HMS Uganda (66)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
| |
| Name: | Uganda |
| Ordered: | 1939 |
| Builder: | Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Laid down: | 20 July 1939 |
| Launched: | 7 August 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 3 January 1943 |
| Out of service: | Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy on 21 October 1944 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: 66 |
| Honours and awards: | Atlantic 1943, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943, Mediterranean 1943[1] |
| Canada
| |
| Name: | Uganda |
| Acquired: | 21 October 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 21 October 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 August 1947 |
| Honours and awards: | Okinawa 1945 |
| Renamed: | HMCS Quebec 14 January 1952 |
| Recommissioned: | 14 January 1952 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 June 1956 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: C66 |
| Motto: | Nos canons parleront (Our cannons shall speak)[2] |
| Fate: | Arrived at Osaka, Japan, on 6 February 1961 for scrapping |
| Badge: | Or, a maple leaf vert charged with a fleur-de-lis of the first[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Crown Colony-class light cruiser |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 169.3 m (555 ft 5 in) |
| Beam: | 18.9 m (62 ft 0 in) |
| Draught: | 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 33 kn (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
| Range: | 10,200 nmi (18,900 km; 11,700 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: |
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| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
| Aircraft carried: | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft, removed November 1943. |
HMS Uganda, was a Second World War-era Crown Colony-class light cruiser launched in 1941. She served in the Royal Navy during 1943 and 1944, including operations in the Mediterranean, and was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Uganda in October 1944. She served in the Pacific theatre in 1945 and was put into reserve in 1947. When she was reactivated for the Korean War in 1952 she was renamed HMCS Quebec. She was decommissioned for the last time in 1956 and scrapped in Japan in 1961.
Construction and career
HMS Uganda was one of the Ceylon sub-class (the second group of three ships built in 1939) of the Crown Colony-class cruisers, and built by Vickers-Armstrong at their Walker yard. She was launched on 7 August 1941 and commissioned on 3 January 1943.
Home Fleet operations
In March 1943 after training at Scapa Flow, Uganda sailed as convoy escort to protect a Sierra Leone-bound convoy from the German Narvik-class destroyers operating out of the Bay of Biscay. After two such convoy duties, she was sent as escort for the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary carrying Winston Churchill and his staff to Washington. The journey was made at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and the ship sailed into Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland low on fuel. Upon return from that duty Uganda returned to Plymouth for a refit.
Mediterranean Fleet operations
With her refit completed, she was sent to the Mediterranean Sea as escort to one of the largest troop convoys of the war heading to Sicily.
Uganda was part of the bombardment fleet for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. She was then assigned to close support for major bombardments throughout Sicily. On the opening of Operation Avalanche, 9 September 1943, she was part of the fleet bombardment covering the invasion of Italy at Salerno.
While serving off Salerno at 1440 on 13 September 1943 she took a direct hit from a new German radio controlled 1.4 tonne glide bomb Fritz X. The Fritz X passed through seven decks and straight through her keel, exploding underwater just under the keel. The concussive shock of the Fritz X's underwater detonation close to Uganda's hull extinguished all her boiler fires, and resulted in sixteen men being killed, with Uganda taking on 1,300 tons of water. Damage control under Lieutenant Leslie Reed managed to get the ship moving with one engine. She was towed to Malta by USS Narragansett, where temporary repairs were made.
There being no dry dock available in the European Theatre that could handle the repairs, Uganda was sent to the US shipyard at Charleston, South Carolina. The heavily damaged ship, with only one of her four propellers working, proceeded across the Atlantic Ocean to Charleston, arriving on 27 November 1943.
During the repairs, Uganda had two hangars designed for carrying Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance aircraft removed. These hangars were used for radio and radar equipment as well as crew amenities.
Transfer to Canada
Whilst under repair the Canadian government negotiated with Britain to obtain Uganda for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).
The official transfer took place on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1944 and she was renamed HMCS Uganda, out of respect for the British colony.[3]
Uganda's first crew in RCN service was notable. The commanding officer was Captain Rollo Mainguy, OBE, who later became chief of the Naval Staff. The first officer (executive officer) was Commander Hugh Pullen, and other officers including Lieutenant Commanders Landymore and Littler were all eventually promoted to flag rank following the war. Lieutenant John Robarts, Aircraft Recognition Officer, went on to become Premier of Ontario. The other members of her crew of 907 comprised a carefully selected group; additional training on cruisers was provided through personnel exchanges with the RN. The first crew for Uganda was drawn from every province in Canada as well as the Dominion of Newfoundland. Eighty-seven percent were reservists (RCNVR and RCNR) while the balance were regular members of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Uganda's first assignment came shortly after her recommissioning. She was tasked to join the British Pacific Fleet's operational area south of Sakishima Gunto. She joined the 4th Cruiser Squadron and spent the rest of the month working up. The conditions for the crew were arduous since the ship had not been modified for tropical conditions, which would have provided better air circulation throughout the ship and more fresh water capacity.
