSSIA
by RA Ruegg RUSSIAN CONVOYS
by R Woodhead and THE RUSSIAN
CONVOYS
by B Schoefield).
December
1st
Joined escort of JW62.
Convoy
under threat
from STOCK Group of U-Boats which failed
to make contact.
2nd
Diversion of convoy avoided
attacks from GRUBE U- Boat Group.
7th
Detached on arrival of JW62
at Kola Inlet without loss.
10th
Part of escort
for returning Convoy RA52
with same ships.
11th
Sister destroyer HMS CASSANDRA
hit by torpedo from U365 and badly
damaged.
12th
HM Norwegian Corvette TUNSBERG
CASTLE sunk by mine with heavy loss of
life.
13th
U365 sunk by aircraft from HMS
NAIRANA.
19th
Detached after arrival of convoy
at Loch Ewe without loss of any
mercantiles.
1
9 4 5
January
Deployed
with 7th Flotilla in tone Fleet and
later transferred to
Atlantic for convoy
to
defence
in Western
Approaches.
March
April
Nominated for foreign service
May
Refit
and preparation for service with Eastern
Fleet
to
July
August
Passage
to Trincomalee with Flotilla
P
o s t W a r N o t e s
HMS
CAESAR was deployed with HM Cruiser SUSSEX
with HM
Destroyers CARRON and CAVALIER to
cover the
passage
of a military convoy taking 5th Indian
Division to Soerabaya. The ship
returned
to UK to reduce to Reserve in 1946. In
January 1951 it was decided
that ships of the CAESAR Class in Reserve
should be modernised and work
was slowly progressed. This ship completed
modernisation at Rosyth in
1960 and was commissioned for operational
service in the 8th Destroyer
Squadron. Her service, mainly in the Far
East, ended in June 1965 when
she Paid-off and was placed on the
Disposal
List. After being de-equipped at Chatham
the ship was sold to BISCO in
1966 for demolition by Hughes Bolcow
and arrived in tow at the
Breaker’s yard in Blyth on 6th January
1967.
Addenda
CONVOY
ESCORT MOVEMENTS of HMS
CAESAR
by
Don Kindell
These
convoy lists have not been cross-checked
with the text above
|
|
|
|
|
Date
convoy sailed
|
Joined
convoy as escort
|
Convoy No.
|
Left
convoy
|
Date
convoy arrived
|
|
|
|
|
|
29/11/44
|
01/12/44
|
JW
062
|
07/12/44
|
07/12/44
|
10/12/44
|
10/12/44
|
RA
062
|
18/12/44
|
19/12/44
|
24/12/44
|
29/12/44
|
AT
177
|
30/12/44
|
30/12/44
|
31/12/44
|
31/12/44
|
TA
175
|
01/01/45
|
07/01/45
|
05/01/45
|
05/01/45
|
TA
177
|
06/01/45
|
13/01/45
|
01/01/45
|
06/01/45
|
AT
179
|
07/01/45
|
07/01/45
|
08/01/45
|
13/01/45
|
AT
180
|
14/01/45
|
14/01/45
|
14/01/45
|
14/01/45
|
TA
178
|
15/01/45
|
22/01/45
|
28/01/45
|
28/01/45
|
TA
182
|
29/01/45
|
05/02/45
|
23/01/45
|
29/01/45
|
AT
184
|
30/01/45
|
30/01/45
|
12/02/45
|
12/02/45
|
TA
187A
|
13/02/45
|
19/02/45
|
16/02/45
|
16/02/45
|
TA
188
|
17/02/45
|
24/02/45
|
19/02/45
|
19/02/45
|
TA
189A
|
20/02/45
|
27/02/45
|
19/02/45
|
24/02/45
|
AT
191
|
25/02/45
|
25/02/45
|
01/03/45
|
01/03/45
|
TA
189C
|
02/03/45
|
10/03/45
|
26/02/45
|
03/03/45
|
AT
194
|
04/03/45
|
04/03/45
|
05/03/45
|
05/03/45
|
TA
191
|
06/03/45
|
11/03/45
|
08/03/45
|
08/03/45
|
TA
194
|
09/03/45
|
17/03/45
|
12/03/45
|
12/03/45
|
TA
194A
|
13/03/45
|
19/03/45
|
10/03/45
|
16/03/45
|
AT
195
|
17/03/45
|
17/03/45
|
20/03/45
|
20/03/45
|
TA
196A
|
21/03/45
|
27/03/45
|
17/03/45
|
21/03/45
|
AT
198
|
22/03/45
|
22/03/45
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note
on Convoys)
HMS
CAESAR
in HONG-KONG, POST-WAR
by
James Chapman
I
spent 37 years in the RAN starting as an
SBA and recently someone sent me some
images of Hong Kong in the 1950/60's as a
'remember when..'. One such image
was of Jenny's Side Party (Mrs. Ng
Muk Kah BEM, a famous Hong Kong lady who
worked on the ships in harbour for
decades, and died in 2009, aged 92) with
HMS CAESAR (D 07) in the background and
behind her, carrier HMS BULWARK.
CAESAR had such beautiful lines, and I
noticed the timing of her sojourn in
Honkers looks about right. Jim Chapman,
CMDR RAN (Rtd)