HMS Cyclops (F31)

HMS Cyclops off the Isle of Bute, circa 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Cyclops
Builder: Sir James Laing & Son (Sunderland, U.K.)
Launched: 27 October 1905
Commissioned: 5 November 1907
Nickname(s): Cycle Box
Fate: Scrapped in 1947
General characteristics
Displacement: 11,300 long tons (11,500 t)
Length: 145.1 m (476 ft 1 in) o/a
Beam: 16.8 m (55 ft 1 in)
Draught: 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in)
Propulsion: Triple Expansion Engines = 1100 indicated horse power
Speed:
  • 13 knots (15 mph; 24 km/h)
  • 25.5 kn (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h) full
Complement: 266
Armament: Two 4 inch MkV naval guns

HMS Cyclops (F31) was a submarine repair and depot ship of the Royal Navy. She was originally the passenger liner Indrabarah sister ship to Indralema, built by Laing, for the Indra Line Ltd then bought by The Admiralty, while she was building. She was launched 27 October 1905.

Cyclops was 460 feet (140.2 m) long between perpendiculars and 476 feet (145.1 m) overall, with a beam of 55 feet (16.8 m).[1] See also HMS Titania.

Career

Cyclops served during the First World War as a repair ship with the Grand Fleet where she served the whole of the War at Scapa Flow.[2] She was paid off 1 April 1919, then was recommissioned for White Sea duty at Archangel. She returned to Chatham in October 1919 and on 31 January 1920 went into reserve for refit and conversion to a submarine depot ship, commissioning for the 1st Submarine Flotilla , Atlantic Fleet, on 21 December 1922 at Chatham Dockyard.

Between the wars HMS Cyclops served in Malta and was in reserve at the start of the Second World War before returning to Home Waters in late 1939 as the depot ship for the Royal Navy's 7th Submarine Flotilla based in Rothesay

Between November 1939 and May 1940 "Cyclops" was the depot ship for the 3rd Submarine Flotilla, based at Parkeston Quay, Harwich Harbour. Her 6 S-class submarines reconnoitred and raided in the Heligoland Bight and off Denmark. She was nicknamed "Cycle Box". In December 1939 she used her 4-inch guns to engage a German seaplane attacking the harbour.

On 6 May 1942, HMS H 28 (Lt. R.E. Boddington, RN), HMS H 32 (Lt. J. Whitton, RN), HMS P 614 (Lt. D.J. Beckley, RN) conducted practice attacks on a convoy made up of the submarine tenders HMS Cyclops (Capt. R.L.M. Edwards, RN), HMS Titania (Cdr. H.R. Conway, RN) and their escort HMS Breda (Capt.(Retd.) A. E. Johnston, RN), HMS La Capricieuse (Lt.Cdr. G.W. Dobson, RNR) and HMS Boarhound (formerly HMS Terje 2 (FY315), renamed on 19 Jan 1941) (Skr. S.G. Jinks, RNR).

In 1944 she sailed from Rothesay to Singapore via India and returned to the UK in 1946.

Facilities

Cyclops was well served with a distilling plant for fresh water, machinery, carpenters' and blacksmiths' shops, coppersmiths', iron, and brass foundrys.

Commanders

NameFromTo
Capt. Philip Ruck-Keene, RN15 Nov 193927 May 1940
A/Capt. Edward Henry Longsdon RN27 May 194011 Jul 1940
A/Capt. Roderick Latimer Mackenzie Edwards RN11 Jul 19405 Apr 1943
A/Capt. Cdr. Harold Robson Conway, RN5 Apr 194330 Oct 1944
Cdr. Benjamin Bryant DSO, DSC, RN,30 Oct 19444 Feb 1945
A/Capt. David Caldicott Ingram, DSC, OBE, RN5 Feb 19451946

Fate

Cyclops was sold to John Cashmore Ltd and scrapped at Newport in July 1947.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Engineer 23 July 1909, p. 77.
  2. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 292.

Publications

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • "H.M.S. Cyclops, Floating Repair Shop for the Navy" (PDF). The Engineer. 108: 77–79. 23 July 1909.
  • J P Foynes "The Battle of the East Coast 1939-1945" and "Who was to Blame for the Loss of HMS Gipsy".
  • G W G Simpson "Periscope View".
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