Latest revision as of 21:16, 23 January 2025

HMS Orion

HMS Orion was a Leander-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy. She spent much of WW2 in the Mediterranean and is notable for receiving 13 battle honours, a total matched by two other ships and only exceeded by Warspite.

Construction

Orion was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 26 September 1931 and launched on 24 November 1932. She was commissioned on 18 January 1934, the sixth ship to carry the name, dating back to 1787. In November 1941, she was officially adopted by the city of Nottingham after a Warship Week saving campaign.

Pre-WW2

After commissioning, she initially served with the Home Fleet until she was assigned to the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the North American and West Indies Station. She arrived in Bermuda on 3rd September 1937.

Soon after arriving in the Caribbean, on 21st September, Orion was ordered to meet with the US Navy training ship USS Annapolis, four hundred miles from Bermuda. One of the crew of Annapolis required an urgent operation, and she would not have been able to reach Bermuda in time. Orion and Annapolis rendezvoused on 22nd September and transferred the patient. Orion arrived back in Bermuda in the early hours of 23rd September, and delivered the US sailor to the Royal Naval Hospital in Bermuda. Orion briefly served as the flagship of the West Indies Station when the previous flagship HMS York was dispatched to Trinidad to deal with civil unrest.

WW2

At the outbreak of war in September 1939, Orion was still on the West Indies station with the 8th Cruiser Squadron. With the other ships of the squadron, HM Ships Berwick, York, and Perth (Australian). The other ships of the squadron were soon dispersed to convoy protection duties, but Orion remained on station to search for German blockade runners.

On 23 October 1939, Orion sighted an unknown ship; this turned out to be the German tanker Emmy Friedrich, which had departed Mexico. Following the sighting report, HM Ships Caradoc and Despatch intercepted the German vessel, which was scuttled by her crew.

On 19 December 1939, Orion intercepted the German ship Arauca off the Florida coast. The freighter managed to avoid being boarded by escaping further into US territorial waters. She docked at Port Everglade, where she was interned, and was later seized by the US Navy and converted into a stores ship, serving as USS Saturn.

In February 1940 she was nominated to return the ashes of John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada back to the UK. En route she was also assigned to the escort of the troopship SS Duchess of Bedford. In the UK, she underwent a refit at Devonport before returning to the West Indies in March 1940.

The Mediterranean

In May 1940, with the threat of Italian intervention in the war, Orion arrived at Alexandria to join the 7th Cruiser Squadron where she joined HM Cruisers Neptune, Liverpool, Gloucester, and Sydney (RAN). She served as the flagship of John Tovey, commander of the light forces of the Mediterranean Fleet and Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet.

She took part in the bombardment of Bardia with Neptune, Sydney and the French battleship Lorraine on 21 June 1940. This was the last joint operation between the Royal Navy and the French ships based at Alexandria before the French surrender the next day.

On 9 July she took part in the inconclusive Battle of Calabria. The Royal Navy and Regia Marina fleets clashed when both sides were escorting convoys; the British fleet was protecting a convoy to Malta whilst the Italians were covering reinforcements heading to Libya. Although neither side suffered any losses during the battle, the destroyer Leone Pancaldo was sunk in shallow water the next morning by Swordfish aircraft. She was refloated and returned to service in 1941. The Italian convoy safely reached Libya while the British convoy returned to Alexandria. For the remainder of 1940 she escorted convoys and transported troops to Greece after the Italian invasion of that country. She also towed HMS Liverpool from near Crete back to Alexandria after Liverpool was heavily damaged by air attack.

Operations in support of Greece continued into early 1941. In March she took part in the Battle of Matapan after ULTRA intercepts indicated that the Italian fleet was attempting to intercept Allied shipping in the area. During the battle Orion was deployed with Gloucester, Ajax, and Perth; the cruisers attempted to draw the Italian cruisers towards the British battleships. Orion detected the crippled Italian cruiser Pola later that night, leading to the short ranged night battle which caused the sinking of three Italian cruisers and two destroyers.

Crete

As the Battle of Crete was lost, Orion was part of the Royal Navy forces that attempted to evacuate Allied soldiers from the island. Shortly after sunrise on 29th May she was heavily damaged by air attack, Orion’s commanding officer, Captain G. R. B. Back was fatally injured early in the attack. Soon after this, a bomb landed directly on “A” turret, the roof was blown upwards which also bent the guns of “B” turret, rendering both turrets inoperable. A second attack arrived an hour later, and Orion was hit again. This time a bomb passed through the bridge, it penetrated through several decks into the empty 4-inch magazine where it exploded. The magazine was located below the stoker’s mess which was packed with soldiers and the resulting explosion caused heavy casualties. Although she didn’t sink, she was badly damaged and temporarily out of control. Orion was on fire, her steering was disabled, her compass and engine room telegraph were destroyed, one of her boiler rooms was knocked out and the other was temporarily evacuated, she had developed a list, and with one shaft still turning she was heading back towards Crete. Luckily no further attacks developed, and Orion’s crew were able to regain control. One of her boiler rooms was brought back into action and Orion was able to get underway at 12 knots. Steering was moved to the aft control position and chains of sailors and soldiers were used to relay commands around the ship. Orion eventually limped into Alexandria at 2000 that evening with two rounds of main battery ammunition, no anti-aircraft ammunition, and with her fuel tanks down to just 10 tons remaining.

Casualties from the attacks totalled 262 dead and approximately 300 wounded. Orion lost 111 crew, including her captain and three of her five engineering officers. 150 soldiers were killed, recovering the dead took almost weeks with identification almost impossible. There had not been time for proper logging of personnel who had boarded at Crete.

