HMS Caledon
 HMS Caledon after being converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser
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HMS Caledon (D53) was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy , which was the second British warship to be named Caledon , an abbreviation of the Roman name Caledonia for Scotland .
The ship built at Cammell Laird belonged to a four-ship sub-group of the C- class, which was named after the first completed Caledon . The Caledon , which was completed in the First World War , was used in both World Wars and was converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser in the Second World War . In 1948 the cruiser was canceled.
History of the Caledon
The Caledon , ordered with three other C-type cruisers on December 8, 1915, was laid down at Cammell Laird on March 17, 1916, launched on November 25, 1916 and was delivered to the Royal Navy on March 6, 1917. The order was the first to modify the basic design of the C-Class from 1913 after fourteen ships had already been commissioned, nine of which had been delivered by the end of 1915. At 137.2 m, the new ships were slightly longer and at 13 m also wider than the previous cruisers of the class.
The cruisers were protected by a side armored belt 37 to 76 mm thick. In addition there was a 25 mm thick armored deck and equally strong protective shields for the main artillery. The cruisers had a displacement of 4120 t and could reach 29 kn with their 40,000 hp turbine system . The maximum bunker supply of 935 t of fuel made it possible to travel 5900 nm at a cruising speed of 10 kn . The cruisers of the Caledon Group were armed with five 6-inch (152-mm) L / 45-Mk.XII guns for combating sea targets, all of which were arranged on the midship line. The three forward guns stood individually: the first on the foredeck in front of the bridge, the second between the mast and the forward chimney, and the third raised after the aft chimney. The two rear guns were relatively far apart behind the raised stern structure on different levels in order to be able to shoot one above the other. To defend against air attacks or light naval forces, the cruisers of the subgroup had two 12-pounder- (76-mm) -L / 40-Mk.I multi-purpose guns next to the funnels. In addition, there were four 3 pdr (47 mm) Hotchkiss salute guns and two 533 mm twin torpedo tube sets on each side of the fuselage. The twin sets mounted one behind the other at the height of the chimneys were mounted slightly offset on each side. Because of the medium 152 mm guns shooting over them, the torpedo tube sets could not be manned in the firefight and could only be fired from a protected position as preset.
After the Caledon had been commissioned , it was decided in August 1917 that an aircraft should be carried in every light cruiser squadron on a ship to defend against airships. For the 1st Light cruiser squadron this should be the Caledon , which was given a launch pad on the foredeck for a Sopwith Pup . This ramp was replaced in mid-1918 by a new rotating launch platform amidships in front of the fourth gun. The aircraft were disembarked at the end of the war in 1918. The Caledon kept the platform until it was repaired in 1928.
A crew of 400 men was planned for wartime; used as the flagship 437 men should be on board duty.
First use of the Caledon
On March 6, 1917, the Caledon began its service with the Grand Fleet and, after all tests in May, was assigned to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron with three cruisers of the Arethusa class and a subordinate 13th Destroyer flotilla as a squadron flagship .
On November 17, 1917, the cruiser was involved in the second naval battle near Heligoland as the flagship of Rear Admiral Trevylyan Napier , who was also responsible for the 6th light cruiser squadron with four new C-class cruisers. The association was supposed to prevent the Germans from trying to clear a mine-free route through a British minefield. The cruisers Caledon and Calypso drove away the German minesweepers when the small cruisers of the German II Reconnaissance Group intervened. The two cruisers took up battle with the Galatea . The two British light battle cruisers Courageous and Glorious of the 1st Cruiser Squadron intervened in support of the British light cruisers and fought the German cruisers from a great distance. These dropped back onto the ships of the line Kaiserin and Kaiser under the command of the sea captain Kurt Graßhoff , which were at sea as cover forces, and which also opened fire at a great distance.
When the British battlecruisers of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron approached and the Repulse shot at the Germans, the German ships of the line withdrew to the protection of their minefields. The Repulse were with their heavy artillery still 54 shot at the German ships, and scored a direct hit on the Konigsberg , which greatly disparaged their speed. For the two later aircraft carriers Courageous and Glorious , it was their only battle as a cruiser. Although they had fired 92 and 57 rounds of their heavy artillery, they scored only one insignificant hit on the Pillau . The German ships also missed the almost 400 rounds of their medium artillery.
