{"id":96893,"date":"2022-08-03T17:31:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=96893"},"modified":"2022-08-03T17:31:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:31:53","slug":"hms-ceylon-in-service-from-1942-1985-by-michael-roberts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/hms-ceylon-in-service-from-1942-1985-by-michael-roberts\/","title":{"rendered":"HMS \u201cCeylon\u201d: In Service from 1942-1985-by Michael Roberts"},"content":{"rendered":"

HMS \u201cCeylon\u201d: In Service from 1942-1985-by Michael Roberts<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/strong>Thuppahis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Group Captain\u00a0<\/em>Kumar Kirinde,\u00a0Retd. SLAF whose preferred title is indicated at the end together with detials from one inspiration, that from Richard Boyle.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Royal<\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction:\u00a0\u00a0HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy.\u00a0<\/strong>She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island and British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The cruiser saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific theatres during the Second World War. In the postwar era, she participated in actions in Egypt and the Korean War. In 1960 she transferred to the navy of Peru and was renamed Coronel Bolognesi. The cruiser was scrapped in 1985.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

SERVICE HISTORY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Wartime career<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Built by Stephens at Govan and launched on 30 July 1942, she was completed on 13 July 1943. After two months in the Home Fleet, she was transferred to the 4th Cruiser Squadron, with the Eastern Fleet and took part in many carrier raids, bombardments, and patrols against Japanese-held territory, including Operations Cockpit, Meridian, and Diplomat. In November 1944 she joined the British Pacific Fleet and sailed from Trincomalee on 16 January, taking part in a raid on Pankalan Bradan en route. By May 1945, however, she was back in the Indian Ocean, shelling the Nicobar Islands, and remained in that theatre until the end of the war. In October 1945 she returned to England for refit and lay-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A\u00a0depth charge<\/a>\u00a0explodes after it had been dropped from\u00a0HMS Ceylon<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Postwar<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Postwar, she served in the Portsmouth Command during 1946\/50, followed by the 5th and 4th Cruiser Squadrons on the Far East and East Indies stations. She was actively engaged in the Korean War, carrying out a number of bombardments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon, in poor condition, was given a major refit from March 1955 to July 1956 to suit her for further service until the Tiger-class cruisers could enter service. New long range air warning radar and ESM system were fitted, and the height finder radar was upgraded. Fire control for the ship\u2019s 4-inch guns was provided with radar mounted on the gun mount and short-range anti-aircraft defence was provided by an outfit of eighteen 40mm guns with Simple Tachymetric directors (STD).<\/span><\/p>\n

After trials with the new equipment, in late 1956, Ceylon was deployed to the Mediterranean where she provided long range gunfire support to suppress Egyptian shore battery emplacements at Port Said in support of the British Army and Royal Marine landings. A Communication Officer on the cruiser describes Ceylon\u2019s bombardment as relatively brief, as the Egyptian batteries did not return fire. Later in the operation Ceylon served as an air direction picket. \u00a0Between 1956 and 1959 she served in the Mediterranean Fleet, Home Fleet and East of Suez.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peruvian service<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On 18 December 1959, she returned to Portsmouth and was sold to Peru the same month. The disposal of the Ceylon, only three years after its modernisation, came as a shock to its last captain, Frank Twiss. On 9 February 1960, she was transferred to the Peruvian Navy and renamed Coronel Bolognesi.\u00a0She spent over twenty years with the Peruvians until she was finally deleted from the Navy List in May 1982 and towed to Taiwan in August 1985 to be scrapped.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pic:\u00a0https:\/\/scontent.fmel12-1.fna.fbcdn.net\/&#8230<\/a>;<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

A Warship called HMS Ceylon<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

by Richard Boyle, \u2026\u2026\u2026\u00a0<\/strong>9th April 1998<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1959 a surplus British cruiser christened\u00a0HMS Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was sold to the Peruvian Navy and renamed the culinary-sounding\u00a0Coronel Bolognesi<\/em>. With the sale of this warship, the Royal Navy relinquished what was in fact the last of three vessels to have been named after the island over the past 200 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

And as the last\u00a0HMS Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>had been stationed at Trincomalee during and after the Second World War, with the ship\u2019s sale its links with the island became obscured.<\/span><\/p>\n

