HMS Bellona (63)

Bellona moored in October 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Bellona
Namesake:	Bellona, Roman goddess of war
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company (Govan, Scotland) (Greenock, Scotland)
Laid down:	30 November 1939
Launched:	29 September 1942
Commissioned:	29 October 1943
Decommissioned:	June 1957
Out of service:	Loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy, 17 April 1946
Reclassified:	In reserve between 1956 and 1957
Motto:	'Battle is our Business'
Fate:	Scrapped, Arrived at the Briton Ferry yard of Thos W Ward, (Barrow-in-Furness, UK) on 5 February 1959
Notes:	Pennant number 63
New Zealand
Name:	HMNZS Bellona
Commissioned:	17 April 1946
Out of service:	Returned to Royal Navy control in April 1956
General characteristics
Class and type:	Dido-class light cruiser
Displacement:	5,950 tons standard 7,200 tons full load
Length:	485 ft (148 m) pp 512 ft (156 m) oa
Beam:	50.5 ft (15.4 m)
Draught:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons geared turbines Four shafts Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 62,000 shp (46 MW)
Speed:	32.25 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	1,500 nmi (2,800 km) at 30 kn (56 km/h) 4,240 nmi (7,850 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h) 1,100 tons fuel oil
Complement:	530
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual guns, 6 × 20 mm dual AA guns, 3 × 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns, 2 × 21 in (533 mm) triple torpedo tubes. Early 1943 - Early 1945 configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual guns, 6 × 20 mm dual AA guns, 12 × 20 mm single AA guns, 3 × 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns, 2 × 21 in (533 mm) triple torpedo tubes. 1954 8 x 5.25 in (133 mm)dual guns, 6 x 40mm single Bofors electric, Mk3P AA guns , 6 x 20mm single Mk7A Oerilikon
Armor:	Original configuration: Belt: 3 in (76 mm), Deck: 1 in (25 mm), Magazines: 2 in (51 mm), Bulkheads: 1 in (25 mm).

HMS Bellona was the name ship of her sub-class of light cruisers for the Royal Navy. She was a modified Dido-class design with only four turrets but improved anti-aircraft armament. Entering service in 1943, the cruiser operated during World War II as an escort for the Arctic convoys, as a jamming ship to prevent the use of radio-controlled bombs and in support of the Omaha Beach landings.

In 1946 the cruiser was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Although not involved in the multi-ship mutiny, at the start of the month, 140 sailors elected to not return to the ship in protest at the poor pay and working conditions and how their colleagues had been treated. Fifty-two sailors were eventually marked as deserters while the others were charged with various lesser offences.

Bellona was returned to the Royal Navy in 1956. She did not reenter service and was scrapped two years later.

Bellona was a modified Dido-class design with only four turrets but improved anti-aircraft (AA) armament. She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company (Govan, Scotland), with the keel being laid down on 30 November 1939. She was launched on 29 September 1942 and commissioned on 29 October 1943. All of the Bellona class used the HACS high angle fire control system and they were all fitted with Remote Power Control, allowing the HACS to remotely control their 5.25-inch (133 mm) guns.

Bellona was named after the Roman Goddess of War. Her motto was 'Battle is our Business'.

Bellona participated in several Russian Convoys, both before and after D-Day. Prior to D-Day she took over the Channel patrol as a replacement for the cruiser Charybdis, which had been sunk off the Channel Islands by a radio-controlled bomb. On arrival at Plymouth, Bellona was fitted with equipment for jamming the radio signals that controlled the bombs. Bellona and seven destroyers were involved, including Tartar. The codename for the patrol force was 'Snow White and the seven dwarfs'.