HMS Nigeria (60)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Crown Colony-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Nigeria |
| Ordered: | 1937-12-20 |
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrongs, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Laid down: | 1938-02-08 |
| Launched: | 1939-07-18 |
| Commissioned: | 1940-09-23 |
| Out of service: | Sold to Indian Navy as Mysore, 29 August 1957 |
| Renamed: | Mysore 1957 |
| Career |  |
| Name: | Mysore |
| Acquired: | 29 August 1957 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 August 1985 |
| 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 3-drum Admiralty-type boilers, 4-shaft geared turbines, 4 screws, 54.1 megawatts (72,500 shp) |
| Speed: | 33 knots |
| Range: | 6520 nmi at 13 knots (24 km/h) |
| Complement: | 907 |
| Armament: | Twelve (after 1943 refit Nine) 6 inch guns (4 (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 carried: | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft, removed November 1943. |
HMS Nigeria (pennant number 60) was a Crown Colony-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy completed early in World War II and served throughout that conflict. She was named for the (then) British territory of Nigeria.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Home waters
She served in Home waters and off the Scandinavian coast for the early part of the war. On 28 June 1941 Nigeria, in company with HMS Bedouin, HMS Tartar and HMS Jupiter intercepted the German weather ship Lauenburg in thick fog north-east of Jan Mayen Island. The German ship was detected through the use of HF/DF. The crew of the Lauenburg abandoned ship after they were fired upon, allowing the British to board her. Valuable codebooks and parts of the Enigma machine were found aboard and recovered from the German weather ship. This was one of the earliest captures of Enigma material of the war, and came a few weeks after HMS Bulldog had captured the first complete Enigma machine from the German submarine U110 on 9 May 1941.
[edit] The Mediterranean and Far East
Nigeria was then assigned to operate in the Mediterranean. On 12 August 1942 she was participating in Operation Pedestal, escorting a convoy bound for Malta. She was the flagship of the close escort group, commanded by Admiral Harold Burrough. Nigeria was torpedoed and damaged by the Italian submarine Axum but managed to make it back to Gibraltar escorted by three destroyers. Admiral Burrough meanwhile transferred his flag to the destroyer HMS Ashanti whilst Nigeria returned to Gibraltar.
She was sent from there to the United States for repairs, which took nine months to complete. After these were complete, she operated off the South African coast, and on 12 March 1943 she picked up 30 survivors from the American merchant James B. Stephens that was torpedoed and sunk on 8 March 1943 by the German submarine U-160 about 150 nautical miles (280 km) north-east of Durban. Nigeria was then assigned to operate with the Eastern Fleet from February 1944 until December 1945, when she returned to the UK to be refitted. During her time in the far east, she participated in raids on Sumatra.
[edit] Post war
Nigeria survived the war and continued in service with the Royal Navy until 29 August 1957 when she was sold to the Indian Navy, who renamed her Mysore. During her time with the Indian Navy, she collided with the destroyer HMS Hogue, severely damaging the Hogue's bow. Mysore was in service with them for a further 28 years until she was decommissioned on 20 August 1985.
[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 Nigeria at Uboat.net
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