The opening Caledon and Calypso both suffered hits. The Calypso received a hit in the bridge from the small cruisers, killing everyone including the commander (ten dead). The Caledon was hit by a 12-inch shell from the Kaiser , which caused manageable damage. The seaman John Henry Carless, fatally wounded by a shrapnel in his stomach, continued his gun duty and helped other wounded. For his commitment he was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously; in addition to him four other crew members of the Caledon died . The Cardiff also had seven deaths.
The battle damage of the Caledon could be repaired quickly. 1917 Walter Cowan Commodore of the 1st LCS on the Caledon , who had commanded the ship in 1917 already briefly. When the German ocean-going fleet had to surrender to the Royal Navy, the Caledon also directed the German ships to Scapa Flow.
Use after the First World War
When the 1st LCS under Cowan was commanded against the Red Fleet and in support of the Baltic States in the Baltic Sea at the end of 1918 , the Curacoa served as the flagship, while the Caledon of the Grand Fleet, now Home Fleet , served as the flagship of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron ( 2nd LCS) and was not moved to the Baltic Sea until 1919 when the units used were exchanged. During the operations in the Baltic States, the Cassandra, which belongs to the Caledon subgroup, was the first time a C-class cruiser was lost. Until the change of commander to the Curacoa in August 1921, the Caledon remained the flagship of the 2nd LCS , which had belonged to the Atlantic Fleet since October 1919 .
At the end of August 1921, the 2nd LCS and 2nd Destroyer Flotilla began a six-week journey through the Baltic Sea. In addition to the Caledon belonging Curacoa as a flagship and the older C-cruiser Castor and Cordelia and the flotilla Spenser of the Shakespeare class and eight Destroyers of the V- and W-Class to the association on the night of September 3, 1921 the North -Baltic Canal from Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea passed. The Free City of Danzig was the first port to call on the 4th; then on the 8th followed Memel, which was occupied and administered by the French . The next ports of call were Libau, today Liepāja , (10th), Riga (13th), Tallinn (17th) and Helsinki (19th) in the new independent republics on the Baltic Sea. The British Association then visited Sweden and stayed for several days in Stockholm from 23 September , where the population was given the opportunity to inspect the British ships. A British supply tanker had also been sent to Stockholm to fill the ships' bunkers for the return voyage. On the way to Gothenburg 's flagship ran Curacoa with the destroyers on 29 Copenhagen , where the flagship of the Danish King Christian X was visited. On the night of October 4th, the association then moved to Gothenburg. Like most other short transfer trips, it was operated at night. On the night of the 8th, the last foreign port of the voyage, the Norwegian capital Christiania, today Oslo , was headed for. There the flagship was inspected by the monarch, King Haakon VII , who invited the commanders to a dinner. On October 13, 1921, the march back across the North Sea began and on the 15th the cruisers arrived in Invergordon as the first British port, while the destroyer flotilla ran further south to the destroyer base Port Edgar near South Queensferry .
In the first half of 1922, the Caledon controlled the waters around Ireland with other ships of the squadron in order to prevent supplies to the Irish insurgents. In August, the cruiser was dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean to protect British interests during the conflict between Turkey and Greece; in November the Caledon returned to the squadron.
In January 1923, the cruiser was dispatched to Memel, where Lithuanian militants had occupied Memelland , which was under the (French) League of Nations administration (so-called "Klaipėda Revolt" ). The British did not take action against the alleged uprising by local forces, as they hoped that Lithuania would be able to get over the loss of the Wilna area and had already made corresponding proposals themselves. On the way back, the cruiser collided with the pilot boat Neumark I off Cuxhaven . In July 1923, the Caledon visited Finland again with other units of the 2nd LCS, where Caledon Hanko called . On August 17, 1926, the cruiser was decommissioned, left the association of the Second Cruiser Squadron and was overhauled in Chatham .
