Some more of HMS/HMNZS Janie Seddon
NZD – New Zealand Division of Royal Navy
HMS Leith was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Navy/NZ Div of RN that served in the Second World War.
NZ Service – Leith was ordered on 1 November 1932 under the 1931 Programme. She was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 6 February 1933, launched on 9 September 1933 and commissioned on 10 July 1934. She was initially assigned to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, manned by the Chatham Port Division. Leith arrived at Auckland on 13 November 1934, and was deployed in the Pacific and locally in New Zealand waters.[1] She was recommissioned in December 1936 in order to continue to serve with the New Zealand Division and was again in July 1939. She had an active career in the Pacific, making numerous visits to Colonial possessions, and on one occasion taking Salote Tupou III, Queen of Tonga on a visit to outlying islands
HMS Leith Pae Koroki, Tauranga 1937.
The Pacific and return to the UK[edit]
The outbreak of the Second World War saw Leith still in the Pacific. In September 1939 she sailed to Singapore to carry out contraband control duty on the China Station. During the passage she called at Jervis Bay, Australia. Leith was deployed at Penang to carry out contraband control, and also to carry out surveillance on enemy ships in Dutch East Indies ports.[1] She was recalled from these duties in November and was ordered to sail to the UK to carry out convoy defence duties in Home Waters. She sailed from Penang on 7 November, travelling via the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. She arrived at Gibraltar, where she was diverted to go to Freetown to join as an escort for an Atlantic convoy. She joined Convoy SL 14 at Freetown on 26 December, escorting it to the UK.[1] On arrival Leith was deployed to escort convoys. On 10 January she was diverted to join the sloops HMS Aberdeen and Bideford, and the destroyers Vidette, Wanderer, Warwick and Witch in escorting the inbound Convoy HG 14 into Liverpool. Leith was detached on 12 January and took passage for a refit at Penarth. The following day she was taken in hand by a commercial shipyard.[1]
Covering the Western Approaches[edit]
After the completion of the refit in February she was nominated to serve with the Western Approaches Command. She joined the command at Liverpool on 2 February. On 11 February she joined the outbound Convoy OG 18 with HMS Bideford, and the destroyers HMS Active and Versatile. Leith and Bideford were detached on 17 February and joined the inbound Convoy HG 19, until 27 February. This pattern of convoy escort duties was followed throughout March to July. In July she was transferred to the Rosyth Escort Force for convoy defence in the North Western Approaches and North Sea.[1] She was soon withdrawn from operational service to attend to a fault in her No 1 Boiler. She was repaired at Belfast. After post-repair trials she resumed services with the Western Approaches Command on 12 August with the 41st Escort Group based at Liverpool. Here she covered the final stages of convoys between Gibraltar and Freetown.[1] On 28 August she picked up 27 survivors from the Finnish merchant Elle which had been sunk north-east of Ireland by German submarine U-101.[2]
Convoy SC 7[edit]
In October she deployed with the sloop HMS Folkestone and the Flower-class corvettes Bluebell and Heartsease for the defence of the Atlantic convoys during the journey to the dispersal point of the outward convoys and for the final stage of the passage of the inward convoys. On 13 October she joined the outbound Convoy OB 228 from Liverpool to its dispersal point. On 16 October U-93 attacked Leith. She sighted the submarine on the surface and forced her to submerge. Leith then carried out an unsuccessful search for her attacker with HMS Heartsease.[1] The escorts were detached from the convoy on 17 October and sailed to join the inbound Convoy SC 7. On 18 October she rescued 19 survivors from the Estonian merchant Nora which had been torpedoed and sunk on 13 October by U-103.[2] Together with the sloops HMS Scarborough and Fowey and the corvettes Bluebell and Heartsease they attempted unsuccessfully to fight off the wolf pack attacks of a number of U-boats. Leith rescued survivors from three torpedoed merchant ships including Assyrian and Soesterberg before joining the inbound Convoy HX 79 which had also come under heavy U-boat attack. Leith gathered up three merchant ships and brought them into port.[1]
The Atlantic convoys[edit]
