HMS Euryalus was a Dido class anti-aircraft cruiser which had the distinction of being the last cruiser to be built at Chatham.
The Dido class were originally intended to be a class of 16 relatively small cruisers armed with a dual-purpose main armament. They were designed in response to the realisation by the Navy of the increasing threat to ships at sea posed by air attacks. They were based on the hull of the previous Arethusa class light cruisers, but were completely different from the main deck level upward. At the time, the navy had abandoned the distinction between light and heavy cruisers and was building heavy cruiser sized ships armed with a greater number of light cruiser calibre guns, such as HMS Belfast.
The Dido class were originally designed to carry 10 5.25" guns in 5 turrets, three forward and two aft. As things turned out, problems with the manufacture of those guns and the higher priority for them given to the King George V class battleships then also being built meant that the majority of the class only received four of the planned five turrets. Two ships of the class, Scylla and Charybdis, didn't receive any at all. Instead, they were fitted with 8 4.5" guns, earning them the nickname in the fleet of the 'Toothless Terrors'. The sailors of the fleet were soon laughing on the other side of their faces as those two ships actually turned out to be more effective in their anti-aircraft role than their more powerfully armed sister-ships.
HMS Euryalus was ordered from Chatham Dockyard under the 1936 building programme on 3rd March 1937. She was laid down on No 8 slip on 21st October 1937. The ship was launched into the Medway on 6th June 1939 and after fitting out, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30th June 1941.
Launch of HMS Euryalus
HMS Euryalus on completion
HMS Euryalus was one of the few ships of the Dido class to be fitted with all 5 main armament turrets. On completion, she was 512 ft long, 51 ft wide across the beam and displaced 6850 tons at full load. The ship was armed with 10 5.25" dual-purpose, quick-firing guns, 1 4" gun, three quadruple mounts for 2pdr (40mm) guns, two quadruple mounts for 0.5" heavy machine guns and two triple sets of 21" torpedo tubes.
Her sea trials were conducted in wartime, so for these, she was escorted by the destroyer HMS Worcester. Her sea trials were completed by the end of July 1941 and the ship was sent to Scapa Flow for work-up with units of the Home Fleet. During this period, she damaged her propellers, so was docked for them to be replaced. Also during this maintenance period, her quadruple 0.5" guns were removed and replaced by 5 single mounts for Oerlikon 20mm cannons. This was because experience had shown the machine guns to be next to useless in fending off air attacks.
The ship was thrown straight into the action in the Mediterranean and was assigned to join Force X in Operation Halberd, a convoy (WS11X) to supply Malta. In this, she was deployed with the cruisers HMS Kenya, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Hermione, together with the destroyers Cossack, Zulu, Foresight, Forester,Farndale, Heythrop, Oribi, Laforey and Lightning. She joined the force on September 17th and the convoy of nine merchant ships plus their escort left Gibraltar on the 24th. It was also accompanied for part of the journey by the heavy units of Force H, comprising the battleships Nelson, Rodney, Prince of Wales and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The Italian fleet attempted to intercept the convoy, but turned away without making contact when they saw the three battleships included in the escort force. That didn't stop the Italians from attacking the convoy and before Force H turned back to Gibraltar, HMS Rodney was struck in the bows by a torpedo from an Italian bomber and seriously damaged. Thanks to the guns of HMS Euryalus and the other ships, together with the fighters on the Ark Royal, the convoy only lost one merchant vessel and arrived at Malta on 28th September, delivering 80,000 tons of supplies to the beseiged islands. The Italians lost 21 aircraft in their failed attempt to stop the convoy.
After Operation Halberd, she returned to Gibraltar, arriving on October 1st. She was then ordered to join 15th Cruiser Squadron in Alexandria. At the time, it was too dangerous to cross the Mediterranean unless as part of a larger force, so she set sail for Alexandria via the Cape of Good Hope and the Suez Canal, arriving on November 11th.
