HMS Newfoundland (59)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Crown Colony-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Newfoundland |
| Builder: | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend |
| Laid down: | 9 November 1939 |
| Launched: | 19 December 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 21 January 1943 |
| Out of service: | Sold to Peruvian Navy on 30 December 1959 |
| Career (Peru) |  |
| Name: | BAP Almirante Grau |
| Acquired: | 30 December 1959 |
| Renamed: | Renamed Capitan Quinones on 15 May 1973 |
| Reclassified: | Static training ship in 1979 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1979 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,712 tonnes standard 11,024 tons full load |
| Length: | 169.3 m (555.5 ft) |
| Beam: | 18.9 m (62 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.3 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: | 10,200 nm at 12 knots |
| Complement: | 730 (wartime) 650 (peacetime) |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Type 281 air search Type 272 surface search Type 277 height finding Type 274 fire control (152 mm) Type 283 fire control (102 mm) Type 282 fire control (2 pdr) |
| Armament: | 3 triple Mk XXIII 152/50 mm guns 4 twin Mk XIX 102/45 mm guns 4 quadruple Mk VII 2 pdr (40 mm) pom-pom guns 10 twin Mk II 20/70 mm guns 2 triple 533 mm torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | 82.5-88.9 mm belt 25.4-50.8 mm turrets |
| Aircraft carried: | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Later removed) |
| Notes: | Pennant number 59 Badge: A caribou |
HMS Newfoundland was a Crown Colony-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Named after Newfoundland, she fought in World War II and was later sold to the Peruvian Navy.
[edit] Early career
Newfoundland was built by Swan Hunter and launched 19 December 1941 by the wife of the then British Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin. The ship was completed and commissioned in December 1942.
After commissioning Newfoundland joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet. Early in 1943 the ship became flagship of the 15th Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean. On 23 July 1943, during the Sicily Campaign, she was torpedoed , either by the Italian submarine Ascianghi or U 407. Temporary repairs were carried out at Malta. Later, steering by her propellers only, she steamed to the Boston Navy Yard for major repairs.
In 1944 the ship was re-commissioned for service in the Far East. While at Alexandria an explosion occurred in the port torpedo tubes which caused severe damage and numerous casualties. The repairs delayed her arrival in the Far East for service with the British Pacific Fleet (BPF). Newfoundland went to New Guinea to support the Australian 6th Division in the Aitape-Wewak campaign. On 14 June 1945, as part of a BPF task group, Newfoundland attacked the major Japanese naval base at Truk, in the Caroline Islands.
On 6 July Newfoundland left the forward base of Manus in the Admiralty Islands with other ships of the BPF to take part in the Allied campaign against the Japanese home islands. Newfoundland was part of a British Commonwealth force which took control of the naval base at Yokosuka.
The ship was present in Tokyo Bay when the Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri, on 2 September 1945. Newfoundland was then assigned the task of repatriating British Commonwealth prisoners of war.
She returned to the United Kingdom in December 1946.
[edit] Postwar
Newfoundland was initially in reserve, and was used as a training ship as part of the stokers' training establishment HMS Imperieuse, before a refit at Plymouth in 1951. Recommissioned on 5 November 1952, she became flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies, and also served in the Far East. The cabinet of Sri Lanka sought refuge aboard her during the Hartal of 1953.
On 31 October 1956, the Egyptian frigate Domiat was cruising South of the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, when Newfoundland encountered her and ordered her to heave to. Aware that Britain and Egypt had just gone to war in the Suez Crisis, the Domiat refused and opened fire on the cruiser, causing some damage and casualties. The cruiser, with the destroyer HMS Diana, then returned fire and sank her opponent, rescuing 69 survivors from the wreckage. [1]
She then returned to the Far East until paid off to the reserve at Portsmouth on 24 June 1959. She was sold to the Peruvian Navy on 2 November 1959, and subsequently renamed Almirante Grau and then to Capitán Quiñones in 1973. The cruiser was hulked in 1979 and used as a static training ship in Callao, before being decommissioned and scrapped later that year.
[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 Newfoundland at Uboat.net
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