She made a full transatlantic crossing and return in November, escorting an outbound and inbound convoy, before returning to her usual pattern in December, covering the Freetown and Gibraltar convoys. On 9 December she was part of the escort for convoy OG 47 on its way to Gibraltar. The convoy came under attack on 20 December by the Italian submarine Mocenigo, which sank the merchant Manchester General.[1] Leith was detached from the convoy on its arrival on 25 December and sailed with an inbound convoy to Liverpool on 29 December. On her arrival she returned covering the convoys through the Western Approaches throughout January to April 1941. On 17 April she began a refit at Avonmouth which lasted until May, when she was nominated for convoy defence based in Newfoundland.[1]Leith sailed to join the Newfoundland Escort Force based at St. John’s on 6 June. She deployed with them throughout July and into August. She returned in August to redeploy with the Western Approaches Command. On 20 August she deployed with the destroyers HMS Gurkha and Lance, and the corvette HMS Zinnia and the other corvettes of the 5th Escort Group in the defence of the outward Convoy OG 71, consisting of 21 ships from Liverpool on passage to Gibraltar.[1] The Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Bath had been sunk the previous day, along with three merchants. The convoy continued to be attacked after the reinforcements arrived, despite constant anti-submarine operations. HMS Zinnia and four other merchants were sunk on 22 August. The rest of the convoy arrived at Gibraltar on 25 August.[1] Leith returned to Liverpool in September, escorting Convoy HG 72.
The African coast[edit]
In October Leith was at Belfast, before joining the 43rd Escort Group for escort of convoys between UK and Freetown, being based at Londonderry Port. She spent the next couple of months escorting convoys before sailing on 28 November as an escort for a convoy to West Africa. She returned in January 1942 and from 17 January underwent repairs to her underwater equipment at Londonderry Port.[1] She returned to service on 31 January. Further escort duties took Leith along to African coast to Bathurst and back again. Her next major engagement came in August, when she was part of Convoy SL 119, consisting of 29 merchants. The convoy was detected and its position reported by U-214 on 25 August. The Wolf pack Blücher was ordered to carry out a concentrated attack. Leith carried out searches for U-boats and rescued the crew of the torpedoed merchant SS Zuiderkerk. After the arrival of the convoy, Leith underwent the replacement of her underwater dome for her sonar outfit at Greenock. After this was completed by October, she returned to Belfast.[1]
Refits and the English Channel[edit]
Also in October Leith was nominated to escort the military convoys for the allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch). She escorted a stores convoy late in October and spent November and December escorting convoys through the western Mediterranean. She carried these duties out until March 1943 when she return with her group to the UK. 1943 and the first half of 1944 she spent on the Freetown route.[1] In August she returned to the Mediterranean, undergoing an extensive refit at Gibraltar in September owing to her deteriorated condition after an extended period in active service in the Atlantic. The refit lasted until December, and in January 1945 she returned to the UK and joined the 38th Escort Group based at Portsmouth. She escorted convoys through the English Channel in February and March, and in April escorted the Dutch minelayer Van der Zaan as she laid mines in the English Channel.[1] After VE Day in May Leith was nominated to be reduced to the reserve fleet. She sailed to Rosyth in June where she was paid off, and laid up the following month.[1]
Post war[edit]For other ships with the same name, see HDMS Galathea.
Leith was placed on the disposal list and sold in 1946 into merchant service.[1] She was renamed Byron, and later Friendship in 1948.[2] She was then acquired by the Royal Danish Navy in 1949 and renamed HDMS Galathea.[3] She undertook the second Galathea expedition, which circumnavigated the world in 1950–52 while doing deep sea oceanographic research, and was sold to be scrapped at Odense in 1955.
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HMS Veronica was an Acacia-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during World War I. Post-war, she saw New Zealand service.
Construction[edit]
Veronica was built by Dunlop Bremner & Company, Port Glasgow, Scotland. She was laid down in January 1915, launched on 27 May 1915, and completed in August 1915. The Acacia-class fleet sweeping sloops were adapted for escort work, minesweeping, and use as Q-ships.