On September 5, 1927, the Caledon was put back into service and assigned to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron ( 3rd CS ) in the Mediterranean Fleet . In January 1928, the cruiser failed after it collided with the Italian cargo ship Antares on Kafiras Strait (also Doro Channel) between Euboea and Andros . The cruiser, which was badly damaged at the bow, reached Malta at slow speed after six days, where it was prepared with a makeshift repair for the return home in April. The final repairs were carried out at Devonport Dockyard until January 15, 1929, when the cruiser for the 3rd CS was put back into service. As early as August 8, 1929, the cruiser in the squadron was replaced by the Curlew and returned to Great Britain. In August 1930 the Caledon ran back to Malta for the Mediterranean Fleet and took over the duties of the flagship of the 3rd CS until July 1931. The cruiser was then replaced by the Colombo and went to the reserve, where it was used for training purposes in Devonport and the Commander of the units of the reserve fleet there until October 1936. In December 1934, the cruiser was used to transfer army personnel to Malta. In July 1938 the Caledon was towed to Chatham and overtaken there by June 1939. She then became the flagship of the local commander of the units of the fleet reserve. Like almost all units of the reserve fleet, the cruiser was manned by reservists in July and took part in the tour of the reserve fleet by King George VI on August 9th . in Weymouth . The Caledon remained in service thereafter, completed its equipment and supplies, and moved to Scapa Flow. She was the oldest of the thirteen C-class cruisers still operational, seven of which, like the Caledon, were in reserve. All of them should be converted into anti-aircraft cruisers. The two prototypes of such a conversion ( Coventry and Curlew ) and the first two (series) conversions ( Cairo and Calcutta ) were still being tested - the conversion had started at Carlisle and Curacao .
Another war mission from 1939
In September 1939, the cruiser with the sister ship Calypso and Diomede and Dragon was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron . During the Northern Patrol, the cruiser was supposed to prevent German ships from going home through the North Sea and to check all merchant ships for loads for the German Reich. When the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst advanced against the Northern Patrol at the end of November 1939 and explored the possibility of an outbreak into the Atlantic, the Caledon was at sea next to Cardiff and Colombo to monitor the Faroe-Shetland Strait and the cruisers were looking for the emergency call the Rawalpindi the German ships that had sunk the auxiliary cruiser. The cruiser then had to go to the shipyard due to weather damage. He was then subordinated to the 3rd CS in the Mediterranean and moved via Plymouth and Gibraltar from December 19 to 28, 1939 to Malta. Then in January 1940 Alexandria became the base of the cruiser. When Italy joined the war on June 10, 1940 on the side of the German Reich, the Mediterranean Fleet had nine light cruisers in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, including three old C-class cruisers with Carlisle , Calypso and Caledon . The Caledon and her sister ship Calypso also took part in the first foray by the Mediterranean fleet against Italian Libya traffic . The Calypso was the Royal Navy’s first loss by an Italian warship in World War II when it was torpedoed shortly after midnight on June 12, 1940 by the Italian submarine Alpino Attilio Bagnolini about 80 km south of Cape Lithion on Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. The destroyer Dainty and the Caledon were largely able to hide the crew from the slowly sinking cruiser . 39 men died when the Calypso sank .
The Caledon then took over security measures in the eastern Mediterranean and worked together with the Capetown and the destroyers Nubian , Mohawk , the Australian vampires and the now Polish Garland . They escorted British ships in small convoys from the Dardanelles and Greek ports to Egypt, against which Italian submarines were deployed, but which did not succeed.
When the Italians attacked British Somaliland in early August , the Caledon was one of the British units that were relocated to the Red Sea. From August 14th to 19th the British evacuated Berbera and evacuated 5,690 soldiers, 1,266 civilians and 184 wounded to Aden . British cruisers and destroyers not only secured the evacuation, but also intervened in the land battles with their artillery. In addition to the Caledon, the cruisers Carlisle , Ceres and the Australian Hobart , the destroyers Kandahar and Kimberley , the sloops Shoreham and the Parramatta and Auckland of the RAN as well as auxiliary cruisers, a hospital ship and a freighter were used.
The Caledon was then used primarily in the Indian Ocean. In mid-March 1941, she was one of the units that supported the recapture of Berbera on March 16 as Force D. She and the cruiser Glasgow supported the landing with their ship artillery.
