HMS Enterprise (D52)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Enterprise entering Portsmouth harbour March 1938 - note flying a paying-off pennant |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Emerald-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Enterprise |
| Builder: | John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) |
| Laid down: | 28 June 1918 |
| Launched: | 23 December 1919 |
| Commissioned: | 7 April 1926 |
| Decommissioned: | 13 January 1946 |
| Reclassified: | In reserve between 5 January 1945, but was used for trooping duties postwar. |
| Fate: | Scrapped Handed over to BISCO for scrapping 11 April 1946 Arrived at Cashmore's yard at Newport, Wales on 21 April 1946 for breaking up |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,580 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 9,435 tons |
| Length: | 570 ft (170 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft 6 in (16.6 m) |
| Draught: | 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four shafts Brown-Curtis geared turbines Eight boilers in four compartments - part forward of amidships magazine and part abaft forward engine room 80,000 shp (59.6 MW) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,350 nautical miles at 32 knots (2,500 km at 59 km/h) 8,000 nautical miles at 15 knots (15,000 km at 28 km/h) 1,746 tons fuel oil |
| Complement: | 572 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | Original configuration: 7 × 6-inch single guns 4 × 3 pdr pom-pom guns 3 × 4-inch AA single guns 2 × 21-inch quadruples torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | Original configuration: Side: 3-inch (Amidships) Side: 2.5 - 1.5-inch (Bow) Side: 2-inch (Stern) Upper Deck: 1-inch (Amidships) Deck: 1-inch (Over Rudder). |
| Aircraft carried: | One aircraft with one catapult Catapult later removed |
| Motto: | Spes aspera levat ‘Hope lightens difficulties’ |
| Honours and awards: | Atlantic (1939-40) Norway (1940) Biscay (1943) Normandy (1944) |
| Badge: | On a Field Red, a lion rampant under a star Silver. |
HMS Enterprise (D52) was one of two Emerald-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy. She was built by John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd., with the keel being laid down on 28 June 1918. She was launched on 23 December 1919, and commissioned 7 April 1926. She was the 14th ship to serve with the Royal Navy to carry the name Enterprise, a name which is still used in the Royal Navy today.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-war
Enterprise served with the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies until 1934. After her return home she reduced to care and maintenance on 4 July 1934, followed by a major refit. She returned to the East Indies in January 1936, but was relieved by HMS Manchester at the end of 1937 and came home. In 1938 she was employed to take crews to the China Station, returning home to pay off on 30 September and she was reduced to the reserve fleet.
[edit] Second World War
[edit] Initial stages
At the start of World War II, in October 1939, she was recommissioned and joined Atlantic patrols with 4th Cruiser Squadron. She later joined the North America and West Indies Squadron. Enterprise was employed on Atlantic escort duties with the Halifax Escort Force during 1939 to 1940. In October 1939, she oversaw the transfer of ₤10 million in gold bullion to Canada.
In April 1940, she was transferred to the Home Fleet for the Norwegian Campaign. During April and May she supported the army ashore by bombardments in and around Narvik, Norway and, on 19 April, was unsuccessfully attacked by U-65. After some repairs Enterprise joined the newly formed Force H in June 1940 and set sail for the Mediterranean Sea where, in July, she participated in negotiations with the French Navy regarding the future of the French fleet in the war. Following the unsatisfactory outcome of the negotiations, she participated in Operation Catapult at Mers-El-Kébir, sinking many French warships. She also participated in the delivery of aircraft to Malta in late July.
[edit] Outside Home Waters
Force H was then re-organised and Enterprise was sent to Cape Town after which she became the flagship for operations in South America, primarily involved in trade defence and interception duties. In December 1940, she was deployed with HMS Cumberland and Newcastle in an unsuccessful search for the German auxiliary cruiser Thor which had attacked and defeated HMS Caernarvon Castle.
In early 1941, she was redeployed to the Indian Ocean where, accompanied by a sizeable fleet of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships lead by HMS Hermes, participated in a search for the German ship Admiral Scheer. After the search was abandoned, she took up convoy escort duty before being sent to Basra after a pro-German revolt by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani started the Anglo-Iraqi War. The war was won by the end of May, after which Enterprise was released back into convoy escort duty in the Indian Ocean.
