HMS Liverpool (C11)

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Liverpool underway on 28 February 1942
Career (United Kingdom)
Class and type:	Town-class light cruiser
Name:	HMS Liverpool
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
Laid down:	17 February 1936
Launched:	24 March 1937
Commissioned:	2 November 1938
Decommissioned:	1952
Fate:	Sold for scrap July 1958
General characteristics (original configuration)
Displacement:	9,400 tons (standard)[1] 11,930 tons full load
Length:	591.5 ft (180.3 m)[1]
Beam:	62.3 ft (19.0 m)[1]
Draught:	20.6 ft (6.3 m)
Propulsion:	Four-shaft Parsons geared turbines Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 82,500 shp (61.5 MW)
Speed:	32 kn (59 km/h)
Complement:	750
Armament:	12 x BL 6 in (150 mm) Mk XXII guns in triple turrets (one aft turret later removed)[2] 8 x QF 4 in (100 mm) Mk XVI guns in twin turrets[3] 8 x QF 40 mm (1.6 in) Mk VIII guns in quad mountings[4] 8 x 0.5 in (13 mm) Vickers machine guns 6 x 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (later removed)
Aircraft carried:	Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Removed in the latter part of WWII)
Motto:	Deus nobis haec otia fecit[5]
Honours and awards:	Mediterranean 1940, Calabria 1940, Arctic 1942, Malta Convoys 1942
Notes:	Pennant number C11

HMS Liverpool (C11) was a Town class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy in service from 1938 to 1952. Named after the port city of Liverpool in north west England, she served in the Second World War and with the Mediterranean Fleet from 1945 until her decommission.

During the Second World War, the cruiser operated variously with the naval stations in the East Indies and China and with the Mediterranean and Home fleets. Seriously damaged in two attacks by torpedo bombers, Liverpool gained four battle honours for her service. An aerial attack in 1943 proved to be the ship's final combat experience of the war. For its duration, Liverpool underwent repairs and refitting at Rosyth, Scotland. She returned to service in 1945, decommissioned in 1952, and dismantled for scrap in 1958 after six-years of reserve status.

[edit] History

[edit] East Indies and China stations

Procured as a direct counter to the American Brooklyn and Japanese Mogami classes, the Towns consisted of three variants for a total of 10 ships.^[6] Liverpool was one of the three Town cruisers — the others being Gloucester and Manchester — ordered to a slightly revised design referred to variously as the Gloucester,^[7] Type II, or Liverpool sub-class.^[8] When first ordered in the mid-1930s, the original Town class cruisers Newcastle and Southampton were to have been called Minotaur and Polyphemus on commission.^[9][10]

She was laid down at Govan on 17 February 1936 and launched on 24 March 1937 by the wife of the Governor of the Bank of England. Commissioned on 2 November 1938,^[5] Liverpool was assigned to the East Indies Station under the command of Captain A.D. Read.^[11] Before her departure, Liverpool visited her namesake port in January 1939. The Liverpool Woman’s Service Bureau presented the cruiser with a Union flag and White Ensign while the Corporation gave the crew "three pairs of candlesticks, a silver cup, and two bugles". She had already received a silver bell and plate originally in the possession of her predecessor.^[11]

Part of the 5th Cruiser Squadron, Liverpool began to operate in a combat capacity in September monitoring the Persian Gulf for potential enemy activity.^[5] Liverpool transferred to the China Station in November and became involved in a diplomatic incident when she intercepted the Japanese passenger liner Asama Maru on 21 January 1940.^[5] Alerted to reports that German sailors in the United States were preparing to arrange transport to Germany, the British Government had authorised the Commander-in-Chief of the China Station to direct a warship to board the Asama Maru and detain 21 suspected passengers provided the procedure did not occur within sight of the coast of Japan. Just 35 miles (56 km) from the coast of Niijima, Japan, Liverpool located the liner and removed 21 of the ship's passengers believed to be survivors of the scuttled German liner Columbus.^[12] The Government of Japan condemned it as an abuse of belligerent rights and formally protested the action, which further escalated tensions between the two countries.^[12]

Liverpool rejoined the East Indies Station in April,^[5] and became flagship of Rear-Admiral Arthur Murray's Red Sea Force.^[13] Alongside HMAS Hobart, Liverpool operated off the coast of Italian-occupied Somaliland just before the beginning of the East African Campaign, and later escorted a convoy transporting contingents from the Australian and New Zealand militaries.^[5] Redeployment to the Mediterranean was ordered in June, upon which Liverpool relinquished her status as flagship with the transfer of Admiral Murray to the New Zealand cruiser Leander.^[13]

[edit] 1940-1945

In her first month assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, Liverpool engaged Italian warships on two separate occasions.^[5] She first encountered Italian vessels off the coast of Libya on 12 June. Liverpool and Gloucester were in the process of shelling positions near Tobruk when they attacked multiple Italian craft and sank the minesweeper Giovanni Berta.^[5] On the 28th, a British Short Sunderland patrol aircraft detected three Italian destroyers west of Zante.^[14] The 7th Cruiser Squadron — comprising Gloucester, Neptune, Orion, Liverpool and HMAS Sydney — was on deployment in support of an Allied convoy when it altered course to locate and engage the destroyers; these were sighted 60 miles (97 km) south-west of Cape Matapan by Liverpool.^[14]The ensuing action, carried out at a minimum range of over 14,000 yards (13,000 m), became known as the Battle of the Espero Convoy and resulted in the destruction of the Italian Espero. Ammunition had been rapidly depleted and by the close of the action Liverpool had almost expended the contents of her shellrooms, reporting that each gun had 40 shells remaining.^[14][15] The Admiralty was later critical of the squadron's expenditure of over 5,000 rounds, which Admiral Andrew Cuningham, C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet, attributed to the squadron's inexperience and his belief of the necessity to confront the Italian warships before nightfall.^[14][15]

In July, Liverpool was involved in the Battle of Calabria and targeted by Italian aircraft while at sea in support of Allied convoys. Two attacks resulted in direct hits, causing minor damage and one fatality.^[5] When the Mediterranean Light Forces restructured in August, Liverpool switched to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and grouped with Gloucester and Kent under command of Rear-Admiral Edward de Faye Renouf.^[16] She continued to provide cover for convoys in the Mediterranean and undertook other duties, such as escorting Illustrious when the aircraft carrier entered the eastern theatre of operations in September.^[5] On the 28th, as part of Operation MB.5, Liverpool and Gloucester proceeded to Malta transporting 1,200 reinforcements, airmen, and RAF provisions.^[17] The cruisers — briefly protected from the 29th by a force consisting of the battleships Valiant and Warspite, Illustrious with her aircraft, cruisers Orion, Sydney, and York, and 11 destroyers — came under repeated aerial attack.^[17][18] Both cruisers later detached from the naval force and reached the island on the 30th.

While supporting operations against the island of Leros on 14 October, Italian torpedo-bombers attacked Liverpool setting the cruiser's petrol tank alight. An explosion in the warship's magazine followed which seriously compromised Liverpool's bow structure and inflicted damage to "A" turret.^[5][19] While under stern tow by Orion the next day, Liverpool's bow severed from the hull. She arrived at the port of Alexandria on the 16th and would not return to a state of sea worthiness until March 1941.^[5] Once able to embark on a prolonged voyage, Liverpool proceeded to the United States, via the Indian and Pacific Oceans, to have her bow reconstructed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. The ship's presence was not disclosed until September when the US Navy Department released a list identifying 12 ships situated in various ports.^[20] She departed the United States and returned to Britain in December principally to complete the refit of her radar systems.^[5]

After returning to active service, Liverpool became subordinate to the 18th Cruiser Squadron. Between March and May, she performed routine duties in the North Western Approaches and deployed in support of three Arctic convoys.^[5] The cruiser rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in June and subsequently participated in the Malta Convoys. Severe damage was sustained during Operation Harpoon when her starboard side was struck by an aerial torpedo on 14 June. Casualties were reported in the ship's log as being 15 killed and 22 wounded.^[21] Reduced to 4 knots (7.4 km/h) and partially flooded, Liverpool was towed to a naval base at Gibraltar by Antelope, later replaced by the tug Salvonia, for initial repairs. Italian torpedo-bombers had continued to attack the two cruisers into the 15th without a hit on either being recorded.^[21] The warship returned to Britain in August for permanent repair.^[5] Liverpool was maintained at Rosyth for two-years and consequently made unavailable for the duration of the war. She was not assigned sufficient personnel until 1945 as other ships had priority over the cruiser for the allocation of manpower.^[5]

[edit] Post-war

Refitted with upgraded radar equipment and additional anti-aircraft weaponry in place of "X" turret, Liverpool returned to service in October 1945 to join the 15th Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.^[5] In her first year, Liverpool relieved Arethusa as guardship at Trieste and visited the Soviet port of Sevastopol.^[22][23] The cruiser transported Olympic torches and related items in April 1948 in preparation for the ceremonial prelude to the Olympic Games in London.^[24]

Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor, First Sea Lord, being piped on board Liverpool at Valleta, Malta in 1952. The cruiser was serving as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet.

While docked in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt on 22 January 1950, Liverpool entertained King Farouk. Given a 21-gun salute by the cruiser, Farouk was met by Lord Mountbatten and the Ambassador to Egypt. The king later expressed his "pleasure at the visit and at renewing my acquaintance with the Royal Navy."^[25] In September 1951, Liverpool became the first British warship to visit Yugoslavia since the beginning of the war and was inspected by the country's leader Marshal Tito in the city of Split.^[26] Following the abrogation of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in October 1951, the Royal Navy dispatched vessels to Port Said where dock workers had declared a strike in protest at the British administration of the Suez Canal Zone. The cruisers Gambia and Liverpool consecutively assumed responsibility for dock operations, supplied men to replace unavailable workers and guarded against guerilla attacks on facilities.^[27]

Upon decommission in 1952, Liverpool entered the reserve at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. Gradual rationalisation of the Royal Navy began in earnest in the 1950s and the reserve fleet abolished by Duncan Sandys' 1957 Defence White Paper. With the complete withdrawal from service of wartime cruisers by the 1960s, the roles of Liverpool and her contemporaries were effectively superseded by the County class guided missile destroyers and the three missile cruisers of the Tiger class.^[28] Liverpool was sold in 1958 for breaking up at Bo'Ness, Scotland.^[1]

[edit] Notes

[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. 
• Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004), Service History of Royal Navy warships in World War 2: HMS Liverpool - Town-type Light Cruiser, naval-history.net. Accessed 31 March 2008
• Titterton, G.A. (2002), The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean, Routledge ISBN 0714651796

[edit] External links

• Helgason Helgason (2008), HMS Liverpool (11), uboat.net. Accessed 3 April 2008.
• HMS Liverpool (C11), world-war.co.uk. Accessed 3 April 2008.
• HMS Liverpool: History, royal-navy.mod.uk. Accessed 3 April 2008.