HOWE HMS 1942
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:59 pm
Built as battleship under yard No 669 by Fairfield Govan for the Royal Navy.
01 June 1937 laid down, intended name HMS BEATTY, but in February 1940 renamed.
09 April 1940 launched under the name HMS HOWE, named after Admiral Richard Howe.
Displacement 36.727 tons standard, 42.076 tons full load. Dim. 227.1 x 31.4 x 10.5m. (draught).
Powered by Parsons single reduction geared turbines 110.000 shp., four shafts, speed 29.3 knots.
Range 13.000 miles by 10 knots.
Armament 10 – 14 inch, 16 – 5.25 inch, 48 – 2pdr. AA.
Aircraft two.
Complement 1.640.
29 August 1942 commissioned.
After commissioned she went to Scapa Flow for trials and working up, joining the Home Fleet.
07 February 1943 she sailed from Scapa Flow for escort duty to cover the convoys to North Russia.
Convoy RA 51 from North Russia to Loch Ewe, sailed 30 December 1943, the HOWE did give distance cover with other ships of the Home Fleet
She did give distance cover of convoy JW 53 from 24 February to 26 February 1943., a convoy from Loch Ewe to North Russia, and the return convoy which sailed 01 March from Kola Inlet.
Then she was sent to Iceland to look for German raiders, and returned to Scapa Flow in the end of April.
21 May she sailed from Scapa to join Force H in the Mediterranean for the Sicily landings, and she was based at Algiers.
She covered troop convoys and carried bombardments at Favignana and Trapani.
When the Italian surrendered she went to Taranto, at that time she was flagship of the Vice-Admiral of Force H.
October 1943 she returned to the U.K. for a refit.
End June 1944 she sailed from Scapa Flow to join the Eastern Fleet, after arrival she bombarded railway repair works on the north east coast of Sumatra, together with two aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers in company.
December 1944 she sailed from Trincomalee for Fremantle, Australia as flagship of the Commander-in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser.
January 1945 arrived at Manus, and together with other warships took part in the Allied invasion of Okinawa and she bombarded targets on Miyako without much opposition.
June 1945 she sailed via Sydney to Durban for a refit.
20 September 1945 she was back in the East Indies Fleet.
09 January 1946 she arrived back in the U.K.
After arrival she became the flagship of Admiral Sir A.J.Power of the Second Battle Squadron, Home Fleet.
Later joined the Training Squadron before she was decommissioned and mothballed in Gareloch in 1951.
04 June 1958 she arrived by Ward, Inverkeithing for breaking up.
Sources: some web-sites. Ships of the Royal Navy by J.J. Colledge. British Battleships 1892-1957 by Cdr. Randolph Pears. Convoys to Russia by Ruegg & Hague.
01 June 1937 laid down, intended name HMS BEATTY, but in February 1940 renamed.
09 April 1940 launched under the name HMS HOWE, named after Admiral Richard Howe.
Displacement 36.727 tons standard, 42.076 tons full load. Dim. 227.1 x 31.4 x 10.5m. (draught).
Powered by Parsons single reduction geared turbines 110.000 shp., four shafts, speed 29.3 knots.
Range 13.000 miles by 10 knots.
Armament 10 – 14 inch, 16 – 5.25 inch, 48 – 2pdr. AA.
Aircraft two.
Complement 1.640.
29 August 1942 commissioned.
After commissioned she went to Scapa Flow for trials and working up, joining the Home Fleet.
07 February 1943 she sailed from Scapa Flow for escort duty to cover the convoys to North Russia.
Convoy RA 51 from North Russia to Loch Ewe, sailed 30 December 1943, the HOWE did give distance cover with other ships of the Home Fleet
She did give distance cover of convoy JW 53 from 24 February to 26 February 1943., a convoy from Loch Ewe to North Russia, and the return convoy which sailed 01 March from Kola Inlet.
Then she was sent to Iceland to look for German raiders, and returned to Scapa Flow in the end of April.
21 May she sailed from Scapa to join Force H in the Mediterranean for the Sicily landings, and she was based at Algiers.
She covered troop convoys and carried bombardments at Favignana and Trapani.
When the Italian surrendered she went to Taranto, at that time she was flagship of the Vice-Admiral of Force H.
October 1943 she returned to the U.K. for a refit.
End June 1944 she sailed from Scapa Flow to join the Eastern Fleet, after arrival she bombarded railway repair works on the north east coast of Sumatra, together with two aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers in company.
December 1944 she sailed from Trincomalee for Fremantle, Australia as flagship of the Commander-in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser.
January 1945 arrived at Manus, and together with other warships took part in the Allied invasion of Okinawa and she bombarded targets on Miyako without much opposition.
June 1945 she sailed via Sydney to Durban for a refit.
20 September 1945 she was back in the East Indies Fleet.
09 January 1946 she arrived back in the U.K.
After arrival she became the flagship of Admiral Sir A.J.Power of the Second Battle Squadron, Home Fleet.
Later joined the Training Squadron before she was decommissioned and mothballed in Gareloch in 1951.
04 June 1958 she arrived by Ward, Inverkeithing for breaking up.
Sources: some web-sites. Ships of the Royal Navy by J.J. Colledge. British Battleships 1892-1957 by Cdr. Randolph Pears. Convoys to Russia by Ruegg & Hague.