In November, she was under refit and repair in Colombo, which was finished just in time for the start of the War with Japan in December 1941. She escorted troop ships to Singapore and Rangoon, Burma, and then joined the Eastern Fleet under Admiral Sir James Somerville, taking part in protection of trade for the next year. On 6 April 1942, together with HMS Paladin and HMS Panther, she picked up some the 1,120 survivors of the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire, which had been sunk by the Japanese in their Easter Sunday Raid. The Easter Sunday Raid was part of the larger Japanese Indian Ocean raid, which threatened British Ceylon. HMS Enterprise participated in yet another fruitless search for enemy ships during this period, when it was believed the Japanese were preparing to strike and possibly invade the Indian Ocean island.
[edit] Home Waters
On 25 December 1942, she returned to Clyde for extensive refit and modernisation works, which were only completed in October 1943. Trials and tests continued throughout November.
In late December 1943, she was deployed with HMNZS Gambia and HMS Glasgow for Operation Stonewall. On 28 December, she engaged a force of eleven eleven German destroyers and torpedo boats, the tardy escort for their blockade runner Alsterufer (which had been sunk the previous day by air attack). HMS Enterprise sank the torpedo boat T26 with a torpedo, while T25 and Z27 were also sunk. Four other German ships were damaged in the engagement.
From 3 February to 29 February 1944 Enterprise was docked at Devonport for refit, and from March 27 to March 31 she was fitted for missile jamming gear at Devonport.
[edit] The Invasion of Normandy
In May, HMS Enterprise was then assigned to Bombardment Force "A" serving with USS Nevada, HMS Hawkins, HMS Black Prince, HMS Erebus, USS Tuscaloosa, HNLMS Soemba and USS Quincy. Her sub-group was Assault Force "U" (for Utah Beach).
When the Normandy Landings started on 6 June 1944, Bombardment Force "A" bombarded St. Martin de Vassville. Twenty days later, she was also involved in the bombardment of Querqueville, silencing the German guns there. German shore batteries opened fire, but caused no significant damage to Enterprise.
In July, she was deployed off the French coast in support of British operations, and on 17 July, she provided naval gunfire for two days in support for British attacks near Caen with HMS Mauritius and HMS Roberts. In September, she was deployed in a similar capacity off the Dutch coast in support of the Second Army, however, she was not required to support the troops.
In October, after a considered transferral to the Royal Canadian Navy was not implemented, Enterprise was taken out of active service and placed in reserve at Rosyth.
[edit] Post-war
Starting in May, HMS Enterprise helped return British troops from Asia and Africa. On 13 January 1946, she returned to the United Kingdom for the final time. She was handed over to BISCO for scrapping on 11 April 1946, arriving at JH Cashmore in Newport, Wales, on 21 April 1946 for breaking-up.
[edit] Armament Refits
Throughout her service, HMS Enterprise was refitted with a slightly differing array of weaponry. Below is a table of the new armament after her first refit:
-
-
Dates Armament Aug 1939 - Aug 1942 7 × 6-inch single guns
2 × 0.5-inch MG quadruple guns
4 × 3 pdr pom-pom single guns
2 × 21-inch quadruples torpedo tubesApr 1943 - Apr 1944 5 × 6-inch single guns
2 × 2 pdr pom-poms quad guns
4 × 3pdr pom-pom single guns
6 × 20 mm dual power-operated guns
2 × 21-inch quadruples torpedo tubesApr 1944 - 1945 5 × 6-inch single guns
2 × 2 pdr pom-poms quad guns
4 × 3pdr pom-pom single guns
6 × 20 mm dual power-operated guns
2 × 21-inch quadruples torpedo tubes
6 × 20 mm single guns
-
[edit] Battle Honours
For her service in the Second World War, HMS Enterprise was awarded four battle honours:
In addition, the ship inherited a battle honour from the fourth-rate ship of the line HMS Enterprize, which fought against Spain in the Seven Years War:
- Havana (1762)
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- HMS Enterprise at Uboat.net
- NAVAL-HISTORY.NET
- A History of Ships Named Enterprise
[edit] See Also
|
||||||||
