Arethusa class (1934)
| Arethusa (1934) class | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| units | 5–6 planned, 4 laid down |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
5220 t constr. / 6665 t max. (HMS Arethusa and HMS Galatea ) or 5270 t const. / 6715 t max. ( HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope ) |
| length |
152.4 m over everything |
| width |
15.54 m |
| Draft |
4.21 m |
| crew |
450 (peace) - 630 (war) |
| drive |
4 steam turbines with 64,000 HP on four screws |
| speed |
32.25 kn |
| Range |
5,300 nm at 13 kn / 1,900 nm at 30 kn |
The Arethusa-class was a series of four light cruisers in the Royal Navy .
General
The planning of the Arethusa class lasted from 1929 to February 1932 and included a wide variety of considerations until a final design was finally established. A model had actually been decided in 1931, but budget problems and the London fleet agreement of 1930 led to this model being modified again. In principle, the Arethusa class was a modified Leander class , but lighter armed and armored. The Leander class also played a certain role in terms of the size of the units of the Arethusa class; the Leander-class cruisers were larger than agreed in the fleet contracts, so to balance the total tonnage, either one or two Leander-class units had to be built or a class of smaller ships had to be keeled instead. It was decided in favor of the number of ships for the second route. Therefore, instead of the approved five ships, only four were built. In addition, a short time later, stronger units had to be designed in response to new Japanese buildings.
The ships of the Arethusa class displaced 5220 tons with a hull of 152 m length and 15.6 m width. Their original armament consisted of three 6-inch twin guns of the type BL 6 "MK XXIII (twice ahead, once astern), 4-inch anti- aircraft guns in single mounts, conspicuously concentrated in the last third of the ship behind the second funnel, and eight 12, 7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun of the Vickers Mk III type in two quadruple carriages amidships between the funnels and two sets of three torpedo tubes at the height of the second funnel. The crew strength of these ships was 450 to a maximum of 630 men Fla armament owed during the war.
The ships of the Arethusa class were originally set up to carry two aircraft on board; the second, type Osprey (“Osprey”), should be stowed on the superstructure with folded wings. A stump mast was installed next to the aft tunnel to lift this aircraft onto the catapult. During the trials, this arrangement turned out to be impractical and was not installed in the last two ships of the class. In the end, they left it with one aircraft per ship and even dispensed with it entirely with the HMS Aurora . The aircraft and launch catapults already on board the three other ships of this class were dismantled at the beginning of the war. A bulletproof roof over the bridge was tried, but dismantled again in May 1937.
Other differences between the first two ships of the series (HMS Arethusa and HMS Galatea ) and the second pair (HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope ) were that the newer ships were equipped with four 4-inch double anti-aircraft guns and an anti-aircraft gun pointing aft Main mast were carried out. The searchlight that the first pair of cruisers carried pointed astern was pointed ahead from the main mast on the newer ships. The single-barreled anti-aircraft gun of HMS Galatea was replaced by double guns in the same caliber before the war, but the equipment of the HMS Arethusa with heavy flak was not changed until after the war began.
The Arethusa class had four machines with a boiler room and engine room layout that differed from the earlier Leander class and gave them better protection against damage. A visible outward sign of this were their two thin, streamlined chimneys. The appearance of the ships was similar to the contemporary Amphion-class, although they lacked the fourth 6-inch twin towers. Their engines developed 64,000 horsepower , which gave them a speed of 32.25 knots .
During test drives, the ships achieved 32.6 knots. The class was built with a flexible flywheel arrangement for switching between combat and marching turbines. The cruisers were designed as command vehicles for destroyers in terms of their acceleration and maneuverability , and service reports confirmed that they met these requirements. They were also, like all cruisers, designed for good endurance and could travel 5300 miles at 13 knots and 1900 miles at their maximum continuous speed of 30.3 knots. An indication of their qualities may also be that they did not require any modifications to their hulls or drives during the entire duration of the war - apart from war-related repairs and general overhaul work.
The designs of the hull and the propulsion system of the Arethusa class were - slightly modified - also used for the anti-aircraft cruisers of the Dido class .
History of the individual ships
Life data of the cruisers of the "Arethusa class"
| Surname | HMS Arethusa | HMS Aurora | HMS Galatea | HMS Penelope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shipyard | Chatham Naval Yard | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard | Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering, Greenock | Harland & Wolff , Govan / Glasgow |
| Keel laying | January 25, 1933 | July 23, 1935 | June 2, 1933 | May 30, 1934 |
| Launch | March 6, 1934 | August 20, 1936 | August 9, 1934 | October 15, 1935 |
| In service | May 23, 1935 | November 12, 1937 | August 14, 1935 | November 13, 1936 |
| The End | Canceled in Troon in 1950 | Delivered to China in 1948, probably scrapped after 1958 | December 15, 1941 sunk in the Mediterranean by German submarines | February 18, 1944 sunk in the Mediterranean by German submarines |
Calls
HMS Arethusa (type ship)
After commissioning, HMS Arethusa drove in the 3rd cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean. After the outbreak of World War II , it was relocated to Home Fleet and took part in the Norway company in April 1940. In May 1940 the cruiser was involved in the defense of Calais and the evacuation of the French Atlantic ports. On June 28, 1940, the ship was relocated back to the Mediterranean for the newly formed Force H. The first operation there was on July 3, 1940, Operation Catapult against the Vichy- French armed forces in Mers-el-Kebir. This was followed by various convoy safeguards.
