HMS ''Neptune'' was a light cruiser which served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. ''Neptune'' was the fourth ship of its class and was the ninth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name. Built by

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...

, the vessel was laid down on 24 September 1931, launched on 31 January 1933, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 12 February 1934 with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

"20".

Operational history

During World War II, ''Neptune'' operated with a crew drawn predominantly from the

New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy also known as the New Zealand Station was formed in 1921 and remained in existence until 1941. It was the precursor to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Originally, the Royal Navy was solely responsible for ...

. The ship also carried a large contingent of seconded South African personnel. In December 1939, several months after war was declared, ''Neptune'' was patrolling in the South Atlantic in pursuit of German surface raider pocket battleship ( heavy cruiser) . ''Neptune'', with other patrolling Royal Navy heavy units, was sent to Uruguay in the aftermath of the

Battle of the River Plate The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commande ...

. However, she was still in transit when the Germans scuttled ''Graf Spee'' off

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on 17 December. ''Neptune'' was the first British ship to spot the Italian Fleet in the

battle of Calabria The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the World War II, Second World War. Ships of the Kingdom of Italy, Italian ''Regia Marina'' were oppose ...

, on 9 July 1940, marking also the first time since the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

that the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

received the signal "enemy battle fleet in sight". During the subsequent engagement, she was hit by the Italian light cruiser . The 6-inch shell splinters damaged her

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beyond repair, its wreckage being thrown into the sea. Minutes later her main guns struck the heavy cruiser ''Bolzano'' three times, inflicting some damage on her torpedo room, below the waterline and the "B"

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

. During 1941, she led Force K, a raiding squadron of cruisers. Their task was to intercept and destroy German and Italian convoys en route to Libya. The convoys were supplying Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa with troops and equipment.

Sinking

Force K was sent out on 18 December 1941, to intercept a convoy bound for

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, right after the brief fleet engagement at sunset known as

First Battle of Sirte The First Battle of Sirte was fought between the British Royal Navy and the ''Regia Marina'' (Italian Royal Navy) during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of Malta, ...

. On the night of 19–20 December, ''Neptune'', leading the line, struck two mines, part of an Italian minefield laid by an Italian cruiser force in June 1941. The first struck the anti-mine screen, causing no damage. The second struck the bow hull. The other cruisers present, and , also struck mines. While reversing out of the minefield, ''Neptune'' struck a third mine, which took off her propellers and left her dead in the water. ''Aurora'' was unable to render assistance as she was already down to and needed to turn back to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. ''Penelope'' was also unable to assist. The

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s and were sent into the minefield to attempt a tow. The former struck a mine and began drifting. ''Neptune'' then signalled for ''Lively'' to keep clear. (''Kandahar'' was later evacuated and scuttled with a torpedo by the destroyer , to prevent her capture.) ''Neptune'' hit a fourth mine and quickly capsized, killing 737 crew members. The other 30 initially survived the sinking but they too died. As a result, only one was still alive when their carley float was picked up five days later by the Italian torpedo boat . The sole survivor, Norman Walton, spent 15 months in an Italian prisoner of war camp. In 1991, Walton travelled to the small city of

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

, to unveil a memorial to ''Neptune''. Of the 736 that perished, 150 were New Zealand sailors, including four from Nelson. A memorial service to ''Neptune'' and her crew is held each year in Nelson.

References

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External links