HMS Cumberland (57)

HMS "Cumberland" was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.

Career

"Cumberland" served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit. In 1938, she joined the 2nd cruiser squadron on the South American station.

In the South Atlantic

At the start of the Second World War in 1939, "Cumberland" was assigned to 2nd Cruiser Squadron Force G, the South American Division. [p.66, Boniface] At the start of December she was forced to self-refit in the Falkland Islands, thus depriving the force of their strongest unit. Without her, HMS "Exeter", "Ajax" and "Achilles" engaged the German raider "Admiral Graf Spee" in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. "Cumberland" received a garbled indication that a contact was being made and moved north to reinforce, arriving at the River Plate at 22:00 14 December, after steaming for 34 hours. The "Graf Spee" had put into neutral Montevideo and was trapped there, as "Cumberland" along with "Ajax" and "Achilles" ("Exeter" having been heavily damaged) patrolled the estuary, resulting in the "Graf Spee" being scuttled by her crew on 17 December.

outh African service

After this she sailed to Simonstown, South Africa, spending between January and February undergoing a refit. She then escorted convoys along the African coast, bound for the Middle East. In July she was tasked, along with her sister, HMS "Cornwall", with hunting down the German commerce raider "Thor". Whilst on patrol, she intercepted and sank the Vichy French merchant "Poitiers", which had been carrying ammunition to the Ivory Coast. Later that month she attacked Dakar, suffering damage from a French coastal battery. A single 9.4 inch shell penetrated the hull just above the armour belt. Her main machinery was put out of action due to the loss of feed water to the boilers and she had to return to the Simonstown dock yard for repairs which lasted until November. In December, "Cumberland" was again hunting for the merchant raider "Thor", but the search proved unsuccessful.

Arctic convoys

In October 1941 "Cumberland" joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron Home Fleet escorting the Arctic convoys until January 1944, winning the battle honour "Arctic 1942-1943".

In the Far East

She was then transferred to the Far East, as part of 4th Cruiser Squadron Eastern Fleet. In July she was involved in the bombardment of Sabang, and in September she carried out raids on Northern Sumatra. In October the Eastern Fleet was used as a diversion force and attacked the Nicobar Islands, so that the landings on Leyte could take place, unfortunately the diversion did not succeed. During this period, "Cumberland" won the battle honours "Sabang 1944" and "Burma 1945". On 7 February 1945, "Cumberland" was back in Simonstown to have her rudder removed, and the following month completed an inclination experiment in the wet dock before successfully completing her trials. During April whilst operating in the Indian Ocean "Cumberland" was involved in the shelling of Sabang. In May she was also responsible for the shelling of Nicobar and Port Blair in theAndaman Islands group. On 3 September, in company with the cruiser HMS "London", they put ashore marine detachments at Sabang in Sumatra after the surrender of Japan the previous day. She arrived at Jakarta on the 15th, in company with one frigate and four Australian minesweepers. Because of the disturbances ashore between the Indonesian Nationalists and the Japanese, a British Battalion was not landed on Batavia before 29 September.

Postwar

She returned to the United Kingdom on 12 November 1945 and transported troops until June 1946, when she was placed in reserve until 1949. She was then refitted at Devonport (1949-1951) as a trials cruiser, with lattice masts, new directors and added accommodation. The original armament was entirely removed, but individual light weapons were added from time to time for trials, and the new quick firing 6 inch MK26 twin automatic turret for the "Tiger" class cruisers was tested on B barbette, she also undertook pre wetting trials against radio-active fallout. In April 1955, glass-reinforced plastic, used today for constructing warships of as much as 700 tons made its debut, when a new 29 foot general purpose sea-boat made of this material was taken onboard "Cumberland" for the start of her summer season of tests in the Mediterranean. For the 1956 film "The Battle of the River Plate", "Cumberland" played herself (being partly disarmed). In August 1956, at the start of the Suez crisis, "Cumberland" was deployed in trooping in reinforcements to Cyprus. In November 1959, "Cumberland" left Malta for Barrow-in-Furness.

"Cumberland" was broken up by Cashmore, Newport, arriving there on 3 November 1959.

References and notes

ources

* Boniface, Patrick, HMS Cumberland: A Classic British Cruiser in War and Peace, Periscope Publishing Limited, London, 2006

Further reading

* "British and Empire Warships of the Second World War", H T Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
* "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946", Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
*Colledge
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1175.html HMS Cumberland at U-boat.net]

External links

* http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1615