Euryalus in the Suez Canal
On 18th November the ship carried out a bombardment of Bardia in eastern Libya in support of Army operations there. She was joined in this by the cruisers HMS Naiad and HMS Galatea. On 24th, the three ships were joined by the cruisers HMS Neptune and HMS Ajax and were searching for Italian supply convoys bound for Benghazi. Because of the threat of attacks by the Italian battle-fleet, they were covered by the British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Valiant and HMS Barham. Tragedy struck the force on 25th November when HMS Barham was torpedoed by the German submarine U-331. The submarine had fired 3 torpedoes from only 750 yards and all three torpedoes struck HMS Barham very close together, causing the ship to roll over. As she turned turtle, her forward magazines exploded. The sinking was caught on camera in this famous film clip
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862 of her crew were killed.
After this disaster, HMS Euryalus, together with the cruiser HMS Naiad and the destroyers HMS Hotspur and HMS Griffin, escorted the cruisers HMS Neptune and HMS Ajax and the destroyers HMS Kimberley and HMS Kingston on passage from Alexandria to Malta, arriving on 27th November, before returning to Alexandria after in interception sweep off Cyrenaica.
Following this, Euryalus was deployed with HMS Naiad, HMS Galatea, the destroyers HMS Griffin and HMS Hotspur to cover attacks by other Royal Navy destroyers on convoys supplying axis forces in North Africa on 8th December before bombarding enemy positions ashore at Dema the following day, then returning to the enemy's convoy routes to intercept an Italian convoy thought to be en-route to North Africa on 13th. When the enemy recalled their convoy, Euryalus and the other ships returned to Alexandria on 14th.
On the 15th December, Euryalus again departed for Malta, this time as part of the escort for the supply ship Breconshire, together with the cruisers HMS Carlisle and HMS Naiad, together with 8 destroyers. On the way, they ran into an Italian convoy, M42 with it's escort including no less than three battleships. At 17:42 on 17th December, the two forces sighted each other. The Italian forces immediately moved to intercept, in order to protect their convoy. The British were more concerned with protecting the Breconshire, so they gave ground to the enemy, who were pursuing them with caution. An air attack on the British ships caused them to open fire, allowing the enemy to precisely locate them and the Italian battleships opened fire from a range of 35,000 yards, well out of the range of the British guns. The British immediately moved to counter-attack laying a smoke screen while the Breconshire escorted by the destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Havock was ordered to move out of the way. The Italians, without radar and mindful of their defeat in the night action at the Battle of Matapan, retired from the scene. This action became known as the First Battle of Sirte.
On 19th December 1941, HMS Euryalus was in the harbour at Alexandria when disaster struck the fleet there. The battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant, both ships absolutely vital to the British effort in the eastern Mediterranean, were sunk at their moorings by Italian divers who attached limpet mines to their hulls. Although the battleships were quickly refloated, repaired and put back into action, the fact that the enemy could pull off an operation like that in a heavily defended base was a severe blow to the British.
After spending Christmas 1941 in Alexandria, Euryalus, together with her sister-ships HMS Naiad and HMS Dido. escorted the supply ship Glengyle to Malta, departing on 4th January 1942 and arriving back in Alexandria in company with Breconshire on the 9th. On 16th, she again departed for Malta in company again with HMS Naiad, HMS Carlisle and HMS Dido, together with the destroyers HMS Havock, HMS Hotspur, HMS Kelvin, HMS Kipling and HMS Foxhound, all escorting the supply ship Breconshire. She returned to Alexandria with the Glengyle and Rowallan Castle on 24th. During February, she provided cover for two more convoys to Malta, again with HMS Naiad and HMS Dido.
On 10th March, she again departed Alexandria in company with HMS Naiad and HMS Dido, searching for an Italian cruiser reportedly damaged in a torpedo attack. The intelligence proved to be false. Tragically during this operation, on March 11th, HMS Naiad was torpedoed by the German submarine U-565 south of Crete and was lost with 77 of her crew.
There was no let-up for HMS Euryalus however and she was sent to bombard German positions on Rhodes in company with HMS Dido and 6 destroyers on 15th before being joined by the cruiser HMS Cleopatra in order to participate in the escort for a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. The Italians, mindful that the British were still without the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant had decided to intercept the convoy with a force consisting of the battleship Littorio, two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and ten destroyers. By this stage in the war, things were going badly for the British. The axis forces were succeeding in their aim of isolating Malta, which Churchill had described as being 'the linchpin of the war in the Mediterranean'. The enemy had gained the upper hand in the central Mediterranean and were not going to give it up without a fight. The British were equally determined not to lose Malta and were going to force supply convoys through, regardless of the cost. On 22nd March, the British force found itself confronted by a superior force of Italian warships. At 14:30, Admiral Vian put his battle plan into action and ordering the convoy to turn away with 4 escorting destroyers and charged at the Italians with his remaining ships, including Euryalus. After an exchange of fire, two Italian heavy cruisers backed off, attempting to lure the British cruisers and destroyers under the guns of the battleship Littorio. This failed and at 16:37, they turned to the attack again. The British responded by laying a huge smoke screen and having the cruisers dash out and attack the Italians, returning behind it when the Italians, not having radar, attempted to return fire.
HMS Euryalus turns her guns on the Italians, behind a smoke screen laid by HMS Cleopatra.
The battle raged in this fashion for the rest of the day. HMS Cleopatra was hit on the bridge by a 6" shell but with true British bloody-minded determination, carried on regardless. HMS Euryalus herself was slightly damaged by near misses from 15" shells fired by the Littorio, being straddled by the battleship on two occasions. The Italians gave up at about 19:00, as night was falling, again mindful of their defeat in the darkness at the Battle of Matapan. This action became known as the Second Battle of Sirte and tactically, it was a British victory. The superior forces of the Italian navy had been driven off by a more lightly armed but more technically advanced British force. The British force however, was now unable to locate the convoy. Short of fuel and ammunition, they returned to Alexandria. The convoy suffered terribly in the face of overwhelming axis air superiority and 80% of the ships were lost. The Italians had inflicted significant damage on the Royal Navy and had suffered no losses themselves but nevertheless had been driven off by an inferior British force.
April and May 1942 saw HMS Euryalus deployed with the Mediterranean Fleet supporting operations ashore and intercepting enemy shipping. June 1942 saw her deployed with the cruisers HMS Coventry, HMS Cleopatra, HMS Dido and HMS Birmingham during Operation Vigorous, an attempt to force a convoy to Malta in the face of continuous enemy air attacks. The convoy was turned back by the enemy, ran out of anti-aircraft ammunition and returned to Alexandria.
On July 19th, she carried out a bombardment of enemy forces at Mersa Matruh in Egypt, near the border with Libya, together with HMS Dido and 4 destroyers.
On 10th August she was assigned to take part in a diversionary operation for Operation Pedestal, the titanic struggle to force a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. She arrived at Port Said, joining the cruiser HMS Arethusa, the destroyers HMS Packenham, HMS Paladin, HMS Aldenham, HMS Beaufort, HMS Dulverton, HMS Eridge and HMS Hursley and the corvette HMS Hyacinth.The force set sail that day with three supply ships in a decoy convoy. On 12th, they met the cruisers HMS Dido and HMS Cleopatra, the destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Javelin and HMS Zulu, sailing from Haifa in Palestine and together they proceeded westwards during Operation Pedestal. On 13th, they all returned to Port Said before proceeding back to Alexandria, arriving there on 14th August 1942.
September 1942 saw her awaiting docking to examine her propulsion machinery. Her crew carried out a self-refit and she rejoined her squadron on 14th October. On November 16th, she was deployed as part of Operation Stoneage, the Malta relief convoy which saw HMS Arethusa torpedoed and seriously damaged on 18th. HMS Euryalus returned to Alexandria after the success of Operation Stoneage. On 25th, she escorted the cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Neptune to Malta.
On December 1st 1942, HMS Euryalus left Alexandria to participate in Operation Portcullis with HMS Dido and HMS Cleopatra. This turned out to be the last westward convoy requiring an escort to Malta as the allied advance to Tunisia meant that the German and Italian forces had been made to abandon bases previously used to attack them.
A nice profile view of HMS Euryalus
On 13th December, the three cruisers together with 4 destroyers attacked an enemy convoy off Tunisia and sank three enemy supply ships.
On 22nd January 1943, she carried out a bombardment of enemy forces at Zuara in Libya in company with her sister-ship HMS Cleopatra and the destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Javelin, HMS Nubian and HMS Kelvin. The rest of January, February and March 1943 saw HMS Euryalus engaged in intercepting and attacking axis convoys in the eastern Mediterranean until she entered a short refit to update her radar in April. This was carried out in Alexandria during early April, before the ship departed for Malta on 20th April to resume these duties. The rest of April and the whole of May 1943 saw the ship based in Malta, which was now safe enough for the British to base Capital Ships like cruisers there. She was again employed in intercepting and attacking axis supply convoys. On June 5th, accompanied by the destroyer HMS Troubridge, she escorted a convoy through the Sicilian Narrows. On 8th June, she participated in Operation Corkscrew, the invasion of the Italian island of Pantellaria, off Sicily. She was joined in this by the cruisers HMS Aurora, HMS Newfoundland, HMS Orion and HMS Penelope. After this, the ship transferred to Oran and began preparation for Operation Husky, the allied invasion of Sicily.
On 7th July, she sailed from Oran in company with the battleships HMS Nelson, HMS Rodney, her sister-ship HMS Cleopatra and 8 destroyers. This force joined the battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and the cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope in the Gulf of Sirte. On 11th July, she was involved in a frienfly-fire incident with HMS Cleopatra and on 14th was sent back to Malta to refuel. On 16th July, HMS Cleopatra was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Dandolo and HMS Euryalus stood by her damaged sister-ship before escorting her back to Malta. On 20th July, she was sent to Bone in Algeria to relieve HMS Sirius in Force Q and on 26th, joined the battleships HMS King George V and HMS Howe, the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable and her sister-ship HMS Dido to provide that force with additional air defence off the coast of Sicily. On August 1st, in company with HMS Dido and HMS Sirius, she bombarded Vibo Valentia in western Italy. On August 16th she bombarded Scalea with HMS Aurora.
On 27th August, HMS Euryalus was assigned as Flagship, Support Carrier Force V, which also comprised the cruisers HMS Scylla, HMS Charybdis, the maintenance carrier HMS Unicorn and the escort carriers HMS Battler, HMS Attacker, HMS Hunter and HMS Stalker, to particpate in Operation Avalanche, the landings at Salerno. The first half of September 1943 saw the ship engaged in providing air defence for the carriers providing air support for the landings at Salerno and the subsequent struggle to get off the beach-head there. On 16th September in company with HMS Scylla and HMS Delhi, she stood by the battleship Warspite after that ship had been crippled by a glider-bomb attack. The three cruisers remained with HMS Warspite providing anti-aircraft cover until a tug arrived to tow her out of danger. On 20th September she departed Salerno for Malta, arriving on 22nd, when she embarked Admiral-of-the-Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham, C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet, in order to transport him to Taranto. The Italian fleet had surrendered on 11th September and Cunningham was going to meet the Italians in order to discuss the disposal of their fleet. On 29th September, HMS Euryalus was ordered to return to the UK for a major refit at the John Brown shipyard on the Clyde.
The refit would entail the removal of Q turret - the third forward turret. On the Dido class ships fitted with 3 forward turrets, the weight of the third turret had placed undue strain on the hull and had made the ships bow-heavy. The ships which never received the third turret had tended to be better at sea-keeping. The decision had been made not to fit the third turret to those ships and remove it from those ships which had one. Removal of the third turret created additional top-weight capacity which allowed the ship to be fitted with additional radar systems and more close-range anti-aircraft weapons. Q Turret itself was replaced with a quadruple mount for 2pdr (40mm) anti-aircraft guns. The refit went on from mid-October 1943 to the end of June 1944. HMS Euryalus recommissioned into 10th Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet on 28th June 1944. Post-refit trials were complete by July 10th, when she took passage from the Clyde to Scapa Flow for work-up with units of the Home Fleet. On August 19th, she suffered a fire in her galley and following the completion of her work-up, returned briefly to the shipyard for the damage to be repaired before returning to Scapa Flow on 20th September.
From mid-October 1944 to Mid November, the ship was assigned to Force 9, which also comprised the escort carriers HMS Trumpeter, HMS Fencer and six destroyers. The force was employed in carrying out airborne minelaying operations and shipping strikes off the coast of Norway. On 16th November, the ship arrived at Rosyth so that her crew could take a few weeks shore leave prior to service against the Japanese in the far east.
On 16th December 1944, the ship departed Liverpool on a special mission in company with MV Rimutaka and the destroyers HMS Ulster and HMS Undine. Rimutaka was carrying HRH the Duke of Gloucester to take up his position as Governor-General of Australia. After departing Liverpool on 16th December, she stopped at Gibraltar on 21st, Malta on Christmas Day, Suez on 29th, Aden on 2nd January 1945. She detached from the escort at Colombo on 5th January and departed for Trincomalee to join 4th Cruiser Squadron.
On 24th January 1945, HMS Euryalus participated in Operation Meridian I in company with the cruisers HMS Black Prince, HMS Argonaut and HMS Ceylon, the aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable, HMS Indefatigable and HMS Illustrious in carrying out air attacks on oil refineries at Pladjoe in Sumatra. On 29th, the force carried out a second series of attacks on more oil refineries at Soengi-Gerong. During this operation, the force came under heavy Japanese air attacks which were successfully repelled by both fire from the cruisers and air cover from the carriers. Unfortunately, two anti-aircraft shells struck the flight deck on HMS Illustrious, killing 12 and wounding 21. On 30th January, she departed for Sydney, to join the British Pacific Fleet.
After calling in at Fremantle on 2nd February, she arrived at Sydney on 11th and was dry-docked there on 13th for a routine inspection of her underwater parts. Whilst on passage, she carried out a series of exercises to practice American signalling and maneouvering procedures. On 28th, she accompanied the battleship HMS King George V to Manus, Admiralty Islands, arriving on 7th March. Once there, she ship was made to wait for approval by the US Navy Chiefs of Staff for Royal Navy ships to join US operations in the south-west Pacific. This was received and the ship departed Manus for Ulithi on 17th to join in with American operations. She arrived there on 20th and departed on 23rd in company with ships of the 25th, 27th and 4th (RAN) Destroyer Flotillas. HMS Euryalus then became part of the US 5th Fleet.
On 26th March, HMS Euryalus was back in action. In company with the cruisers HMS Swiftsure, HMS Gambia, HMS Black Prince, HMS Argonaut and the battleship HMS Howe, HMS Euryalus provided cover for the aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable, HMS Victorious, HMS Indefatigable and HMS Illustrious while the carriers carried out strikes on Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Gunto group of islands. These strikes were made in the face of heavy and sustained Japanese air attacks whcih were again repelled by gunfire from the ships. These continued until 11th April, when the task force was re-assigned to attack targets at Shinchiku and Matsugama on 11th and 12th before being recalled to Sakishima Gunto for the final strike of phase 1 of the attack there. The task force departed for Leyte in the Phillipines on 13th April. On May 1st, they left Leyte to rejoin the attack on Sakishima Gunto. After refuelling in area Mosquito on 4th may, the attack was rejoined.
