HMS Uganda (C66)

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HMS Uganda
Career
Ordered:	1939
Laid down:	20 July 1939
Launched:	7 August 1941
Commissioned:	3 January 1943
Decommissioned:	1956
Struck:
Fate:	Scrapped 2 February 1961
General Characteristics
Displacement:
Length:	169.3 m (555.5 feet)
Beam:	18.9 m (62 feet)
Draught:	5.0 m (16.5 feet)
Propulsion:	Four oil fired 3-drum Admiralty-type boilers, 4-shaft geared turbines, 4 screws, 54.1 megawatts (72,500 shp)
Speed:	33 knots
Range:
Complement:	907
Armament:	Nine 6 inch guns (3 × 3), eight 4 inch guns (4 × 2), eight 40 mm Bofors AA (4 × 2) guns, 3 quadruple 2 pounder (pom-pom) AA mounts, 12 20 mm AA (6 × 2) guns. Six 21 inch (2 × 3) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Main belt 83 mm, deck 51 mm, turrets 51 mm, Director control tower 102 mm.
Aircraft:	Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft, removed November 1943.
Motto:	AS HMCS Quebec Nos canons parleront
Battle Honours:	Okinawa, 1945

HMS Uganda (C66), was a Second World War-vintage Royal Navy Colony class cruiser. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and recommissioned as HMCS Uganda, and later renamed HMCS Quebec.

HMS Uganda was commissioned by the Royal Navy on 17 December 1942. While serving in the Mediterranean Sea she took a direct hit from a 1.4-tonne glider-bomb off Salerno Italy. There being no dry dock available in the theatre of war that could handle the repairs, the Uganda was sent to the United States Navy shipyard at Charleston, South Carolina. During this time the Canadian government arranged to acquire the Uganda. Originally she had two hangars for Supermarine Walrus aircraft that were designed for reconnaissance work, but the aircraft were later removed and the hangars used for radio and radar rooms as well as crew amenities.

[edit] Construction details

• Class: Colony, sub-class Fiji (2nd group) - 3 ships of 1939
• Builder: Vickers-Armstrong (Walker)

[edit] Theatres of service

• Home fleet 1943
• Mediterranean fleet 1943-44,
• Refit U.S.A. 1944,
• With RCN assigned to Pacific fleet 1945
• With RCN assigned to Atlantic Duty 1952
• With RCN Korean War

[edit] Service with the Royal Navy

In March 1943 after training at Scapa Flow, HMS Uganda sailed as convoy escort to protect a convoy bound for Sierra Leone from the German Narvik class destroyers operating out of the Bay of Biscay. After two such convoy duties, she was sent as escort for the Queen Mary carrying Winston Churchill and his staff to Washington. The journey was made at 30 knots, and the ship sailed into Argentia, Newfoundland low on fuel. Upon return from that duty the Uganda returned to Plymouth for a refit.

[edit] Mediterranean Operations

With the refit completed she was sent to the Mediterranean as escort to one of the largest troop convoys of the war heading to Sicily. The Uganda was part of the bombardment fleet for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. She was then assigned to close support for major bombardments throughout Sicily. On the opening of Operation Avalanche, September 9, 1943, she was part of the fleet bombardment covering the invasion of Italy at Salerno.

[edit] Battle Casualty

On 13 September the ship was hit by a new German radio controlled glider bomb. The bomb hit the starboard side aft and penetrated through seven decks and the ship's bottom before exploding. Sixteen crew were killed and seven injured. Damage control under Lieutenant Leslie Reed managed to get the ship moving with one engine.

[edit] Repair and Refit

The ship was towed to Malta by the USS Narragansett, where temporary repairs were made. The heavily damaged ship, with only one of her four propellers working, then proceeded across the Atlantic ocean to Charleston, South Carolina for repairs. She arrived on 27 November 1943. Whilst under repair the Canadian government negotiated with Britain to obtain Uganda for the Canadian Navy.

[edit] Service with the Royal Canadian Navy

Uganda had been refitted and improved during the repairs. The Walrus aircraft and catapult were removed and the hangars were converted to crew recreation and radar suites. The radar, radio and aircraft identification package on the Uganda was amongst the latest available. The ship was recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1944. Upon commissioning, Uganda became the pride of the Royal Canadian Navy, being the largest and most powerful ship in their fleet. Uganda was also to become the first Canadian warship to circumnavigate the globe.

