HMS Cleopatra was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited (Hebburn-on-Tyne, UK), with the keel being laid down on 5 January 1939. She was launched on 27 March 1940, and commissioned 5 December 1941.

History

Cleopatra went out to Gibraltar early in 1942 , and on 9 February she sailed for Malta, where she was immediately damaged by a bomb. After repair she was transferred to Alexandria early in March for the 15th Cruiser Squadron, and took part in the Second Battle of Sirte. In June 1942 she covered Operation Harpoon and Vigorous, and in August bombarded Rhodes as a diversion for the Operation Pedestal convoy.

Cleopatra was drydocked in Massawa on September 19 1942 for minor repairs and cleaning and was undocked five days later. During the refloating, she slipped on the angled drydock, crushing every wooden keel block on the dock but sustaining little hull damage to herself. Captain G. Grantham considered the resulting leak a minor nuisance and ordered Cleopatra to return to service.

By January 1943 Cleopatra was part of Force "K", later Force "Q" at Bône, from where the Axis traffic to and from Tunisia was attacked. Later she was a unit of the 12th Cruiser Squadron, and was present at the landings in Sicily, Operation Husky, in June, followed by supporting the army ashore. However, on 16 July 1943 Cleopatra was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Dandolo and again badly damaged. Temporary repairs were made at Malta which lasted until October 1943, after which she sailed to Philadelphia, USA for full repairs.

These were completed in November 1944, and in 1945 she went out to the East Indies, where she was the first ship into the newly recaptured base at Singapore in September. Cleopatra served postwar with the 5th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies until returning to Portsmouth on 7 February 1946 to refit.

Thereafter she joined the Home Fleet, 2nd Cruiser Squadron, from 1946 to early 1951 and later served in the Mediterranean from late 1951 to early 1953, but returned to Chatham on 12 February 1953 to be paid off. On 15 December 1958 she arrived at the Newport yard of J Cashmore for breaking up.

References

• WWII cruisers
• HMS Cleopatra at Uboat.net