In April / May 1941 consideration was given to using the old cruiser as a block ship against Tripoli . From August to October, the Caledon was overhauled in Colombo in order to remain in service with the Eastern Fleet . When the Japanese fleet was operating in the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1942, the Caledon belonged to Force B with the old battleships of the Revenge class .
Conversion to an anti-aircraft cruiser and other missions
The Caledon , last stationed in Mombasa-Kilindini , returned to Great Britain in July 1942 to be converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser. Before her, Colombo had left the Eastern Fleet in May to be rebuilt in the same way. This conversion program was originally intended to extend to all thirteen C-class cruisers still in existence in 1937. Before the war it had included two prototypes and four other cruisers, but was discontinued after the Curacoa was completed in April 1940. Of these six conversions, two ships had been lost in the course of the war by July 1942. Of the seven C-class ships that were reactivated as artillery cruisers at the beginning of the war, only the Calypso fell victim to the war.
The conversion of the Caledon took place from September 14, 1942 to December 7, 1943 at the naval shipyard in Chatham and was the last conversion of a C-class cruiser, which apparently took place without a high priority. The conversion of the Colombo took place from August 1942 to June 1943. By the end of the work on the Caledon , three more ships converted to anti-aircraft cruisers had sunk and the only remaining Carlisle had been a cruiser no longer worth repairing since October 1943 and was used as a barge in Alexandria . In addition to the conversions of the Colombo and Caledon that took place in 1942/1943, the Delhi was another old cruiser converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser. The conversion of further ships was no longer considered necessary, however, since the demand for such ships was now covered by the incoming newbuildings of the Dido class . The Caradoc , Ceres and Cardiff as well as the Capetown remained in service with their original 152 mm main armament until the end of the war.
The renovations of Colombo and Caledon were no longer carried out according to the peace plans. Both ships received only three 102 mm twin guns, two of which - overlapping - were installed on the foredeck and the third was installed at the stern. The short-range air defense of the last two conversions also differed from the previous conversions in that they were no longer equipped with pom-pom-2pdr quadruple guns, but two modern 40 mm Bofors twin guns in mounts of the Hazemeyer type on the sides of the ship between the rear chimney and the main mast; in addition there were 20 mm Oerlikon cannons .
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When the cruiser was put back into service in December 1943, it was intended for use in the Mediterranean. After the crew arrived at Home Fleet, the Caledon moved into the Mediterranean and secured British shipping against air raids, the base of operations was Alexandria from March 1944. At the beginning of May the cruiser reinforced the American security of convoy UGS 40 with 65 ships from Norfolk (Virginia) on the way to Bizerta , which consisted of four US destroyers, seven escort destroyers and two French ships led by the USCG cutter Campbell . The large convoy was carried by the German Air Force on May 11, 1944 at Cape Bengut in eastern Algeria in four waves of over 60 aircraft of the I. and III./ KG 26 and I. / and III./ KG 77 with Ju 88 , Do 217 , He 111 and a Condor attacked. Contrary to the first German accounts, no ship is said to have been hit, but the Caledon is said to have shot down about ten attackers.
In August 1944, the Caledon and the similar Colombo belonged to combat group TG.88.2 with two American and two British escort carriers and six US destroyers. This combat group was one of the two combat groups of the TF.88 , which carried out the air security of the Allied landing in southern France .
From October 1944, the Caledon was then used in the Aegean Sea. In addition to fighting the Germans, there were also clashes between the monarchist Greeks, supported by the British, and the communist resistance movement of Greece (ELAS) , in which British units were also involved. In preparation for the so-called Battle of Athens , the Caledon fired at, partly together with the Hunt III destroyer Easton , the Corvette La Malouine of the Flower class as well as the destroyer Navarinon ex Echo and the Flower corvette Sakhtouris ex Peony of the Greek Navy from 5th to 9th December 1944 ELAS positions near Piraeus and Salamis . In February 1945 the Caledon was withdrawn from the Aegean Sea.
The end of the Caledon
The ship, which returned to Great Britain in March 1945, was decommissioned in Falmouth . In January 1948, the Caledon was sold for demolition, which began in Dover in February .