[edit] The Canadian Crew

The officers assigned to the Uganda were of the highest quality. The captain was Captain Rollo Mainguy, OBE, who is considered to have been one of the best officers in the RCN. He later became Chief of Naval Staff. The First Officer (executive officer), Commander Hugh Pullen, and other officers including Lieutenant Commanders Landymore and Littler were all eventually promoted to flag rank. Lieutenant John Robarts, Aircraft Recognition Officer, went on to become Premier of Ontario. The other members of her crew of 907 were also a carefully picked group and additional training was provided by sending personnel to gain experience on Royal Navy cruisers. The crew came from every province in Canada and Newfoundland. Eight-seven percent were reservists (RCNVR and RCNR), and the balance RCN.

[edit] Assignment to Far East

Uganda was sent to join the British Pacific Fleet's operational area south of Sakishima Gunto. Leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia on 31 October 1944, she steamed via the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Alexandria, through the Suez Canal, and on via Aden and Colombo, Ceylon to the fleet base at Fremantle, Australia, where she arrived on 4 March 1945. She joined the 4th Cruiser Squadron and spent the rest of the month working up. The conditions for the crew were hard since the ship had not been modified for tropical conditions, which would have provided better air circulation throughout the ship and more fresh water capacity.

Bombardment by H.M.C.S. Uganda of Sukuma Airfield on Miyako-jima
Credit: Gerald Milne Moses / Canada. Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-136073

[edit] Pacific Operations

Uganda proved valuable during operations undertaken by the British Pacific Fleet because her radar and aircraft identification capabilities were amongst the best in the fleet. On 10 April 1945, the strike against Sakishima was cancelled and the Task Force was ordered to attack Formosa instead. For three days they attacked the Formosan airfields. They were then directed back to Sakishima Gunto. The islands were attacked from 15 April to 20, before the fleet was sent to Leyte Gulf. She later joined the U.S. Third Fleet 300 miles east of Japan and was the only Canadian warship to fight in the Pacific Theatre against the Imperial Japanese Navy.

[edit] Out of the Action

It was while Uganda was involved in these Pacific operations that a directive came through from Ottawa to poll the crew on whether they would volunteer for the Pacific war. The requirement that only volunteers would be sent to the war zones had become a major issue in the Canadian election. Canada had faced a desperate shortage of soldiers in the closing days of the European war. As a result, "zombies" (conscripted soldiers who refused combat duty) had been ordered into combat roles. This had caused a political storm, and Prime Minister Mackenzie King, trailing in the polls, promised that only volunteers would fight against Japan. He narrowly won the election, largely because of the military vote. When the war ended in Europe the rate of re-enlistment fell dramatically. While this was going on the Canadian government wanted the crew to volunteer for the war in the Pacific. The crew for one reason or another felt they had volunteered for "hostilities only", (i.e., hostilities against Germany) but now found themselves fighting a different enemy in a quite different part of the World.

On 7 May 1945, the vote was held on the Uganda and 605 crew refused to volunteer for the Japanese war. The British Admiralty was furious and said it could not replace the ship until 27 July. An embarrassed Canadian Government offered to replace Uganda with HMCS Prince Robert, an anti-aircraft flak ship that was being refitted in Vancouver. HMCS Uganda was detached from the fleet on 27 July when HMS Argonaut joined the fleet. The ship proceeded to Eniwetok, and then to Pearl Harbor for refuelling before heading for Esquimalt. En route to Pearl Harbor, one boiler suffered a liner collapse which would have required the ship's withdrawal from active combat. The ship limped into Pearl Harbor on 4 August, but was not welcomed because of the resentment that they were "quitting" the war. They were refuelled and sent on their way. En route to Esquimalt, the crew heard news about the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan. They arrived in Esquimalt on 10 August, the day the Japanese announced their acceptance of the terms of surrender. Had the ship remained in the Pacific, she would probably have steamed into Tokyo Bay on 30 August to witness the official surrender, as it was no Canadian ships were present at the ceremony.

[edit] HMCS Québec

On 1 August 1947, HMCS Uganda was paid off into reserve status. As a result of the Korean War, on 14 January 1952, HMCS Uganda was recommissioned as HMCS Quebec. She was moved to her new station on Canada's east coast. Another cruiser, HMCS Ontario, which didn't come on steam until the war was over, was stationed on the west coast. In 1953, HMCS Québec was the flagship of Rear Admiral Bidwell which lead the Canadian ships to Spithead for the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Canadian group consisted of a carrier, two cruisers, one destroyer, and two frigates. HMCS Québec served two tours in the Korean War theatre. As part of the post-war reduction, HMCS Québec was paid off in June 1956 and scrapped in Japan.

See also: List of ships of the Canadian Navy and HMCS QUÉBEC, Sea Cadet Summer Training Centre

For other ships of this name, see HMS Uganda.