Operational history[edit]
World War I[edit]
During her World War I service, Veronica was damaged in the Mediterranean Sea 45 nautical miles (83 km) northwest of Alexandria, Egypt (31°43′N 29°17′E), by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM UB-42 on 14 April 1917. Veronica was repaired and returned to service.[1]
New Zealand service[edit]
Veronica was in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy from 19 September 1920 to 24 February 1934, where she exercised with cruisers, toured New Zealand ports, took part in ceremonial occasions, and went on annual Pacific Island cruises. This was in conjunction with her sister ship Laburnum which was similar, but with small differences as they came from different commercial shipyards.
Hawke’s Bay earthquake[edit]
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Veronica assisted survivors in the aftermath of the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake in New Zealand. Having berthed in Port Ahuriri only three hours before the earthquake, she radioed Auckland for help, which was provided by the light cruisers Dunedin and Diomede. She was subsequently docked for inspection for possible bottom damage as the seabed had risen up under her.
Fate[edit]
Veronica left Auckland, New Zealand, on 24 February 1934 for paying off at Chatham, England. She was sold on 22 February 1935 to John Cashmore Ltd, and broken up at Newport, Wales, in 1935.
Commemoration[edit]
A memorial to HMS Veronica, the Veronica Sunbay (initially called the Veronica Sun Bay), was built in 1934 and dedicated in 1937 on Napier‘s Marine Parade, commemorating her efforts after the city’s 1931 earthquake. The beginning of the inscription reads:[2]
The Veronica Sun Bay Originally erected in 1934 to commemorate the Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 3rd February 1931. This memorial is named in honour of HMS Veronica and the outstanding service given by her officers and crew at the time of the disaster. Rebuilding of the Sun Bay was accomplished through the initiative and leadership of the Rotary Club of Napier and contributions from the citizens of Hawke’s Bay and the Napier City Council. This plaque was unveiled at the dedication of the rebuilt memorial. It took place on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the earthquake – 3rd February 1991.
The bell of HMS Veronica is held at Hawke’s Bay Museum, and rung at the New Year.
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HMS Laburnum was a Royal Navy Acacia-class sloop built by Charles Connell and Company, Scotstoun.
HMS Laburnum, Picton New Zealand ? 1933
The photograph shows HMS Laburnum, sister ship to HMS Veronica. The location is not identified. Underneath the image is written: H.M.S. Laburnum.
Photographer, unknown. The photographer is possibly a member of the White-Parsons family as the album in which the image is glued belonged to them.
Date, unknown. Possibly late 1920s.
HMS Veronica and HMS Laburnum – Acacia Class Sloops – New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy from 11 March 1922 to 11 February 1935
She was scuttled during the fall of Singapore in 1942.
Construction[edit]
She was laid down at the Scotstoun yard of Charles Connell and Company in February 1915, launched on 10 June 1915 and completed in August 1915.[1] The Acacia-class fleet sweeping sloops were adapted for escort work, minesweeping and as decoy warships.
Service history[edit]
First World War[edit]
Laburnum joined the First Sloop Flotilla on commissioning.[2] On 4 September 1915, the passenger liner Hesperian was torpedoed without warning by the German submarine U-20 southwest of Queenstown (now called Cobh) in the south of Ireland with the loss of 32 lives. Laburnum was one of several ships, also including the seaplane carrier Empress and the sloops Marigold and Veronica, to go to Hesperian‘s aid. Attempts to tow Hesperian to port failed, with the stricken liner sinking on 6 September.[3][4][5] The sinking of the Hesperian, which occurred despite an assurance to US President Woodrow Wilson from the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg that no passenger liners would be sunk without warning, provoked protests from America that resulted in the submarine campaign against merchant shipping in British waters being suspended for several months.[6][7]
On 24 April 1916, the Easter Rising, an armed rebellion by Irish republicans against British rule, began. Laburnum was ordered to Galway to defend the port on 25 April, arriving there on 26 April. On hearing reports that a group of rebels were advancing on the port, the Captain of Laburnum ordered her to open fire, with 10 shells being fired in the direction of the rebels and at a road on the outskirts of the city. On 28 April, Laburnum escorted a transport carrying troops to Galway.[8]
