HMS Hector (F45)
{{short description|1924 armed merchant cruiser of the British Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Hector}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Hector (F45).jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship flag= |Ship country= United Kingdom |Ship name=Hector |Ship namesake= Hector |Ship owner= Ocean Steam Ship Co |Ship operator= *Alfred Holt & Co (1924–39)
|Ship registry=*{{flagicon|United Kingdom|civil}} Liverpool (1924–39) |Ship route= Liverpool – Far East |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= Scotts Shilbuilding & Eng Co |Ship original cost= £419,254 |Ship yard number= 521 |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 18 June 1924 |Ship completed= 19 September 1924 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 20 December 1939 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship reclassified= Armed merchant cruiser 1939–42 |Ship identification= *UK official number 147282
|Ship fate=*Sunk by air attack 5 April 1942
|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= Refrigerated cargo and passenger liner |Ship tonnage= *{{GRT|11198}}
|Ship length={{cvt|498.8|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{cvt|62.3|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{cvt|26.4|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion= steam turbines; twin screws |Ship speed={{convert|15|kn|km/h}} |Ship range= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement= |Ship sensors= wireless direction finding (by 1934) |Ship armament=*as armed merchant cruiser:
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= *sister ships:
}} |
HMS Hector was a UK steam turbine passenger and refrigerated cargo liner launched in 1924. She was the fourth of six civilian ships to bear the name.{{cite web |url= http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/bluefunnel.shtml |last1=Swiggum |first1=Susan |last2=Kohli |first2=Marjorie |title=Blue Funnel Line |work=TheShipsList |date=17 October 2010 |access-date=1 November 2020}}
In the Second World War Hector was converted into an armed merchant cruiser. She was the eleventh HMS Hector in the history of the Royal Navy.
A Japanese air raid sank her in Ceylon in 1942. In 1946 she was raised and scrapped.
Building
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company built Hector in Greenock, Scotland.{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b0516.pdf |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register |chapter=Steamers & Motorships |volume=II |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register |via=Plimsoll Ship Data |access-date=1 November 2020}} Isobel Cripps launched her on 18 June 1924 and she was completed on 16 September.{{cite web |url= http://clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=17031&vessel=HECTOR |title=Hector |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=1 November 2020}}
Hector was the third of a set of four sister ships built for Alfred Holt and Company of Liverpool, who owned Blue Funnel Line and other shipping lines including the Ocean Steam Ship Company. Her sisters were {{SS|Sarpedon|1923|2}} and {{SS|Patroclus|1923|2}} launched in 1923, and {{SS|Antenor|1924|2}} launched in 1924. All were named after characters in Homer's Iliad.
Hector was {{convert|498.8|ft|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|62.3|ft|abbr=on}} beam and had a depth of {{convert|26.4|ft|abbr=on}}. She had a counter stern, slightly raked stem, one funnel and two masts.{{sfn|Talbot-Booth|1936|p=366}} She had accommodation for first class passengers only.{{sfn|Talbot-Booth|1936|p=472}}
Hector{{'}}s tonnages were {{GRT|11198}} and {{NRT|6841}}. She had steam turbines driving twin screws via single-reduction gearing, which gave her a service speed of {{Convert|15|kn|km/h|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Harnack|1930|p=331}} By 1934 Patroclus had been fitted with wireless direction finding equipment.{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0373.pdf |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register |chapter=Steamers & Motorships |volume=II |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register |via=Plimsoll Ship Data |access-date=1 November 2020}}
Civilian service
Scotts delivered Hector to Blue Funnel on 23 September 1924 and she made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to the Far East on 24 September 1924.{{cite web |title=Alfred Holt & Co, Blue Funnel Line, page 14 |url= http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN14.htm |work=The Red Duster |publisher=The Merchant Navy Association |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080407105940/http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN14.htm |archive-date=7 April 2008 |df=dmy-all}} This was the regular route for Hector and her three sisters.{{sfn|Talbot-Booth|1936|p=366}}
Naval service
On 27 August 1939, a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Admiralty requisitioned Hector and had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser. Her primary armament was six BL 6-inch Mk XII naval guns{{cite web |url= http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/54676/8330/a0.htm |title=BR 6in 45cal BL Mk XII |work=NavHist |publisher=Flixco Pty Limited |access-date=1 November 2020}} and her secondary armament included two QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns.{{cite web |url= http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/55207/8330/a0.htm |title=BR 3in 45cal 12pdr 20cwt QF Mk I To IV |work=NavHist |publisher=Flixco Pty Limited |access-date=1 November 2020}} Her conversion was completed on 20 December 1939.{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3324.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=HMS Hector (F 45) |website=Uboat.net }}
Hector served on the New Zealand Station from January to July 1940 and the East Indies Station from August 1940 until February 1942. In March 1942 she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet.
=Loss=
Hector was dry docked in Colombo in Ceylon to prepare for decommissioning. On 5 April 1942 Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked the port in the Easter Sunday Raid. The Japanese force had hoped to catch remnants of the Eastern Fleet in harbour, but most of the fleet had left earlier. Japanese aircraft attacked the few targets they could find, one of which was Hector. She was hit by five bombs that set her on fire, and after several hours she sank. The air raid also sank the destroyer {{HMS|Tenedos|H04|6}} in the harbour.{{harvnb|Shores|Cull|Izawa|1993|pp=395, 405}} The cruisers {{HMS|Cornwall|56|6}} and {{HMS|Dorsetshire|40|2}} were sunk at sea later that day.{{harvnb|Shores|Cull|Izawa|1993|p=406}}
The Admiralty returned the wreck of Hector to the Ocean Steamship Company on 20 April 1942, but because of the war she was not refloated until 1946. She was beached {{convert|5|nmi|km|0}} north of Colombo for assessment. She was judged to be beyond economical repair, and was sold for scrap.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Harnack |first=Edwin P |orig-year=1903 |year=1930 |title=All About Ships & Shipping |place=London |publisher=Faber and Faber |edition=3rd }}
- {{cite book |last1=Osborne |first1=Richard |last2=Spong |first2=Harry |last3=Grover |first3=Tom |year=2007 |title=Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878–1945 |place=Windsor |publisher=World Ship Society |isbn=978-0-9543310-8-5 |name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book |last1=Shores |first1=Christopher |last2=Cull |first2=Brian |last3=Izawa |first3=Yasuho |title=Bloody Shambles: Volume Two: The Defence of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma |year=1993 |location=London |publisher=Grub Street |isbn=0-948817-67-4}}
- {{cite book |last=Talbot-Booth |first=EC |year=1936 |title=Ships and the Sea |edition=Third |place=London |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd }}
{{April 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hector}}
Category:World War II Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy
Category:Cruisers sunk by aircraft
Category:Maritime incidents in April 1942
Category:Ocean liners of the United Kingdom
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde
Category:Ships of the Blue Funnel Line
Category:Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft