Part of the Acorn Archive

Hearts of Oak

 

 

 

Namesakes

 

HMS PENZANCE

L28; 1,025 tons Bridgwater class sloop.

29^th July 1929  Laid down

10^th April 1930  Launched  Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, UK

15^th January 1931 Commissioned

Sunk 24th August 1940 (Position 56.16N : 27.19W)

HMS PENZANCE ( Captain : Cdr Allan J. Wavish, RN ) left Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on 15 August 1940, as sole escort of Convoy SC-1; but she was torpedoed and sunk on 24 August 1940 in the North Atlantic, SW of Iceland by U-37. 90 men went down with the ship. BLAIRMORE picked up the seven surviviors; she was later attacked by the same submarine and torpedoed. The survivors again abandoned ship; later rescued by the Swedish merchant ship EKNAREN and taken to Baltimore, Maryland, USA 

 

HMS PENZANCE

Sandown class minehunter M106

Built Woolston shipyard (Southampton)

Launched 1997

Commissioned Portsmouth 14^th May 1998

 

HMS MOUNTS BAY

K627; F627; Loch Class Frigate

(Ex HMS Loch Kilbernie) 

Built William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd., Sunderland 

Launched 8^th June 1945 

Commissioned 11^th April 1946

15^th August 1950  HMCS CAYUGA and HMS MOUNTS BAY

shell Yosu, North Korea. 

 

HMS CORNWALL

Heavy Cruiser 10,000 tons

Laid down 9^th October 1924

Launched 11^th March 1926

Commissioned 8^th May 1928

8^th May 1941 HMS CORNWALL sinks the German raider PINGUIN near the Seychelles Islands.

2^nd April 1942 Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville, Commander of the British Eastern Fleet, changes course for Addu Atoll with the main part of his fleet. HMS CORNWALL is sent to escort convoy SU-4 bound for Aden.

4^th April 1942 British heavy cruisers HMS CORNWALL and DORSETSHIRE sail from Colombo at 2200 hours to rejoin the British Eastern Fleet

 

PINGUIN; formerly the KANDELFELS of the Hansa Line

Built 1936; 7,766 tons; crew of 420

She sailed from Bremen 22^nd June 1940, under command of Capt Ernst-Felix Krüger, on a cruise that lasted nearly 11 months and extended from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic.

PINGUIN had many victims in that time ….

DOMINGO DE LARRINAGA, FILEFJETT, BRITISH COMMANDER, MORVIKEN, BENAVON, NORDVARD, STORSTAD, NOWSHERA, NAIMOA, PORT BRISBANE, PORT WELLINGTON, OLE WEGGER, SOLGLIMT, PELAGOS, EMPIRE LIGHT, CLAN BUCHANAN

and BRITISH EMPEROR.

On 7^th May 1941, the PINGUIN intercepted and sank the British tanker BRITISH EMPEROR about 350 miles S. of Socotra Island but not before the tanker had sent out a "raider" warning. This was picked up by the British cruiser HMS CORNWALL, under Capt. P. G. W. Manwaring, some 500 miles to southward, and headed to the reported position.

PINGUIN was first to open fire, at 5.15 pm, scoring hits which damaged the cruiser's steering gear but HMS CORNWALL soon began to register with her 8 in. guns and eventually the PINGUIN blew up and sank at 5.32pm. Capt. Krüger, 340 of his crew and a large number of prisoners were killed, 60 of the crew and 27 prisoners were picked up by HMS CORNWALL.

 

~~~o~~o~~~

 

 

Raymond Forward