HMS Royalist was a "Dido" Class cruiser of 5,770 tons standard displacement with a main armament of 8-5.25 guns. She was built by Messrs Scott at Greenock, launched on 30 May 1942 and completed on 10 September 1943. She was attached to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.
On 30 March 1944 the ROYALIST left Scapa with the Home Fleet for a carrier-borne air strike against the German battleship TIRPITZ in Kaa Fjord, Norway, (Operation "Tungsten"). The enemy was caught napping, suffered very serious damage and was last seen to be burning fiercely. On 26 April, she again escorted a carrier force, this time against enemy shipping off the coast of Norway, and similar operations, "Hoops" and "Potluck" were also carried out on 8 and 14/15 May respectively, the ROYALIST again acting as one of the escorts. After refit in the Tyne, she left on 12 July for the Mediterranean.
In August 1944 the ROYALIST took part in Operation "Dragoon" the Allied landing in Southern France, as the flagship of Task Force 88, the Escort Carrier Force under the command of Rear-Admiral T H Troubridge, after which she proceeded with the same force to operate in the Aegean. On the night of 14/15 September, with the destroyer TEAZER, she intercepted two armed blockade runners to the north of Suda Bay, Crete. Both were sunk after a spirited resistance. The ROYALIST bombarded the island of Milos on the night of 3/4 October, hitting a shore battery and a beached coaster.
She continued to serve in the Mediterranean until the end of October when she left for the United Kingdom and arrived at Portsmouth on 8 November, sailing again on 10th for Alexandria which she reached on 2 December.
The ROYALIST was under repair and refit at Alexandria until the beginning of February 1945 after which she continued to operate from there as the flagship of the 21st Carrier Squadron, until March when she left to join the East Indies Fleet.
In May 1945 the ROYALIST took part in Operation "Dracula", the assault on Rangoon, flying the broad pendant of Commodore G N Oliver, AC21; and later that month, in Force 61 which was led by the QUEEN ELIZABETH, participated in Operation "Dukedom" with the aim of intercepting Japanese ships in the Malacca Strait.
On 18/20 June 1945, still as the flagship of 21st Carrier Squadron, the Royalist took part in Operation "Balsam" which had the dual object of photographic reconnaissance over southern Malaya, and fighter strikes against Sumatra airfields.
The ROYALIST left Trincomalee on 10 August 1945 with Force 61 of the East Indies Fleet to attack shipping and airfields in the Penang and Medan areas, but in view of Japan's offer to surrender, the operation ("Carson") was abandoned. On 9 September she was one of the ships covering Operation "Zipper", the occupation of western Malaya, and on 12 September was present at the ceremony marking the Japanese surrender of Singapore.
The ROYALIST took part in signing of surrender in Singapore before leaving for the UK and a long awaited spot of leave.
Before leaving home fleet, ROYALIST took part in an operation called "The Great Deceit". Sailing north of the Arctic Circle, the Germans thought we had a big convoy on route to Russia and this kept their "U" Boats away from the D-Day landing. It worked very well!
The ROYALIST continued to operate with the East Indies Fleet (5th Cruiser Squadron) until the beginning of December, leaving Trincomalee on 12 September for the United Kingdom, and arriving at the end of January 1946 where she was reduced to Reserve. She transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1956 and was sold in November 1967 to a Japanese company in Osaka for breaking up.
Battle Honours:
Weser 1813
Jutland 1916
Aegean 1944
South France 1944
Burma 1945
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Note: These details were put together by Alec Farminer who served on the ROYALIST, and were posted on the website of the Netley Branch of the Royal Naval Association. Alec died on 28th December 1999. As the website is no longer accessible I have taken the liberty of posting this information here.
Gibraltar SG MS779