HMS Euryalus refuelling from the USS San Ambrosio while the destroyer HMS Undaunted stands by
After the first series of air attacks were completed, HMS Euryalus, HMS Black Prince, HMS Uganda and HMS Gambia, with the battleship HMS Howe were detached from the force to carry out a bombardment of airfields at Miyako Shima and Nobara. This reduced the anti-aircraft cover for the carriers and during this period, the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable was hit and seriously damaged by a kamikaze attack. This led to the bombardment force including HMS Euryalus being hurriedly recalled to the flying-off area with Euryalus and Black Prince being assigned to provide close anti-aircraft cover amongst the carriers to defend against further kamikaze attacks. On 25th May 1945, the ship sailed for Manus after being transferred with other Royal Navy ships to US Task Force 37.
After spending a couple of days in Sydney on R & R, the ship sailed for Brisbane for repair and maintenance, arriving on 4th June. On 28th June, she departed in company with the battleship HMS King George V and the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious, HMS Formidable and HMS Indomitable to carry out air attacks on Japan in preparation for planned landings there. On 17th July, the force was placed under US control. From then until the Japanese surrender, HMS Euryalus was employed in providing anti-aircraft cover for aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy and the US Navy in carrying out air attacks on the Japanese mainland. On 15th August 1945, the ship was given back to the Royal Navy and arrived at Manus on 18th and took passage for Leyte on 22nd in company with the aircraft carriers HMS Venerable, HMS Indomitable and the cruiser HMS Swiftsure. On 28th August 1945, those ships together with the cruiser HMS Black Prince and the destroyers HMS Kempenfelt, HMS Ursa, HMS Quadrant and HMS Whirlwind left Leyte bound for Hong Kong in order to re-occupy the colony. On 29th August, HMS Euryalus entered the harbour at Hong Kong in company with HMS Swiftsure and the Canadian landing ship HMCS Prince Robert. Parties were sent ashore to secure the dockyard and the prisoner-of-war camps.
With the Second World War now over, HMS Euryalus now took on a new role - that of re-establishing the British presence in the south-west Pacific. Based out of Sydney, she visited many places formerly occupied by the Japanese including Manila, Tonga and Shanghai.
HMS Euryalus in Sydney 1946
Finally, in early 1947, HMS Euryalus received orders to return home and departed Hong Kong on 7th January 1947 and arrived at Rosyth on 22nd March. After a refit and modernisation, HMS Euryalus recommissioned on 20th February 1948. After post-refit trials and workup, she joined 1st Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet, replacing HMS Ajax. On 14th May 1948 at Haifa, she embarked General Sir Alan Cunningham, the last British High Commissioner of Palestine, ending the mandate there and marking the birth of the modern nation of Israel.
The ship returned to the UK at the beginning of May 1950 but was sent back to the Mediterranean later that month.
On 25th April 1951, the ship was at Aqaba, the base of the lancashire Fusiliers and joined them in celebrating the 36th anniversary of the Galipoli landings.
A fine picture of HMS Euryalus in Malta in 1950.
The ship was in the Persian Gulf between 5th May and 7th June 1951 during unrest in Iran which included the nationalisation by the Iranians of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. From November 1952 to March 1953 she was in refit at Malta before departing for Simonstown, South Africa to relieve the cruiser HMS Bermuda as flagship there. The ship was in South Africa for the Coronation Celebrations and visited many ports on the east and west coasts of Africa and Madagascar before being recalled to the UK on 27th July 1954. She arrived back in Devonport on 19th August and was decommissioned and reduced to the reserve.
Placed on the disposal list in October 1958, HMS Euryalus arrived at Blyth on 18th July 1959 and was broken up. She was the last Dido Class cruiser to leave the service.