Temporary repairs took until 29 June, after which Orion was dispatched to Simonstown in South Africa. Further repairs were conducted in South Africa, lasting until 3 August and allowing Orion to head to the USA for full repairs. She travelled through the Caribbean and the Panama Canal to reach the Pacific, where, despite her condition she briefly hunted for the commerce raider Komet around the Galapagos Islands.

Orion arrived at San Francisco on the evening of 4th September 1941, and entered the port in secret under cover of darkness. She was repaired under the Lend-Lease agreement with the USA which allowed for Royal navy warships to be repaired in US shipyards. She was the 61st RN warship to be repaired in a US yard. After her battle damage was repaired, Orion left Mare Island in February 1942, returning to the UK and a further refit at HMNB Devonport where she was fitted with the latest radar.

Return to the Mediterranean

Following a brief period with the Home Fleet in the North West Approaches, Orion was again nominated for service in the Mediterranean with the 15th Cruiser Squadron. She departed from Scapa Flow on 17th July 1942 as part of the escort for convoy WS21P. After sailing round the Cape of Good Hope and up through the Indian Ocean, she arrived at Alexandria in October 1942.

In November 1942 she was involved in Operation Stoneage when she was part of the escort for convoy MW13. Four merchant ships, supported by five cruisers, seven fleet destroyers, and ten destroyer escorts were dispatched to Malta. The merchant ships safely arrived in Malta, although HMS Arethusa was torpedoed and badly damaged during the fighting. As a result of Operation Stoneage and the subsequent Operation Portcullis in December, the siege of Malta was effectively lifted.

In May 1943, Orion was nominated for support of Operation Corkscrew, the planned bombardment and invasion of Pantelleria prior to the invasion of Sicily as the radar installations and airfield on the island were seen as a threat to the invasion forces. The Italian garrison on the island was 12,000 strong in well-entrenched positions and 21 gun batteries. The operation was also seen as an opportunity to assess the impact of bombardment upon fortifications.

Starting in late May, the island was subjected to steadily increasing bombing attacks. On 8 June, a Royal Navy task force of five cruisers, eight destroyers and three torpedo boats carried out a bombardment of the main port on the island. Demands for the garrison to surrender went unanswered and on 11 June, the amphibious assault went ahead. Unknown to the attackers, the commander of the garrison had sought permission to surrender from Rome the previous evening and received it that morning. When the first of the British Commandos landed, the Italians had already surrendered and the landing was unopposed.

In July Orion was part of the naval force covering Operation Husky, the Allied landings on Sicily. She was assigned to Support Force East, providing naval gunfire support to the British landings at the Bark beachhead in the South-East corner of the island. For the invasion of the Italian mainland Orion was part of the naval force assigned to support the landing of British XIII Corps. With the Allied forces successfully ashore she returned to the UK for repair, arriving in October 1943 and returning to the Mediterranean on completion of the work.

Her return saw her assigned to 15th Cruiser Squadron based at the former Italian naval base at Taranto. In January 1944 Orion was nominated for support of planned allied landings at Anzio and took passage to Naples in preparation. The next months saw her deployed in rotation with other Royal Navy and US Navy cruisers for naval gunfire support at Anzio. As one ship left the area it would be replaced by another ship returning from Naples, ensuring that heavy gunfire would be available for the Allied beachhead at Anzio.

Overlord & Dragoon

Orion's time off Anzio came to an end in April 1944 when she transferred to the Home Fleet in preparation for the planned Normandy landings. She arrived in late April and spent much of May in training exercises ahead of D-Day. On D-Day Orion was part of Force K, assigned to the British Gold Beach where she fired the first salvo of the naval bombardment.

In July she returned to the familiar surroundings of the Mediterranean as support of allied landings in south of France. Orion was flagship of Gunfire Support Group (Task Force 84) with Alpha Attack Force in the St. Tropez area. After her release from duties in support of Dragoon, Orion was deployed to the Royal Navy's Aegean force to cover occupation of Aegean Islands and Greek mainland. She spent the rest of the war supporting operations in Greece before a return to Naples and further support of Allied forces on the Italian Riviera. Notable, whilst under repair in Malta, Churchill and Roosevelt met on board Orion ahead of the Yalta conference with Stalin.

Post WW2

After the war, Orion remained with 15th Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet until June 1946. In May 1946 Orion was part of a Royal Navy force which was fired on by Albanian shore fortifications. This was the first of three separate events involving Royal Navy ships which were known as the Corfu Channel Incident. The events led to the Corfu Channel case, where the United Kingdom brought a case against the People's Republic of Albania to the International Court of Justice. Orion returned to the UK following the Corfu Incident arriving at Devonport on 5th July where she paid off and was reduced to Reserve status. The ship never re-commissioned and in June 1948 she was used for trials during underwater explosion experiments in Loch Striven. After the experiments were completed she was placed on the Disposal List and sold to BISCO for demolition by West of Scotland Shipbreakers on 19th July 1949.

Including Battle Honours inherited from previous ships, HMS Orion was entitled to the following honours:

FIRST OF JUNE 1794 - GROIX 1795 - ST VINCENT 1797 - NILE 1798 - TRAFALGAR 1805 - BALTIC 1807 - BALTIC 1854-55 - ALEXANDRIA 1882 - JUTLAND 1916 - ATLANTIC 1939 - CALABRIA 1940 - MEDITERRANEAN 1940-44 - MATAPAN 1941 - GREECE 1941 - CRETE 1941 - MALTA CONVOYS 1941 - SICILY 1943 - SALERNO 1943 - ANZIO 1944 - AEGEAN 1944 - NORMANDY 1944 - SOUTH FRANCE 1944