In May 1941, HMS Arethusa came back to the Home Fleet at short notice to help secure the Iceland-Faroe Islands because of the impending breakout of the German battleship Bismarck . In July 1940 he was transferred back to the Mediterranean Sea to secure convoys to Malta again. At the end of 1941 the cruiser came back to the Home Fleet and took part in an operation against the Lofoten Islands in December, where it was damaged by a close hit in a German air raid. Simultaneously with the repair, the ship was overhauled by April 1942 at the Chatham naval shipyard.
Then the HMS Arethusa secured Malta convoys again. On November 18, 1942, she was hit by an Italian air torpedo during Operation Stone Age and severely damaged; 156 crew members died. It was towed to Alexandria and repaired there until February 7, 1943. Subsequently, by December 15, 1943, a complete repair was carried out in Charleston, USA. The cruiser was fully operational again from June 1944. In that month he also took part in the invasion of Normandy , where he gave fire support on the British landing head "Sword".
In January 1945 HMS Arethusa came to the Mediterranean again.
Since the cruiser was considered too small for a worthwhile modernization after the war, it only served as a test and test ship until 1949. On May 9, 1950, the HMS Arethusa arrived in Troon at the Cashmore's demolition yard and was scrapped there.
HMS Aurora
After commissioning, the HMS Aurora was part of the Home Fleet and, after the outbreak of World War II, was involved both in securing the Scandinavian convoys and in attempting to intercept the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst .
From April 1940 she took part in the Norwegian campaign and was slightly damaged by an air raid on May 3, 1940 off Narvik.
In May 1941, the light cruiser took part in the operation against the German battleship Bismarck . He was involved in the sinking of the German supply ship Belchen (6367 GRT) in Davisstrasse. In July and August 1941, the ship was part of the naval forces that evacuated Norwegian and Soviet colonies on Svalbard and destroyed the weather station on Bear Island. On 6./7. September 1941, HMS Aurora sank together with the light cruiser HMS Nigeria, the German artillery training ship Bremse , which secured a convoy that was able to escape.
In October 1941 the cruiser was relocated to the Mediterranean to secure Malta convoys and to operate against the German-Italian supplies for North Africa. Good successes were achieved against several Axis convoys, the light cruiser was involved in the sinking of eight freighters and some guards. After one of these ventures, HMS Aurora and other ships got into an Italian minefield on December 19, 1941 and was badly damaged by a hit. It was makeshift repairs in Malta and then moved back home on March 29, 1942, to be repaired there in Liverpool by the end of June 1942.
Then the ship returned to the Mediterranean and took part in the landing operations at Oran on November 8, 1942. In doing so, she sank the Vichy-French destroyer Tornade with other armed forces and damaged the destroyer Tramontane so badly that it had to be beached. The next day, HMS Aurora also damaged the large French destroyer Epervier so badly that it also had to be aground. In December 1942, they successfully attacked Axis convoys between Sicily and Tunis, four freighters and some security ships were sunk. In June 1943 she was involved in land target bombardments and landings on the Italian islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa. On June 20, 1943, the cruiser brought the English King George VI. to Malta. After that, the ship accompanied the Allied operations on July 10, 1943 against Sicily and in September 1943 against Salerno. The cruiser then operated against German shipping traffic in the Dodecanese in October 1943 and shelled Rhodes. He received damage from a bomb hit on October 30, 1943 and had to go to Taranto for repairs. The repair lasted until April 1944.
From August 15, 1944, HMS Aurora secured Allied landings in southern France and then relocated to the Aegean Sea. There she shelled the island of Levitha on October 5, 1944 and then disembarked a landing squad. On October 15, 1944 she was involved in the liberation of Athens and fired on 25/26. October 1944 targets on Milos and on December 5, 1944 Rhodes.
After the war, the light cruiser was sold to National China on May 19, 1948 . But on the same day the Red Chinese took over the ship and renamed it Tchoung King .
In March 1949, the cruiser was sunk in the port of Taku by Chinese national planes. It was lifted again and renamed several times, but was probably never operational again. It is mentioned for the last time in 1958, after which its traces are lost for good, and most likely it was scrapped.