The C-class cruisers of the Caledon Group
All four cruisers in the subgroup were ordered on December 8, 1915.
| Surname | Shipyard | start of building | Launch | finished | Final fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caledon (D53) |
Cammell Laird Birkenhead , build no. 828 |
03/17/1916 | 11/25/1916 | March 7, 1917 | sold for demolition in January 1948 |
| Cassandra |
Vickers Barrow , build no. 456 |
3.1916 | 11/25/1916 | 6.1917 | Sank in the Baltic Sea on December 5, 1918 after a mine hit near Saaremaa , 11 dead |
| Caradoc (D60) |
Scotts , build no. 476 Greenock , build no. 476 |
02/21/1916 | December 23, 1916 | 06/16/1917 | sold for demolition in April 1946 |
| Calypso (D61) |
Hawthorn Leslie Hebburn , build no. 486 |
February 7, 1916 | 01/25/1917 | 06/21/1917 | Sunk south of Crete by the Italian submarine Bagnolini on June 12, 1940 , 39 dead |
literature
- Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1921. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1984, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Roger Chesneau: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
- Norman Friedman: British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, South Yorkshire 2011, ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7 .
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One. (1919) Jane's Publishing Company.
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7 .
Web links
- HMS CALEDON - World War 1 C-type Light Cruiser on naval-history.net
- Caledon class Light cruisers on uboat.net
- HMS Caledon (D53)
- IWM Postcard of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in 1925. Ships pictured are: HMS Curacoa (flagship), HMS Caledon, HMS Canterbury and HMS Carysfort.
- Caledon Class Cruiser (1916) on dreadnoughtproject.org
- HMS Caledon (1916) on dreadnoughtproject.org with a list of commanders
- Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Library for Contemporary History, Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedman: British Cruisers. P. 62.
- ↑ Hildebrand, Vol. 4, p. 10.
- ↑ Saturday, November 17, 1917, ACTION OFF HELIGOLAND BIGHT .
- ^ Baltic Tour 1921 .
- ↑ Klaipeda operation
- ↑ v. Rauch: Baltic States. P. 105f.
- ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/39-08.htm#SEP Rohwer: Seekrieg. August 31 - September 7, 1939, North Sea.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 21.-27. November 1939, North Atlantic.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. June 10, 1940, Italy / Mediterranean, Italy enters the war.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 11-14 June 1940, Mediterranean Sea, British Mediterranean fleet first advance.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 27.-30. June 1940, Mediterranean.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 4th-19th August 1940, Red Sea / Gulf of Aden.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. March 16, 1941, Red Sea / East Africa, Operation "Appearance".
- ↑ Convoy UGS-40, under extreme enemy air attack. May 11th. 1944 .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. May 9-11, 1944, Mediterranean.
- ^ Service history HMS Caledon .
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 15, 1944, Mediterranean Sea, Operation Dragoon.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 4th - 21st December 1944, Mediterranean / Aegean.
Remarks
- ↑ The Galatea, with its mixed main armament of two 152-mm and six 102-mm guns, was only able to intervene to a limited extent, as the Germans stayed out of the range of their 102-mm guns.
- ↑ The 2nd DF , divided into the 3rd and 4th divisions, consisted of Vectis , Winchelsea (D46) , Viscount (D92) , Viceroy (L21) as well as Vanquisher (D54) , Venetia (D53) , Violent and Wolfhound (L56) . Those named with identification were still in use during World War II, those with L identification as anti-aircraft escorts.
- ↑ The Delhi of the Danae class was converted from March to November 1941 in Brooklyn into an anti-aircraft cruiser by installing American 127 mm guns.
Caroline group: HMS Caroline | HMS Carysfort | HMS Cleopatra | HMS Comus | HMS Conquest | HMS Cordelia
Calliope Group: HMS Calliope | HMS Champion
Cambrian Group: HMS Cambrian | HMS Canterbury | HMS Castor | HMS Constance
Centaur Group: HMS Centaur | HMS Concord
Caledon Group: HMS Caledon | HMS Calypso | HMS Cassandra | HMS Caradoc
Ceres Group: HMS Cardiff | HMS Ceres | HMS Coventry | HMS Curacoa | HMS Curlew
Carlisle Group: HMS Cairo | HMS Calcutta | HMS Capetown | HMS Carlisle | HMS Colombo