HMS Jamaica (44)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Crown Colony-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Jamaica |
| Builder: | Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | 28 April 1939 |
| Launched: | 16 November 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 29 June 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 November 1957 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping, arrived 20 December 1960 at Dalmuir to be broken up by Arnott Young Ltd. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,530 tonnes standard 10450 tons full load |
| Length: | 169.3 m (555.5 ft) |
| Beam: | 18.9 m (62 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.0 m (16.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Four oil fired three-drum Admiralty-type boilers four-shaft geared turbines four screws 54.1 megawatts (72,500 shp) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Range: | 6520 nmi at 13 knots |
| Complement: | 730 |
| Armament: | Twelve 6 inch guns (4 × 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: | 83 mm, deck: 51 mm, turrets: 51 mm, Director control tower: 102 mm. |
| Aircraft carried: | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Later removed) |
| Motto: | 'Non Sibi Sed Patriae' ('Not For Oneself, But For One's Country') |
| Nickname: | 'The Fighting J' 'The Galloping Ghost of the Korean Coast' |
| Notes: | Pennant number 44 |
HMS Jamaica (C44), a Crown Colony-class cruiser of the Royal Navy, was named after the island of Jamaica, which was a British possession when she was built (in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England). She spent almost her entire wartime career on Arctic convoy duties, except for a deployment south for the landings in North Africa in November 1942, where she was a member of the Centre Task Force. She was captained for most of the Second World War by Captain John Hughes-Hallett.
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[edit] The Arctic Convoys
[edit] Battle of the Barents Sea
In September 1942 Jamaica was employed as a close support for convoys in the Arctic. In November, she was part of the central task force covering the Allied landings in French North Africa in the area of Oran. In December she was again in the Arctic supplying close support for convoys. On 30 December 1942 the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked convoy JW.51B in an engagement that would become known as the Battle of the Barents Sea. The Admiral Hipper was first held at bay by the British destroyers HMS Onslow, HMS Obedient, HMS Obdurate and HMS Orwell. Initially driven off, Admiral Hipper returned, only to be engaged by HMS Jamaica and HMS Sheffield and suffer damage from them. The British taskforce eventually drove off the German attackers.
[edit] Battle of North Cape
Jamaica spent 1943 escorting Arctic convoys. In December she was part of the Covering Forces for an Arctic convoy, with the battleship HMS Duke of York and four destroyers. On 22 December German air reconnaissance spotted the convoy, and the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst and five destroyers made to intercept it. The resultant engagement became known as the Battle of North Cape. The Germans were engaged by the covering force, consisting of the cruisers HMS Belfast, HMS Sheffield, HMS Norfolk and four destroyers. Meanwhile HMS Jamaica and HMS Duke Of York approached from the south west, barring the Scharnhorst’s way.
The British ships were able to obtain some hits with their radar controlled fire, but the Germans were able to use their superior speed to escape the British capital ships. The British destroyers were able to keep pace, and obtained four torpedo hits using a pincer attack. Scharnhorst was brought to a halt, and was subsequently battered by gunfire from Jamaica and Duke Of York, and from Belfast and Norfolk who arrived later. Scharnhorst was hit by another ten torpedoes, and sank in the evening of 26 December. Only 36 survivors were rescued.
[edit] Further convoys and the raids on the Tirpitz
Throughout March – April 1944, Jamaica continued to serve as part of covering forces for the Murmansk convoys. In July she formed part of the covering force for the carriers HMS Formidable and HMS Indefatigable for an unsuccessful attack on the German battleship Tirpitz at that time lying in Kaafjord (Operation Tungsten). In September she was once again involved with Arctic convoy operations and in October Jamaica and two destroyers carried out the provisioning of Spitsbergen.
[edit] In the Far East
Jamaica was refitted in 1945, and had her X turret removed and increased anti-aircraft armament fitted. In September she joined the 5th Cruiser Squadron of the East Indies Fleet.
In February 1946 she became a member of the 4th Cruiser Squadron, based at the same station. On 19 August she was dry docked at Simonstown, South Africa for the removal of a rudder and a general refit. On 4 October she was undocked and on 25 October she entered the wet dock for one day to carry out an inclination experiment. In November 1947 Jamaica returned to the UK, and in August 1948 she joined the America and West Indies Station as a member of the 8th Cruiser Squadron.