HMS Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0had the distinction of being the first of the Uganda class of cruiser, a modification of the Fiji class. The Uganda class was conceived as a direct result of the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936, which came into force a year later.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Treaty limited the standard displacement of cruisers to 8000 tons and at the same time raised the number of such ships each navy was allowed to build.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Stephens shipyard<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>and the two other cruisers of her class were, in effect, 9000-ton cruisers built on an 8000-ton hull. The necessary weight reduction was achieved mostly at the expense of the safety and comfort of the crew, for protective metal plating had been minimised and accommodation severely restricted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was built at the shipyard of Alex Stephens and Son at Govan on Clydeside, Scotland. Curiously, although she was the first of her class to be laid down in April 1939, she was the last to be completed \u2013 in July 1943.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was 555 feet in length, with a beam of 62 feet, and had 9 six-inch guns neatly housed within three totally enclosed and armoured turrets.\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>also had 8 four-inch guns mounted in pairs, eight 4Omm Bofors guns mounted in two sets of four, two-pounder AA guns and a number of twin and single barelled 20mm AA guns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two mountings carrying three torpedoes each were located on either side of the ship. Some 900 officers and ratings were required to crew her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0had 4 three-drum Admiralty type boilers that generated 400 pounds per square inch of super-heated steam. This powered the Parson turbines which developed a total of 72,500 shaft horsepower that drove the ship\u2019s four propellers. She had steam turbines to drive her electrical generators, with a diesel-driven back-up for emergencies. And her compound evaporators, located in the engine room, produced approximately 66 tons of fresh water daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

On completion,\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>was allocated to the British Eastern Fleet, (BEF), which was at that time being expanded for the war against Japan. After commissioning,\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>left the port of Plymouth, England, in October 1943 on her journey to Trincomalee, her designated station.<\/span><\/p>\n

She arrived in late November and joined the venerable battleship Ramillies, and the 4th Cruiser Squadron, consisting of\u00a0Newcastle, Suffold, Forbisher, Kenya, Danae, Emerald\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Hawkins<\/em>, in the magnificent harbour.<\/span><\/p>\n

The British Eastern Fleet had been under the command of Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville, GCB, KBE, DSO, for nearly two years. Somerville is remembered as one of the decisive players in the drama of the Japanese air raids on\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>in April 1942. Newly appointed, he had arrived in Colombo on March 24, 1942, and immediately warned the captains of his fleet that a Japanese attack on the island could be expected in the very near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Somerville saved his ships from possible destruction by the Japanese fleet (commanded by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo) by sailing out of Ceylon waters and sheltering near a secret base at Addu Atoll in the Maldives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sensible though this precaution was, \u201cit was scarcely a situation Somerville could relish\u201d, as Michael Tomlinson states in his excellent book on the episode,\u00a0The Most Dangerous Moment<\/em>\u00a0(1976).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the event the Eastern Fleet had made not a single offensive move against the Japanese. Had it been, otherwise, historians of the future would not be able to aver, as they doubtless will, that the last major action ever to be fought by the Royal Navy with a fleet of comparable size was at Trafalgar. For such a fleet will never sail again under the white Ensign and the only opportunity for such a battle to present itself in World War II was here in the Indian Ocean\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a good thing that Somerville erred on the side of caution, for with the increase in naval power since the Battle of Trafalgar, any fleet action would have led to terrible carnage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Ceylon\u2019s mercifully brief encounter with the hostilities of the Second World War might have been extended with such a naval battle in the proximity of the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Churchill who said that at Jutland, Admiral Jellicoe had the chance to lose the war in the course of a single afternoon. Might not Admiral Somerville have had in mind that he had been placed in the same unenviable position?\u201d asks Tomlinson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0arrived at Trincomalee just weeks after the final Japanese skirmish with the island\u2019s defenders. This was when huge four engined Kawanishi Type 1 flying-boats (\u201cEmilys\u201d) appeared over Colombo and Trincomalee on a Poya night seeking confirmation that the BEF was returning to Ceylon waters.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of these planes dropped bombs on the east coast. However, by then the island had radar-equipped Beaufighters, and two of the Emilys were shot down, one off Colombo and one off Trincomalee.<\/span><\/p>\n

One month after the arrival of\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>, the BEF was reinforced further with the addition of the battleships\u00a0Queen Eizabeth\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Valiant<\/em>, the battle cruiser\u00a0Renown<\/em>\u00a0and the aircraft carriers\u00a0Illustrious\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Unicorn<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 21, 1944,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was part of the fleet that left Trincomalee and Colombo for Operation Diplomat. Three days later, the warships of the BEF metup with the US Task Force 58. Five consisting of the aircraft carrierUSS Saratoga\u00a0<\/em>and her three attendant destroyers. This joint force then returned to Trincomalee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its purpose became apparent on April 16, when the fleet set out eastwards in two groups \u2013 Task Force 69 (including\u00a0Ceylon)<\/em>\u00a0under Admiral Somerville, and Task Force 70 under the American, Vice Admiral Power.<\/span><\/p>\n

