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HMS ''Trinidad'' was a
''Trinidad'' was built by HM Dockyard Devonport. She was laid down on 21 April 1938, launched 21 March 1941 and commissioned on 14 October 1941. The ship served with the British Home Fleet during her brief career.
She set out to return home on 13 May 1942, escorted by the destroyers , , and . Other ships of the Home Fleet were providing a covering force nearby. Her speed was reduced to owing to the damage she had sustained. En route, she was attacked by more than twenty
WWII cruisersIWM Interview with survivor Wallace Hughes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad (C46) Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1941 ships World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom Cruisers sunk by aircraft Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Maritime incidents in May 1942 Ships sunk by German aircraft
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 ...
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
. She was lost while serving in the Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
on convoy duty after being damaged escorting PQ 13 in 1942.
Early career
''Trinidad'' was built by HM Dockyard Devonport. She was laid down on 21 April 1938, launched 21 March 1941 and commissioned on 14 October 1941. The ship served with the British Home Fleet during her brief career.
Loss
While escortingConvoy PQ 13
PQ 13 was a British Arctic convoy that delivered war supplies from the Western Allies to the USSR during World War II. The convoy was subject to attack by German air, U-boat and surface forces and suffered the loss of five ships, plus one escort ...
in March 1942, she and other escorts were in combat with German destroyers. She hit and damaged the and then launched a torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
attack. One of her torpedoes had a fault, possibly affected by the icy waters and sub zero conditions common in the Atlantic en route to Russia; causing the torpedo to limp across the water at a speed far below the 46 knots expected, the reduced speed causing the torpedo to strike Trinidad as she performed evasive zigzags in its path, killing 32 men. Survivors included Lieutenant Commander Williams as well as composer George Lloyd, a Royal Marines bandsman who had earlier written the ship's official march. This was performed at the Last Night of the Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...
on 7 September 2013, in the presence of the last surviving crewman from ''Trinidad''.
''Trinidad'' was towed clear of the action, and was then able to proceed under her own power towards Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...
. The attempted to engage and sink the damaged cruiser, but was spotted and attacked by the destroyer . On arrival in Murmansk, ''Trinidad'' underwent partial repairs.
She set out to return home on 13 May 1942, escorted by the destroyers , , and . Other ships of the Home Fleet were providing a covering force nearby. Her speed was reduced to owing to the damage she had sustained. En route, she was attacked by more than twenty Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...
bombers on 14 May 1942. All attacks missed, except for one bomb that struck near the previous damage, starting a serious fire. Sixty-three men were lost, including twenty survivors from the cruiser , which had been sunk two weeks earlier. The decision was taken to scuttle her and on 15 May 1942 she was torpedoed by ''Matchless'' and sank in the Arctic Ocean, north of North Cape. Four Czechoslovak airmen en route to Great Britain – Sergeant Vratislav Laštovička, Corporals Jan Ferák, Josef Návesník and Bohuslav Zikmund – were killed, and three other airmen were rescued.
References
Bibliography
* * * * * *Further reading
* Pearce, Frank (1975). ''The Ship That Torpedoed Herself: HMS "Trinidad"''.External links
WWII cruisers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad (C46) Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1941 ships World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom Cruisers sunk by aircraft Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Maritime incidents in May 1942 Ships sunk by German aircraft