[edit] The Korean War
[edit] Early moves
In July 1949 Jamaica returned to the Far East Station on loan to the 5th Cruiser Squadron for participation in the Korean War. Fighting between North and South Korea had broken out on 25 June 1950, whilst Jamaica was on passage to Hong Kong. She rendezvoused with HMS Belfast and a frigate on 29 June, and after receiving orders from Command Naval Forces Far East was dispatched with two frigates to the coast of Korea where she joined a United Nations support force under Rear Admiral Higgins.
[edit] Patrols and shore bombardment
On 2 July, Jamaica and the American cruiser USS Juneau were patrolling together near Chumunjin when four North Korean MTBs were detected escorting a number of fishing trawlers. The MTBs were destroyed by the cruisers, and three trawlers were sunk. Light artillery opened up from the shore, and the warships were forced to withdraw. After this action Jamaica left for Sasebo, where she was refuelled, and then she relieved USS Juneau in the Chumunjin area. Bombardments of various coastal targets were carried out in an attempt to slow down the Communist invasion. On the 7th, together with the Black Swan-class sloop HMS Hart and the U.S. destroyer USS Lyman K. Swenson, she bombarded Yangyang in North Korea itself. On the 8th, Jamaica and Swenson moved south where there were suitable cliff roads for bombardment. Moving at only 6 knots to gain accuracy, Jamaica was attacked by a hidden 76.2 mm gun battery which scored a hit on the starboard tripod of the mainmast, killing two and wounding others. The Communist guns were soon silenced, and the two ships returned to their original targets.
[edit] The Inchon offensive
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In September planning was in progress for the landings at Inchon, which was to turn the tide of the war against the North Koreans. Jamaica, and her sister ship HMS Kenya were used to provide gunfire support to the American Task Force. On the 13th, the bombardment began, using Fairey Firefly aircraft from the carrier HMS Triumph as spotters, and on the 14th, enemy guns on the peninsula of Walmindo, the first objective of the landing forces, had been silenced. On the 15th, Jamaica and Kenya operated with the two US heavy cruisers USS Rochester and USS Toledo, in firing on Walmi-do. Each British cruiser had one spotting Firefly allocated to her. The bombardment went on at intervals all day, Triumph providing three pairs of Fireflies in constant rotation. The attempt was made to limit fire to known military targets, and Jamaica succeeded in hitting an ammunition dump.
On the 17th, just before 0600, two aircraft appeared overhead and were initially mistaken for “friendlies”. However the first approached the USS Rochester and released two bombs, which fell astern. The second also dropped a bomb that landed on the American cruiser's crane, but failed to explode. The two North Korean aircraft, a Yak-9 and an Il-2, then attacked Jamaica which had already opened fire. The Il-2 flew over Jamaica and raked her port side with gunfire, killing one sailor and injuring two others. The aircraft was then hit and shot down, while the more nimble Yak escaped.
At the end of the Korean bombardment, Jamaica`s guns crews had fired 1,290 rounds of 6 inch ammunition and 393 rounds of 4 inch. In February 1951 Jamaica returned to the UK, and was placed into reserve. Jamaica had become known as "The Galloping Ghost of the Korean Coast", due to the North Koreans claiming that she had been sunk three times.[1]
[edit] Service in home waters
Jamaica underwent a refit in early 1953. In October she was returned to active service to replace the cruiser HMS Swiftsure, after Swiftsure had been damaged in a collision with the destroyer HMS Diamond. In 1954 Jamaica was transferred to the Home Fleet and shortly after that, was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1956, she appeared in the film The Battle of the River Plate, standing in for HMS Exeter. During the Suez Crisis in 1956, Jamaica was flagship of F02 Mediterranean and led the amphibious warfare squadron onto the beaches of Port Said, (Operation Musketeer), having acted as radar picket ship for the Fleet Air Arm and the RAF. She completed her tour of duty in November 1957 and returned to the UK. She was decommissioned on 20 November 1957. On 20 December 1960 Jamaica arrived at Dalmuir to be broken up by Arnott Young Ltd. Her hull was the last part to be scrapped, being finally finished at Troon in 1962.
[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.
- WWII cruisers
- HMS Jamaica at Uboat.net
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