HMS Arethusa (26)

HMS Arethusa in April 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Arethusa
Ordered:	1 September 1932
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	25 January 1933
Launched:	6 March 1934
Commissioned:	23 May 1935
Decommissioned:	1945
Refit:	Sep - Oct 1937 Oct 1940 - Jan 1941
Identification:	Pennant number: 26
Motto:	Celeriter Audax (Latin:"Swiftly and audacious")
Honours and awards:	Ushant 1778 & 1781 - St Lucia 1796 - Curaçao 1807 - Black Sea 1854 - China 1900 - Heligoland 1914 - Dogger Bank 1915 - Norway 1940-41 - Malta Convoys 1941-42 - Normandy 1944
Fate:	Scrapped at Troon, 1950 (or Newport)
General characteristics
Class and type:	Arethusa-class light cruiser
Displacement:	5,220 tons standard 6,665 tons full load
Length:	506 ft (154 m)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Draught:	16.5 ft (5.0 m)
Propulsion:	Four Parsons geared steam turbines Four Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers Four shafts 64,000 shp
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	5,300 nmi (9,800 km) at 13 knots (24 km/h)
Complement:	500
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 286 radar (1941), replaced n 1942 by Type 273, Type 281, Type 282, Type 284, Type 285
Armament:	Original configuration 6 × BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns (3×2) 4 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA guns (4×1) 2 × 0.5-inch (13 mm) quadruple machine guns 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2×3) 1941 additions 8 × 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom AA guns (2×4) 2 × UP mountings (removed April 1942) 4 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns (4×1) April 1942 configuration 6 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns (3×2) 8 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA guns (4×2) 8 × 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom AA guns (2×4) (increased to 11) 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns (8×1) 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2×3) April 1944 configuration 6 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns (3×2) 8 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA guns (4×2) 8 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns (2×4) 16 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns (8×1; 4×2) 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2×3)
Armour:	Original configuration 1 to 3 inches - magazine protection 2.25 inches - belt 1 inches - deck, turrets and bulkheads
Aircraft carried:	One Hawker Osprey (Fairey Seafox from 1937) (removed 1940)

HMS Arethusa was the name ship of her class of light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. She was built by Chatham Dockyard, with the keel being laid down on 25 January 1933. She was launched on 6 March 1934, and commissioned 21 May 1935 by Captain Philip Vian.

Arethusa was assigned to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean on completion and was still there at the onset of World War II in September 1939. However, early in 1940 she and her sister Penelope were recalled to the Home Fleet, where they formed the 2nd Cruiser Squadron with the remainder of the class. She participated in the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, but on 8 May she joined the Nore Command, where she supported the defending forces in Calais and later aided the evacuations from French Atlantic ports.

On 28 June 1940 she was a component of the newly formed Force "H" at Gibraltar, with which she participated in the action against Vichy French forces at Mers el Kebir in July 1940. With Force "H" she took part in convoy protection patrols in the Atlantic and operated in the Mediterranean.

During the sortie of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941 she was employed in Iceland and Faroes waters, but by July she had returned to the Mediterranean, where she escorted Malta convoys and herself ran supply trips to the island. Towards the end of 1941 she returned to home waters and took part in the Lofoten raid in December, where she was damaged by near misses. After refit and repair at Chatham until April 1942, she returned to the Mediterranean in June 1942, where she joined the 15th Cruiser Squadron, operating mostly in support of the resupply of Malta.