On 8 February 1917, the German submarine U-81 torpedoed the passenger steamship Mantola 143 miles (230 km) WSW of Fastnet Rock, causing Mantola‘s crew to abandon ship. U-81 remained in the vicinity until chased away by Laburnum when she arrived on the scene 2+1⁄2 hours later. Laburnum rescued 176 survivors of Mantola‘s passengers and crew (seven crewmen had been killed by a capsizing lifeboat) and tried to tow the steamship by the stern, but was unable to make headway. Mantola sank on 9 February.[9][10][11] On 17 February 1917, the Q-ship Farnborough was torpedoed by the German submarine U-83, but after a “panic party” faked abandoning ship, U-83 surfaced near Farnborough and was sunk by shellfire from the Q-ship. Farnborough herself was badly damaged by the torpedo, and was taken into tow by Laburnum and the sloop Buttercup after the destroyer Narwhal had taken off most of Farnborough‘s crew. Farnborough was beached at Mill Cove.[12][13] On 25 February 1917 Laburnum was patrolling to the west of the Blasket Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, when she was ordered to meet up with and escort the liner Laconia which was Liverpool-bound from the United States. Uncertainty about Laconia‘s location delayed the rendezvous between the ships, with the result that Laconia was torpedoed by the German submarine U-50 before Laburnum could arrive on the scene. While Laburnum could not prevent Laconia sinking, she did manage to rescue 292 passengers and crew. Twelve passengers and crew were killed.[14]
Far East service[edit]
She was in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy from 11 March 1922 to 11 February 1935, where she exercised with cruisers, toured New Zealand ports, took part in ceremonial occasions, and went on annual Pacific Island cruises. This was in conjunction with her sister ship Veronica which was similar, but with small differences as they came from different commercial shipyards.
She left Auckland on 1 February 1935 for Singapore, where she was paid off to become a drill and training ship for the Straits Settlement Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Drill ship at Singapore[edit]
As drill ship, Laburnum was equipped with independent wireless equipment, and housed a number of naval offices including Captain, Auxiliary Vessels and Captain, Extended Defences Office. Laburnum had her engines removed shortly after her arrival in Singapore in order to augment her accommodation. Hence she could not be fully utilised when war broke out in the Far East. With the evacuation of Penang, Laburnum also played host to the RNVR Penang Division, headed by Commander C C Alexander.
Fate[edit]
Labernum was scuttled on 15 February 1942 when Singapore fell to Japanese forces. Her wreck was raised about 1946, and sunk off East Lagoon, Singapore, as part of an existing breakwater of old hulks, and finally removed and scrapped about 1967.
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HMS Diomede was a Danae class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Constructed at Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, she was constructed too late to take part in World War I and was consequently completed at the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth.
Between the wars, she served on the China Station, Pacific waters, East Indies Waters and from 1936 onwards, in reserve. In World War II she performed four years of arduous war duty, during which time she captured the German blockade runner Idarwald. Between 22 July 1942 and 24 September 1943 she was converted to a training ship at Rosyth Dockyard. In 1945 she was placed in reserve and scrapped a year later.
Early career
Upon commissioning Diomede joined the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron on the China Station in 1922. In 1925 she was transferred to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy at Devonport where she served until 1935, apart from a refit in 1929-1930. In 1931 she rendered assistance to the town of Napier, New Zealand after the devastating Hawkes Bay earthquake, supplying medical personnel, equipment, guards and firemen, along with her sister ship Dunedin. Afterwards Diomede escorted the beach-damaged HMS Veronica to Auckland. The Executive officer at the time (1930-1933) was Commander, later Admiral Victor Crutchley, who was to later become entwined with the Pacific Campaign of World War II.
Upon the notification that the two cruisers of the New Zealand Division were to be replaced by Leander class cruisers, in 1935 Diomede started her voyage home to Britain to be paid off into the reserve. En route the Abyssinian Crisis broke out and she was diverted to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, part of the East Indies Fleet based at Aden for possible action against the Italians. Upon relief by HMS Achilles on 31 March 1936 she was paid off and spent the next three years in the reserve fleet or as a troop ship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Diomede_(D92)
