HMS Penelope (97)

HMS "Penelope" (97) was an "Arethusa"-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland), with the keel being laid down on 30 May 1934. She was launched on 15 October 1935, and commissioned 13 November 1936.

At one stage, while with Force "K", she was holed so many times by bomb fragments that she acquired the nickname "HMS "Pepperpot".

History

At the outbreak of World War II she was with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean, having arrived at Malta on 2 September 1939.

Home Fleet

"Penelope" (with her sister ship "Arethusa") was reallocated to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in the Home Fleet and arrived at Portsmouth on 11 January 1940. On 3 February she left for the River Clyde en route to Rosyth. She arrived at Rosyth on 7 February, and operated with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron on convoy escort duties, and in April and May 1940, she took part in the Norwegian operations.

On 11 April "Penelope" ran aground off Fleinver while hunting German merchant ships entering the West Fjords. Her boiler room was flooded and she was holed forward. The destroyer "Eskimo" towed her to Skjel Fjord where an advanced base had been improvised. Despite air attacks, temporary repairs were made and she was towed home a month later. She arrived at Greenock on 16 May 1940 where additional temporary repairs were carried out, before proceeding on 19 August to the Tyne for permanent repairs.

After repairs and trials were completed in August 1941, "Penelope" reappeared 'a new ship from the water line down'. She returned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow on 17 August 1941. On 9 September she left Greenock escorting "Duke of York" to Rosyth, and later that month, she was employed in patrolling the Iceland - Faroes passage to intercept enemy surface ships.

On 6 October 1941, "Penelope" left Hvalfjord, Iceland, with "King George V", escorting the aircraft carrier "Victorious" for the successful Operation "E.J.", an air attack on enemy shipping between Glom Fjord and the head of West Fjord, Norway. The force returned to Scapa Flow on 10 October 1941.

Force "K"

"Penelope" and her sister "Aurora" were then assigned to form the core of Force "K" based at Malta, and departed Scapa on 12 October 1941, arriving in Malta on 21 October. On 8 November, both cruisers and their escorting destroyers departed Malta to intercept an Italian convoy of six destroyers and seven merchant ships sailing for Libya, which had been sighted by aircraft at 37°53'N - 16°36'E. During the ensuing Battle of the Duisburg Convoy on 9 November off Cape Spartivento, one enemy destroyer ("Fulmine") and all of the merchant ships were sunk.

On 23 November, Force "K" again sailed from Malta to intercept another enemy convoy, resulting in the sinking of two more merchant ships on the 24th west of Crete. Force "K" received the Prime Minister's congratulations on their fine work. On 1 December 1941, Force "K" scored further successes with the sinking of the Italian M/V "Adriatico", at 32°52'N - 2°30'E, as well as the destroyer "Alvise da Mosto" and the tanker "Iridio Mantovani" at 33°45'N - 12°30'E. On 3 December, they were congratulated by the First Sea Lord.

On 19 December "Penelope", while operating off Tripoli, struck a mine but was not seriously damaged and arrived later that day in Malta. She was sent into the dockyard for repairs and returned to service at the beginning of January 1942. On 5 January 1942, "Penelope" left Malta with Force "K" escorting the Special Service Vessel "Glengyle" to Alexandria (Operation 'ME9'), returning on the 27th, escorting the supply ship "Breconshire".

On 13 February 1942, she again left Malta with the "Breconshire" and an eastbound convoy aided by six destroyers, Operation 'MG5', returning to Malta on the 15th, with the destroyers HMS "Lance" and "Legion". On 23 March, she left Malta with "Legion" for Operation 'MG1', a further convoy to Malta, which met with heavy enemy opposition both on the surface and in the air. The "Breconshire" was hit and taken in tow by "Penelope" and was later safely secured to a buoy in Marsaxlokk harbour, the whole operation was taken charge by "Penelope's" commanding officer Captain A.D. Nicholl, of whose fine work the N.O.I.C., Malta expressed appreciation.

On 26 March, "Penelope" was holed both forward and aft by near-misses during air attacks on Malta. She was docked and repaired at the Malta Dry Docks where shrapnel holes where plugged with wood earning her the nickname "pepperpot" and sailed for Gibraltar on 8 April. On the 9th, she was repeatedly attacked from the air and arrived in Gibraltar on 10 April, with further damage from near-misses. Later that day she received a signal from Vice Admiral, Malta: "True to your usual form. Congratulations".

Repairs and awards

The damage was extensive and would require several months at home, after temporary repairs in Gibraltar. On 11 April, "Penelope" was visited by H.R.H the Duke of Gloucester, who had originally laid down her keel plate. H.R.H. also visited Capt. Nicholl in hospital. The First Sea Lord congratulated the ship on her successful arrival in Gibraltar.

Meanwhile, the question of "Penelope"'s repairs had been reconsidered, and it was decided to send her instead to the United States. She accordingly left Gibraltar on 10 May 1942, for the Navy Yard at New York via Bermuda, arriving on the 19th. She was under repair until September and arrived in Norfolk, Virginia on 15 September, proceeding again via Bermuda to Portsmouth, England, which she reached on 1 October 1942.

