HMS Neptune (20)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.jpg/300px-HMS_Neptune_(AWM_302461).jpg) |
|
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Leander-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Neptune |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 24 September 1931 |
| Launched: | 31 January 1933 |
| Commissioned: | 12 February 1934 |
| Fate: | Sunk 19 December 1941 by mines off Tripoli |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,270 tons standard 9,740 tons full load |
| Length: | 554.9 ft (169.1 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft (17 m) |
| Draught: | 19.1 ft (5.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four Parsons geared steam turbines Six Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers Four shafts 72,000 shp |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,730 nm at 13 knots |
| Complement: | peacetime 550 wartime 680 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
type 284/286 air search radar type 273/271 surface search type 285 6 inch (152 mm) fire control type 282 40 mm fire control |
| Armament: |
Original configuration: 8 × 6 in guns 8 × 4 in (102 mm) 16 × 40 mm 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (quadruple mounts) |
| Armour: | 4 in (102 mm) main belt 2.5 in (64 mm) ends 1.25 to 2 in (32 to 51 mm) deck 1 in (25 mm) turrets |
| Aircraft carried: | One catapult-launched aircraft Original type was a Fairey Seafox catpult and aircraft later replaced with Supermarine Walrus |
| Motto: | Regnare est servire |
| Notes: | Pennant number 20 |
HMS Neptune was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II.
The Neptune was the fourth ship of its class and was the ninth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name Neptune. Built by Portsmouth Dockyard, the vessel was laid down 24 September 1931, launched 31 January 1933, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 12 February 1934 with pennant number 20.
Contents |
[edit] History
During World War II, Neptune operated with a crew drawn predominantly from the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy.
In December 1939, several months after war was declared, Neptune was patrolling in the South Atlantic in pursuit of German surface raider pocket battleship (heavy cruiser) Admiral Graf Spee. Neptune, with other patrolling Royal Navy heavy units, was sent to Uruguay in the aftermath of the Battle of the River Plate. She was still in transit however on December 17 when the Germans scuttled the Graf Spee.
Neptune participated in the battle of Calabria, on 9 July 1940, during which she was hit by the Italian light cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi. The 6" shell splinters damaged her floatplane beyond repair, its wreckage being thrown into the sea.
During 1941, she led Force K, a raiding squadron of cruisers. Their task was to intercept and destroy German and Italian convoys en route to Libya. The convoys were supplying Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa with troops and equipment.
[edit] Sinking
Force K was sent out on 18 December 1941, to intercept a convoy bound for Tripoli.
On the night of 19 December–20 December, Neptune, leading the line, struck two mines, part of a newly laid Italian minefield. The other cruisers present, Aurora and Penelope, also struck mines.
While reversing out of the minefield, Neptune struck a third mine, which took off her propellers and left her dead in the water. Aurora was unable to render assistance as she was already down to 10 knots (19 km/h) and needed to turn back to Malta. Penelope was also unable to assist.
The destroyers Kandahar and Lively were sent into the minefield to attempt a tow. The former struck a mine and began drifting. Neptune then signalled for Lively to keep clear. (Kandahar was later evacuated and torpedoed by the destroyer HMS Jaguar, to prevent her capture.)
Neptune hit a fourth mine and quickly capsized. Only 30 seamen, out of her complement of 767, survived the sinking, and only one was still alive, when their lifeboat was picked up five days later, by an Italian torpedo boat.
[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 Neptune at Uboat.net
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