Uganda left Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 31 October 1944 and steamed via the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Alexandria, Egypt, the Suez Canal, and on via Aden and Colombo, Ceylon, to the fleet base at Fremantle, Australia, where she arrived on 4 March 1945. As the flagship for the RCN, Uganda served in the Pacific War with the British Pacific Fleet joining the British Pacific Fleet at Sydney, Australia in February 1945.[3] Assigned to Task Force 57, British Pacific Fleet because her radar and aircraft identification capabilities were amongst the best in the fleet, owing to her 1944 refit in Charleston. On 10 April 1945, the strike against Sakishima was cancelled and the task force was ordered to attack Formosa instead. For three days Uganda and her Royal Navy counterparts attacked airfields on Formosa before being redirected back to Sakishima Gunto. The cruiser took part in the bombardment of the Japanese airbases on Sakishima Gunto. The islands were attacked between 15–20 April before the fleet was tasked to Leyte Gulf. During her time with Task Force 57, Uganda came under kamikaze attack.[4] She received battle honours for operations during the Battle of Okinawa and was involved in attacking Truk, Formosa and Sakishima Gunto.
At Leyte she joined the United States Third Fleet, under command of Admiral Raymond Spruance 300 nautical miles (560 km) east of Japan and became the only Royal Canadian Navy warship to fight in the Pacific Theatre against the Imperial Japanese Navy.
On 4 April 1945, the Canadian government changed the manning policy for all ships deploying to the Pacific theatre. All those heading to the Pacific would have to re-volunteer. Upon volunteering again, the serviceman would be eligible for 30 days leave in Canada before deployment.[4] Controversially this policy change was applied to those already there and Uganda's RCN crew were polled by the Canadian government on 7 May 1945 to determine whether they would volunteer for further duties in the Pacific War.[4][5] Widespread discontent had grown amongst the crew, due to poor living conditions and the lack of a Canadian identity for the ship and the result saw 605 of her crew of 907 refuse to volunteer.[5] The crew of Uganda felt that they had volunteered for "hostilities only", (i.e., hostilities against Nazi Germany) but now found themselves fighting a different enemy in a quite different part of the world.
The vote on 7 May was held onboard Uganda and 605 crew out of 907 refused to volunteer for continuing operations against Japan. The British Admiralty was furious and said it could not replace the ship until 27 July at the earliest. However, the cruiser continued her deployment in the Pacific throughout June and July while the Naval Staff sought an answer to the problem. An embarrassed Royal Canadian Navy offered to replace Uganda with HMCS Prince Robert, an anti-aircraft flak ship that was being refitted in Vancouver.
HMCS Uganda was detached from the US Navy's Third Fleet on 27 July when HMS Argonaut arrived. Uganda proceeded to Eniwetok, and then to Pearl Harbor for refuelling before heading for Esquimalt. En route to Pearl Harbor, one boiler suffered a liner collapse which would have resulted in the ship's withdrawal from active combat at any rate. Uganda limped into Pearl Harbor on 4 August but was not welcomed because of the resentment that her crew was "quitting" the war. Uganda departed after refuelling and proceeded for Esquimalt. En route to Canada, the crew heard news about the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan. They arrived in Esquimalt on 10 August, the day that Japan announced its acceptance of the Instrument of Surrender.[6][7][8]
HMCS Uganda remained on the Pacific coast following the war and on on 1 August 1947, Uganda was paid off into the RCN reserve.
Postwar
Canada's entry into the Korean War and commitment of Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy units to the British Commonwealth Forces Korea necessitated the reactivation of HMCS Uganda.
The vessel was recommissioned on 14 January 1952 as HMCS Quebec (C66) and moved immediately from Esquimalt to her new station at Halifax to replace units which had departed for Korea. Canada's Pacific coast once again saw a cruiser presence after the war when the Royal Canadian Navy's second cruiser, Ontario, was posted to Esquimalt to replace HMCS Quebec.
HMCS Quebec subsequently served two tours in the Korean War theatre. In 1953, HMCS Quebec was the flagship for Rear Admiral Bidwell and led the RCN ships to Spithead for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Canadian Navy vessels consisted of an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, one destroyer, and two frigates.[9]
As part of a post–Korean War realignment within the navy, HMCS Quebec was paid off in June 1956 and scrapped in Japan in 1961.
Her unit name lived on in the form of HMCS Quebec, a cadet summer training centre for the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets. The training centre closed permanently after its summer 2012 operating season.[10]
References
Notes
- ↑ Britain's Navy
- 1 2 Arbuckle, p. 97
- 1 2 Milner, p.154
- 1 2 3 Milner, p.155
- 1 2 Hastings (2007), p.401
- ↑ Milner p.155-6
- ↑ Mutiny: The odyssey of HMCS Uganda
- ↑ Butler, Malcolm. "The Uganda". CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum. Retrieved 3 Jan 2011. line feed character in
|work=at position 14 (help) - ↑ Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
- ↑ "NCSM Québec : la fin d'une grande famille". La Presse. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
Bibliography
- Arbuckle, J. Graeme (1987). Badges of the Canadian Navy. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing. ISBN 0-920852-49-1.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- Hastings, Max (2007). Retribution - The Battle for Japan, 1944-45. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26351-3.
- Milner, Marc (2010). Canada's Navy: The First Century (Second ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9604-3.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Uganda (66). |
- WWII cruisers at www.world-war.co.uk
- HMS Uganda at Uboat.net
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