HMS Berwick (65)
{{Short description|County-class cruiser}}
{{other ships|HMS Berwick}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Berwick (65).jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Berwick |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan |Ship laid down=15 September 1924 |Ship launched=30 March 1926 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=12 July 1927 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=1946 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Allocated to British Iron & Steel Corporation for scrapping on 15 June 1948 and arrived at Hughes Bolckow, Blyth, on 12 July for breaking up. |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship identification=Pennant number 65 }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|County|cruiser|0}} heavy cruiser |Ship displacement=*9,750 tons (9,924 t) standard
|Ship length={{convert|630|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|68|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|16|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion=*Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers
|Ship speed={{convert|31.5|kn|km/h|1}} |Ship range=3,100 nautical miles at 31.5 knots (5,740 km at 58 km/h), 13,300 nautical miles at 12 knots (24,600 km at 22 km/h); 3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=700 |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor= |Ship aircraft=Three aircraft with one catapult, removed in 1942 }} |
HMS Berwick, pennant number 65, was a {{sclass2|County|cruiser|0}} heavy cruiser of the British Royal Navy, part of the Kent subclass. She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Scotland, with the keel being laid down on 15 September 1924. She was launched on 30 March 1926 and commissioned 12 July 1927. When completed, Berwick was sent to the China Station, where she remained until a temporary detachment to the Mediterranean in 1936. Along with the rest of her Kent class sub-group of {{sclass2|County|cruiser|0}} ships, Berwick underwent reconstruction between 1937 and 1938, where her single 4-inch guns were replaced with double mounts, numerous light machine guns were added, along with a significant addition of note; a cemented {{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on}} thick and {{convert|6|ft|m}} deep armoured belt was added to both sides of her hull beginning at the armoured deck down past her water line.
History
After these modifications, she completed her sea trials and then proceeded west, to serve on the North America and West Indies Station with the 8th Cruiser Squadron, arriving on 18 January 1939.{{cite news |author= |date=1939-01-19 |title=H.M.S. BERWICK HERE FROM ENGLAND: To Succeed York as Fleet Flagship Very Shortly |page=1 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda}} Once there, she replaced {{HMS|York|90|6}} as station flagship.{{cite news |author= |date=1939-03-31 |title=KING'S COLOURS TAKEN BY H.M.S. BERWICK. Admiral Meyrick Present at Ceremony Yesterday. YORK SAILS FOR HOME TODAY. |at=Pages 1, 2, and 7 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda}} When the Second World War started, she served on ocean convoy escort duties, then formed part of Force "F", with York, when hunting groups were created to find German raiders. She did not make contact with any raider, but did intercept the mercantile blockade runners Wolfsburg and Uruguay in the Denmark Straits during March 1940.
On 9 April 1940 she participated in the Norwegian Campaign and on 10 May 1940 in the Invasion of Iceland. She was then allocated to Force "H" at Gibraltar arriving on 7 November. On 27 November, while taking part of Operation Collar, Berwick was hit by a single 203 mm (8 in) shell from an Italian heavy cruiser, either {{ship|Italian cruiser|Pola||2}} or {{ship|Italian cruiser|Fiume||2}},{{Cite book
| title = Big Gun Battles: Warship Duels of the Second World War
| last = Stern
| first = Robert C.
| publisher = Seaforth Publishing
| year = 2015
| isbn = 978-1473849693
| pages = 60
}} which knocked out her "Y" turret and killed seven men. A second round that struck her some minutes later destroyed the aft electric switchboard, leaving the cruiser's aft section without power.{{Cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1940-11NOV.htm|title=Royal Navy casualties, killed and died, November 1940|website=www.naval-history.net}}O'Hara, Vincent P.: Struggle for the Middle Sea, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2009, pp. 70-71. {{ISBN|978-1-59114-648-3}}. Some sources credit the second hit to an Italian {{sclass|Trento|cruiser}}, either lead ship Trento or her sister-ship Trieste, the only Italian Royal Navy heavy cruisers within range at the time of the strikes.O'Hara, Vincent P.: Struggle for the Middle Sea, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-59114-648-3}}.
On 25 December 1940, Berwick engaged the German heavy cruiser {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Hipper||2}} off the Canaries when she formed part of the escort to convoy WS-5A, a troop convoy to the Middle East. Despite being thoroughly ready for combat, Berwick got the worst of the encounter. She scored no hits on Admiral Hipper, and sustained a fair amount of damage, being hit by several 8-inch (which for the most part passed right through the ship) and 4.1-inch shells. The action did however, drive off Admiral Hipper, and saved the convoy from any losses. Four of her complement were killed and she had to return to Britain for repairs, which lasted until June 1941.
When repaired Berwick joined the Home Fleet and for the remainder of her wartime career she was escorting convoys to North Russia and operating in the northern North Sea, where she served under the captaincy of Norman Vere Grace from January to August 1944.{{cite web|url=https://uboat.net/allies/commanders/1018.html |title=Norman Vere Grace, RN |publisher=www.uboat.net |access-date=2019-09-26}} In late October 1944 the ship carried Free Norwegian Forces from Britain to Murmansk, so that they could participate in the Liberation of Finnmark.Simon Orchard, "THE EVACUATION OF FINNMARK & THE RE-ENTRY OF NORWEGIAN FORCES INTO NORWAY, OCT 1944-MAY 1945." [http://www.nuav.net/soviet.html] She escorted two carrier raids against the {{ship|German battleship|Tirpitz||6}} in 1944 and again in 1945. Berwick{{'}}s last role was to escort carriers that were raiding the Norwegian coast in 1945.
After the war she was allocated to BISCO for scrapping on 15 June 1948 and arrived at Hughes Bolckow, Blyth, on 12 July for breaking up.
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau |editor1-first=Roger |publisher=Mayflower Books|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=0-8317-0303-2 |chapter=Great Britain |last1=Campbell |first1=N.J.M.|pages=2–85}}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-078-8 |author-link=Norman Friedman}}
- {{cite book|last1=Raven|first1=Alan|last2=Roberts|first2=John|title=British Cruisers of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1980|isbn=0-87021-922-7|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2 |author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
- {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Cassell |location=London|year=1995|isbn=1-86019-874-0|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}
External links
{{Commons category|HMS Berwick (65)}}
- [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1174.html HMS Berwick at U-boat.net]
- [http://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-05-HMS_Berwick.htm Royal Navy Log Books of the World War 1 Era - HMS Berwick]
{{County class cruiser}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berwick (65)}}