HMS Fiji (58)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Crown Colony-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Fiji |
| Builder: | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
| Laid down: | March 30, 1938 |
| Launched: | May 31, 1939 |
| Commissioned: | May 5, 1940 |
| Fate: | Sunk 22 May 1941 by German bombers, south west of Crete |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,530 tonnes standard 10450 tons full load |
| Length: | 169.3 m (555.5 feet) |
| Beam: | 18.9 m (62 feet) |
| Draught: | 5.0 m (16.5 feet) |
| 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 nm 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. |
| Notes: | Pennant number 58 |
HMS Fiji (pennant number 58) was a Crown Colony-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, named after the island, and at that time, the Crown colony of Fiji. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.
[edit] Early career
Fiji was built by John Brown and launched on 31 May 1939. She was the first of the Crown Colony class to enter service, and the class is sometimes known as the Fiji class as a consequence. She was commissioned on May 5, 1940, and initially joined the Home Fleet. On 31 August 1940 she sailed for the African Atlantic coast to take part in Operation Menace, the attack on Dakar. Before she could join the taskforce, Fiji was damaged by a torpedo from U32 on 1 September and had to return to Britain for repairs, which lasted for the next six months. She was fitted with radar and her Anti-Aircraft armament was also marginally increased.
She returned to service in March 1941 and was assigned to patrol the Denmark Strait for German raiders. She missed the homeward bound German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, and in April she was reassigned to Force H to blockade the German heavy ships then stationed at Brest. With Force H, she sailed into the Mediterranean to support operations to relieve the island of Malta.
[edit] Sinking
On completion of these duties she participated in the Battle of Crete. On 22 May 1941 she was acting in company with the destroyers HMS Kandahar and HMS Kingston shortly after the loss of HMS Gloucester. She had already expanded all of her AA ammunition fighting off numerous air attacks that persisted for two hours. She was attacked and hit by several bombs from Messerschmitt Bf 109s before an aircraft of Jagdgeschwader 77 dropped a bomb close alongside to port. This blew in Fiji’s bottom plates and caused a list to port. Fiji lost power and came to a standstill. She was now largely defenceless, having practically exhausted her 4 inch ammunition. She was then hit by three bombs dropped by a Junkers Ju 87. Captain William-Powlett gave the order to abandon ship and at 2015 Fiji rolled over and sank. The destroyers dropped floats and withdrew to the south. They returned after dark to pick up 523 survivors. 241 men had gone down with the ship.
[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 Fiji at Uboat.net
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