On April18\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was assigned to reinforce TF70 and its aircraft carriers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Operation Cockpit commenced the next day when 46 bombers and 39 fighters took off from the carriers to attack Sabaing, northwest of Sumatra, where Japanese oil installations and airfields were located.<\/span><\/p>\n

Action<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Two merchantmen and two destroyers were set ablaze, 24 bombers were destroyed on the ground, and oil tanks, a power station, barracks and the dockyard all received direct hits. Somerville reported in the \u2018Colonel Blimp\u2019 idiom of the day, \u201cwe caught the Japanese commander with his kimono up!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0nearly saw action for the first time on the return journey when Japanese planes carrying torpedoes tried to attack the fleet, but they were all shot down short of their target by carrier-based fighters.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was part of the covering force that accompanied the aircraft carrier\u00a0Illustrious<\/em>\u00a0in an air attack on the harbour and airfield at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In July, when the aircraft carriers\u00a0Illustrious<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Victorious\u00a0<\/em>sailed from Trincomalee for another air attack on Sabaing,\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>and other cruisers and battleships of the BEF sailed with them. Operation Crimson included a bombardment of Sabaing in which\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>took part.<\/span><\/p>\n

Somerville relinquished command of the BEF in November when it was reorganised into the British East Indies Fleet and British Pacific Fleet under Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser.\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was allocated to the latter fleet, which included many newly arrived ships, such as the battleships\u00a0King George V<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Howe<\/em>, the aircraft carriers\u00a0Indefatigable\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Indomitable,<\/em>\u00a0a handful of cruisers, and three destroyer flotillas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Year1945 opened with an attack by planes from the\u00a0Indomitable\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Indefatigable<\/em>\u00a0on oil refineries at Pankalan Brandon in Sumatra.\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>, together with three other cruisers and six destroyers, provided the cover for Operation Lentil, as it was called.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several weeks later,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0left Trincomlaee to join other ships destined to become the British Pacific Fleet and steamed towards Sydney, Australia. On the voyage, the fleet was refuelled at sea. Afterwards,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0stayed to protect the oilers while the remainder of the fleet took part in an air raid on an oil refinery north of Palembang, which turned out to be the first of the two largest strikes undertaken by the Fleet Air Arm during World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second came a few days later when the fleet attacked other oil refineries at Soengei Gerong. Refueling was then undertaken once again, and while the fleet proceeded to Australia,\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>escorted the oilers to Trincomalee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Film archivist Roland R. Smith has spent years in a personal crusade searching for old and obscure footage of Royal Navy ships and naval operations. I was delighted to discover that one of a series of recently released videos of archival film compiled by Smith is on the British Pacific Fleet and features the whole Palembang Operation, starting from the time the fleet left Trincomalee, until its arrival in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

This previously unknown and unseen footage of Trincomalee is an important addition to the film archives of the island. It is quite possible that there is other archival film of the period, such as of Royal Air Force operations, lying around somewhere in England.<\/span><\/p>\n

While\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was involved in the Palembang Operation, one of her sister ships was on her way from Colombo to Australia to become part of the British Pacific Fleet. There is a curious story behind this ship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Named\u00a0HMS Uganda\u00a0<\/em>after her class, she was the first to be completed. By the time\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>had arrived at Trincomalee in December 1943,\u00a0Uganda\u00a0<\/em>had already seen action in the Mediterranean, suffered a direct hit from a massive glider<\/span><\/p>\n

bomb, undergone extensive repairs in America, and finally acquired by the Royal Canadian Navy and re-named\u00a0HMCS Quebec<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

She arrived in Australia and joined first the British Pacific Fleet and then the US Third Fleet. While this was going on, the Canadian government wanted the crew to volunteer for the war in the Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dubious distinction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The crew, for one reason or another, was under the impression that they had volunteered for hostilities only set against Canada, but now they found themselves in a war zone on the far side of the Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n

