HMS Orion (85)

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Career (UK)
Class and type:	Leander-class light cruiser
Name:	HMS Orion
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard/Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	26 September 1931
Launched:	24 November 1932
Commissioned:	18 January 1934
Decommissioned:	1947
Fate:	Sold for scrap 19 July 1949
General characteristics
Displacement:	7,270 tons standard 9,740 tons full load
Length:	554.9 ft (169.1 m)
Beam:	56 ft (17 m)
Draught:	19.1 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Four Parsons geared steam turbines Six Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers Four shafts 72,000 shp
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	5,730 nm at 13 knots
Complement:	peacetime 550 wartime 680
Sensors and processing systems:	type 284/286 air search radar type 273/271 surface search type 285 6 inch (152 mm) fire control type 282 40 mm fire control
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 × 6 in guns 4 × 4 in guns 12 × 0.5 in machine guns 8 × 21 in torpedo tubes In 1945: 8 × 6 in (152 mm) 8 × 4 in (102 mm) 16 × 40 mm 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (quadruple mounts)
Armour:	4 in (102 mm) main belt 2.5 in (64 mm) ends 1.25 to 2 in (32 to 51 mm) deck 1 in (25 mm) turrets
Aircraft carried:	One catapult-launched aircraft Original type was a Fairey Seafox catpult and aircraft later replaced with Supermarine Walrus
Notes:	Pennant number 85

HMS Orion was a Leander class light cruiser which served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II. She won 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others.

[edit] History

She was built by Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, U.K), Vickers-Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK).

Flashes from the 6 inch guns of HMS Orion can be seen against the darkness during a nightime bombardment of enemy positions on the Garigliano River

HMS Orion was commissioned on 18 January 1934, for service with the Home Fleet but she was transferred to the American and West Indian Station in 1937 where she was with the 8th Cruiser Squadron. The cruiser conveyed the ashes of Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, back to England in February 1940.

In June 1940 she was transferred to the Mediterranean. She was with the 7th Cruiser Squadron as Flagship. She took part in the bombardment of Bardia, and the Battle of Calabria in July 1940. During the rest of 1940 she escorted Malta convoys and transported troops to Greece. In the early part of 1941 she was in the Crete and Aegean areas and was also at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941.

On 29 May 1941, during the evacuation of Crete, she was badly damaged after being bombed. Many of her crew lost their lives. She was taken to Simonstown, South Africa where she had temporary repairs and was then sent to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the USA for major repairs.

Orion returned to the Mediterranean in 1943. This time she was with the 15th Cruiser Squadron. She was involved in the invasion of Sicily. Orion spent the rest of the war around the Mediterranean. She also took part in the Normandy Landings in June 1944.

HMS Orion ended service in 1947, was sold for scrap to Arnott Young (Dalmuir, Scotland) on 19 July 1949 and was scrapped in August 1949.

[edit] Battle Honours

• Atlantic 1939;
• Calabria 1940, Mediterranean 1940-43-44;
• Malta Convoys 1941, Matapan 1941, Greece 1941, Crete 1941;
• Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943;
• Aegean 1944, Anzio 1944, Normandy 1944, South France 1944.

Only Jervis and Nubian, who served in the Mediterranean with Orion matched this record; it was exceeded by Warspite, the Mediterranean Fleet flagship, which saw service in both World Wars.

[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. 
• HMS Orion at Uboat.net

[edit] See also

• List of World War II ships