HMS Trinidad (46)
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| History | |
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| Name | HMS Trinidad |
| Builder | HM Dockyard Devonport |
| Laid down | 21 April, 1938 |
| Launched | 21 March, 1941 |
| Commissioned | 14 October, 1941 |
| Fate | Damaged in air attack and scuttled 15 May, 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 8,000 tons |
| Length | 169.3 m (555.5 feet) |
| Beam | 18.9 m (62 feet) |
| Draught | 5.0 m (16.5 feet) |
| Propulsion | Four oil fired 3-drum Admiralty-type boilers, 4-shaft geared turbines, 4 screws, 54.1 megawatts (72,500 shp) |
| Speed | 33 knots |
| Complement | 907 |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) Twelve 6 inch guns (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 | list error: <br /> list (help) Main belt: 83 mm, deck: 51 mm, turrets: 51 mm, Director control tower: 102 mm. |
| Aircraft carried | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft |
HMS Trinidad was a Royal Navy Crown Colony-class cruiser (also known as the Fiji-class). She was lost while serving in the Arctic on convoy duty after being damaged escorting PQ-13 in 1942.
Early career
Trinidad was built by HM Dockyard Devonport. She was laid down on 21 April 1938, launched 21 March 1941 and commissioned on 14 October 1941. The ship served with the British Home Fleet during her brief career.
Loss
While escorting Convoy PQ-13 in March 1942, she and other escorts were in combat with German Narvik-class destroyers. She hit and sank the German destroyer Z 26, and then launched a torpedo attack. One of her torpedoes had a faulty gyro mechanism possibly affected by the icy waters. The path of the torpedo formed a circular arc, striking the Trinidad and killing 32 men.
Trinidad was towed clear of the action, and was then able to proceed under her own power towards Murmansk. The German submarine U-585 attempted to engage and sink the damaged cruiser, but was spotted and sunk by HMS Fury.[1] On arrival in Murmansk she underwent partial repairs.
She set out to return home on 13 May 1942, escorted by the destroyers HMS Foresight, HMS Forester, HMS Somali and HMS Matchless. Other ships of the Home Fleet were providing a covering force nearby. Her speed was reduced to 20 knots owing to the damage she had sustained. En route, she was attacked by more than twenty Ju-88 bombers on 15 May 1942. All attacks missed, except for one bomb that struck near the previous damage starting a serious fire. Sixty-three men were lost,[2] including twenty survivors from HMS Edinburgh which had been sunk two weeks earlier. The decision was taken to scuttle her and she was torpedoed by HMS Matchless and sank in the Arctic Ocean, north of North Cape.[3]
One of the survivors was George Lloyd, later to become a composer and writer of a march entitled "HMS Trinidad", in memory of his ship and those lost with her.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- WWII cruisers
- HMS Trinidad at Uboat.net
Further reading
- Frank Pearce - The Ship That Torpedoed Herself: HMS "Trinidad" (1975) ISBN 0-904593-02-9
- M.J. Whitley - Cruisers of World War II, An International Encyclopedia. (1995)
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