The King, at an investiture at Buckingham Palace, decorated twenty-one officers and men from "Penelope" as "Heroes of Malta". Among their awards were 2 Distinguished Service Orders, a Distinguished Service Cross and 2 Distinguished Service Medals.

Western Mediterranean

"Penelope" arrived at Scapa Flow on 2 December and remained in home waters until the middle of January 1943. She left the Clyde on the 17th for Gibraltar, where she arrived on the 22nd. She had been allocated to the 12th Cruiser Squadron, in which she operated with the Western Mediterranean Fleet under the flag of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham during the follow up of Operation "Torch", the landings in North Africa.

On 1 June 1943, "Penelope" and the destroyers "Paladin" and "Petard" carried out a bombardment of the Italian island of Pantelleria. The force received enemy gunfire and "Penelope" was hit once, but suffered little damage. On 8 June 1943, with "Newfoundland" and other ships she took part in a further heavy bombardment of the island. A demand for its surrender was refused. The same force left Malta on the 10 June, to cover the assault (Operation "Corkscrew"), which resulted in the final surrender of the island on 11 June 1943. On the 11th and 12th June, "Penelope" also took part in the bombardment and assault on the island of Lampedusa which fell to the British forces on 12 June 1943.

On 10 July 1943, with "Aurora" and two destroyers, "Penelope" carried out a diversionary bombardment of Catania as part of the conquest of Sicily, (Operation "Husky"). The flotilla then moved to Taormina where the railway station was bombarded. On 11 July, "Penelope" left Malta with the 12th Cruiser Squadron as part of Force "H" to provide cover for the northern flank of the assault on Sicily. During the remainder of July and August, she took part in various other bombardments and sweeps during the campaign for Sicily.

Force "Q"

On 9 September 1943, "Penelope" was part of Force "Q" for Operation "Avalanche", the allied landings at Salerno, Italy, during which she augmented the bombardment force.

"Penelope" left the Salerno area on 26 September with "Aurora" and at the beginning of October she was transferred to the Levant in view of a possible attack on the island of Kos in the Dodecanese. On 7 October, with "Sirius" and other ships she sank six enemy landing craft, one ammunition ship and an armed trawler off Stampalia. Although damaged by a bomb, she was able to return to Alexandria at 22 knots.

On 19 November 1943, "Penelope" moved to Haifa in connection with possible developments in the Lebanon situation. Towards the end of December, she was ordered to Gibraltar for Operation "Stonewall", anti-blockade-runner duties in the Atlantic. On 27 December, the forces in this operation destroyed the German blockade-runner "Alsterufer" which was sunk by aircraft co-operating with Royal Navy ships, and on 30 November "Penelope" returned to Gibraltar.

On 22 January 1944, she took part in Operation "Shingle", the amphibious assault on Anzio, Italy, providing gunfire support as part of Force "X" with the USS "Brooklyn". She also joined in the bombardments in the Formia area during the later operations. On 8 February 1944 she made no less than eight shoots during the day.

Sinking of "Penelope"

On 18 February 1944, "Penelope" (Capt. G.D. Belben, DSO, DSC, AM, RN) was leaving Naples to return to Anzio area when she was torpedoed at coord|40.55|N|13.25|E| by the German submarine U-410. A torpedo struck her in the after engine room and was followed sixteen minutes later by another torpedo which hit in the after boiler room, causing her immediate sinking. 415 of the crew, including the captain, went down with the ship. There were 206 survivors.

The remarkable point of the attack by U-410 was that the cruiser was making 26 knots when hit. As far as can be ascertained, this is a unique case. In the history of submarine attacks during WWII, no other ship running at such speed was ever successfully attacked.

CS Forester's novel "The Ship"

In May 1943 the well-known writer CS Forester published his novel "The Ship". Unlike his more well-known Horatio Hornblower series of sea stories taking place in a far-off the historical setting (the Napoleonic Wars), this was set in the Mediterranean during the actual war going on in the time of writing, and was quite openly intended as a tribute to the Royal Navy, engaged at the time in some of the hardest fighting of the war.

The book follows the life of a Royal Navy light cruiser for a single action, in which it successfully contends with superior Italian forces, and including a detailed analysis of many of the men on board and the contribution they made. The author dedicated the book "with the deepest respect to the officers and crew of HMS Penelope", whom he evidently met while researching for the book and from whom he got generous help and assistance.

The action described is based on the First Battle of Sirte. The actions ascribed in the book to the fictional HMS "Artemis" are not precisely those of the actual "Penelope", but are clearly modeled on them.

At the time of writing and publication, the "Penelope" was still afloat, and her ultimate fate yet unknown.

References

*
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4007.html HMS Penelope at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.naval-history.net/WW2CampaignsRNMed2.htm British Navy in the Mediterranean, including Malta Convoys, Part 2 of 4, 1941-42]
* [http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3 HMS Penelope - WW2 Cruisers]