HMS Galatea
After its commissioning, HMS Galatea belonged to the Mediterranean fleet. After the outbreak of the Second World War, however, it was relocated to the Home Fleet and operated in February / March 1940 against six German merchant ships that had left northern Spain.
In late May 1940 the cruiser gave fire support to the defenders of Calais. From October 1940 to January 1941 there was a layover period and then the ship was involved in the operations against the German battleship Bismarck . In July 1941, HMS Galatea was relocated to the Mediterranean and operated there from November 1941 against the Italian-German supply traffic for North Africa.
During one of these operations, the light cruiser was hit with two torpedoes off Alexandria on December 15, 1941 by the German submarine U 557 ( Kapitänleutnant Paulsen). HMS Galatea sank within three minutes, Cpt. Sims and 469 other sailors died, only 147 men could be saved.
HMS Penelope
After its commissioning, HMS Penelope was part of the Mediterranean fleet. After the outbreak of World War II, it was moved to the Home Fleet in the spring of 1940 to take part in the Norway campaign. During the destroyer battles in Narvik, she ran aground on April 10, 1940 and had to be towed away badly damaged. The subsequent repair work lasted until July 1941.
After that, the ship moved to the Mediterranean and operated from October 21, 1941 with other units against Italian-German convoys to North Africa. A total of nine cargo ships were sunk and some companions sunk and some damaged. During one of these trips, HMS Penelope ran into an Italian minefield on December 19, 1941 and was slightly damaged. During the repairs, she received further damage in a bombing raid.
From January 1942 she was operational again and secured Malta convoys. From September 1, 1942 to the beginning of 1943, there was a long layover time at the New York Navy Shipyard. After that, the light cruiser moved back to the Mediterranean. In June 1943, the ship took part in land target bombardments and landings on the Italian islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa, in July in the landings in Sicily and in September 1943 in Salerno. After that, HMS Penelope operated against German shipping traffic in the Dodecanese in October 1943. During one of these trips she was damaged by bombs from German planes. At the end of 1943 she hunted German barrage breakers in the Atlantic. In early 1944 she returned to the Mediterranean and supported the Allied landings at Anzio / Nettuno on January 22, 1944. On the march back from this operation, HMS Penelope was sunk by the German submarine U 410 ( Olt zS Fenski) on February 18, 1944 , with 417 of the 623 crew members being killed.
The HMS Penelope was the last British cruiser to be lost in World War II.
Retrofitting and modernization
During the Second World War, the ships received multiple changes to anti-aircraft armament and radar equipment in order to adapt them to the rapidly changing requirements of the war. These are listed below. After the Second World War, no further modernization of these ships was carried out; two units ("Galatea" and "Penelope") had already been lost due to the effects of the war and "Aurora" was given to national China; the "Arethusa" as the last remaining ship of this class was classified as too small for modernization and was scrapped in 1950.
| Anti-aircraft retrofits | |||
| HMS Arethusa | HMS Aurora | HMS Galatea | HMS Penelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Until 1941: | Summer 1940: | Before WWII: | August 1940 - July 1941: |
| Expansion of the catapult, installation of 8 × 4 cm pom pom in two quadruple mounts, 2 UP launchers and 4 × 2 cm single mounts | Installation of 8 × 4 cm pom pom in two quadruple mounts and 1 concealed launcher | Exchange of 10.2 cm single mounts for double mounts | Removal of the catapult, installation of 8 × 4 cm pom pom in two quadruple mounts and 4 × 2 cm single mounts |
| Spring 1942: | August 1941: | October 1940 - January 1941: | Summer 1942: |
| Exchange of the 10.2 cm single mounts for double mounts, exchange of the UP launchers and MGs for 4 × 2 cm single mounts | Installation of 6 × 2 cm single mounts and 8 × 12.7 mm machine guns in quad mounts | Removal of the catapult, installation of 8 × 4 cm pom pom in two quadruple mounts and 8 × 2 cm single mounts | Installation of 4 × 2 cm single mounts |
| October 1942: | |||
| Installation of 3 × 2 cm single mounts | |||
| March – December 1943 (USA): | |||
| Exchange of 4 cm pom poms for 4 cm Bofors quad mounts, exchange of 3 × 2 cm single mounts for 4 × 2 cm double mounts |
|
||
| Radar equipments | |||
| HMS Arethusa | HMS Aurora | HMS Galatea | HMS Penelope |
| Until 1941: | April 1941: | October 1940 - January 1941: | |
| Installation of radar type 286 | Installation of radar type 284 and 290 | Installation of radar type 279 | |
| Spring 1942: | |||
| Replacement of radar type 286 with types 273, 281, 282, 284 and 285 | |||
| March – December 1943 (USA): | |||
| Modernization of the radar equipment | no | ||
Individual evidence
- ↑ Light cruiser Arethusa, HMS . marinearchiv.de. Retrieved July 24, 2011.