HMS ''Trinidad'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

. She was lost while serving in the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

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 The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

during her brief career.

Loss

While escorting

Convoy PQ 13 PQ 13 was a British Arctic convoy that delivered war supplies from the Western Allies to the USSR during World War II. The convoy was subject to attack by German air, U-boat and surface forces and suffered the loss of five ships, plus one escor ...

in March 1942, she and other escorts were in combat with German

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s. She hit and damaged the and then launched a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

attack. One of her torpedoes had a fault, possibly affected by the icy waters and sub zero conditions common in the Atlantic en route to Russia; causing the torpedo to limp across the water at a speed far below the 46 knots expected, the reduced speed causing the torpedo to strike ''Trinidad'' as she performed evasive zigzags in its path, killing 32 men. Survivors included Lieutenant Commander Williams as well as composer George Lloyd, a Royal Marines bandsman who had earlier written the ship's official march. This was performed at the

Last Night of the Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

on 7 September 2013, in the presence of the last surviving crewman from ''Trinidad''. ''Trinidad'' was towed clear of the action, and was then able to proceed under her own power towards

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

. The attempted to engage and sink the damaged cruiser, but was spotted and attacked by the destroyer . On arrival in Murmansk, ''Trinidad'' underwent partial repairs. She set out to return home on 13 May 1942, escorted by the destroyers , , and . Other ships of the Home Fleet were providing a covering force nearby. Her speed was reduced to owing to the damage she had sustained. En route, she was attacked by more than twenty

Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one of ...

bombers on 14 May 1942. All attacks missed, except for one bomb that struck near the previous damage, starting a serious fire. Sixty-three men were lost, including twenty survivors from the cruiser , which had been sunk two weeks earlier. The decision was taken to scuttle her and on 15 May 1942 she was torpedoed by ''Matchless'' and sank in the Arctic Ocean, north of North Cape. Four Czechoslovak airmen en route to Great Britain – Sergeant Vratislav Laštovička, Corporals Jan Ferák, Josef Návesník and Bohuslav Zikmund – were killed and three other airmen rescued.

References

Bibliography

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External links

WWII cruisersIWM Interview with survivor Wallace Hughes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad (C46) Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1941 ships World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom Cruisers sunk by aircraft Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Maritime incidents in May 1942 Ships sunk by German aircraft

Early career

Loss

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links