When ordered to re-volunteer they voted \u201cno\u201d, and\u00a0Quebec<\/em>\u00a0was recalled to Canada. She therefore has the dubious distinction of being the only warship to vote itself out of the war. It is ironic that she was sold prematurely for scrap to the Japanese in 1956.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0joined the East Indies Fleet and in April took part in the covering operation of the invasion of Rangoon alongside a handful of cruisers and the aircraft carriers\u00a0Shah\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Empress.<\/em>\u00a0For the next few days the force shuttled between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, bombarding air fields and installations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The day after the operation concluded on 8 May, all the ships in the force celebrated Victory in Europe Day, but within 24 hours they had returned to Trincomalee, ready to continue the war against Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0patrolled the Andaman Sea during June, no enemy activity was reported. After the war in the Far East was officially over on 15 August, the main activity of both fleets was to accept the Japanese surrender in the scattered areas where they had been in control.<\/span><\/p>\n

In late August\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was part of a task force that accepted the surrender of Penang, and the next month she participated in the re-occupation of Malaya by British forces.<\/span><\/p>\n

So ended\u00a0Ceylon\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0duties during the Second World War. In two years, she had travelled all over South East Asian waters, but had always been based in her namesake island. Fortunately for her and her crew, she had escaped any serious fighting, and sustained minimum damage.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October 1945 she returned to Portsmouth where she became part of the Reserve Fleet. However, this was not to be the end of\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>. Nor was it to be the end of her association with the island, for in 1950 she was recommissioned and sent back to Trincomalee.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Korean War had started, and on July7,\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Belfast\u00a0<\/em>(which during the 1960s was used as the venue of the Wilson-Smith Rhodesian Independence talks, and later became a tourist attraction in London) left Trincomalee for the Pacific. For the next two years\u00a0Ceylon\u00a0<\/em>was employed in endless patrols and bombardments. She was relieved in July 1952, and while her crew returned home, she was refitted at Singapore before being recommissioned for further service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was present at the inauguration of the Maldive Islands as a Republic in January 1953, and a year later she escorted the S. S.\u00a0Gothic<\/em>, which carried Queen Ellzabeth II, from the Cocos Islands to Hobart, Australia. She returned to Portsmouth in October 1954, had a two-year refit, and was then allocated to a cruiser squadron formed as a response to the crisis over the Suez Canal.<\/span><\/p>\n

This squadron escorted a carrier force which landed troops in Egypt as part of Operation Musketeer Revise. After the landings,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0returned to Portsmouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

On October 15,1957 she was back at Trincomalee for the handing over of the Royal Navy base. A year later she took part in the evacuation of British troops sent to Jordan to meet a threatened invasion by Iraq (few remember this earlier Iraq crisis).<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1959 she flew the flag of the Second-in-Command, Far East Station, Rear Admiral V.C Begg, in a cruise to New Zealand and back. Between July and September, she was again his flagship in a cruise to Colombo to take part in Exercise Jet.<\/span><\/p>\n

The end<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This was to be the last visit by\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0to the island, for when she returned to Portsmouth in December 1959 it was announced that she had been sold to Peru. According to Vice-Admiral Javier Llerena, who served in the\u00a0Coronel Bolognesi<\/em>\u00a0as captain, the ship performed her duties for the Peruvian Navy efficiently until she was decommissioned in 1982.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what happened to her after that? Did she, as seems likely, meet an ignominious end in the breaker\u2019s yard?<\/span><\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier,\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0was the third and last Royal Navy ship to be named after the island. The first of her name was originally built as an East Indiaman and named\u00a0Bombay<\/em>. She was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1806 and converted into a 5th Rate frigate of 32 guns. Her name was changed to\u00a0Ceylon<\/em>\u00a0in 1808. Two years later she was captured by the French Navy but was recaptured the very same day. In 1817 she was converted into a troopship and from 1832 she was used as a receiving ship at Malta.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second of her name was built as a private pleasure yacht in 1871 and originally named\u00a0Lady Ina<\/em>. At the beginning of the First World War she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and renamed\u00a0HMS<\/em>\u00a0Ceylon.<\/em>\u00a0This vessel served in the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles from June 1915 to May 1916 before being returned to her owners.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HMS \u201cCeylon\u201d: In Service from 1942-1985-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Group Captain\u00a0Kumar Kirinde,\u00a0Retd. SLAF whose preferred title is indicated at the end together with detials from one inspiration, that from Richard Boyle. Introduction:\u00a0\u00a0HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy.\u00a0She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island and British colony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,42710],"tags":[46247,33745],"class_list":{"0":"post-96893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"category-michael-roberts","9":"tag-pankalan-bradan","10":"tag-royal-navy","11":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"\nHMS \u201cCeylon\u201d: In Service from 1942-1985-by Michael Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Introduction:\u00a0\u00a0HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy.\u00a0She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, 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