HMS Hawkins

His Majesty’s Dockyard Chatham launched this Hawkins class heavy cruiser on 1 October 1917 and she entered service in the Royal Navy on 23 July 1919 as flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron on the China Station. In 1928 HAWKINS paid off and commenced refitting, recommissioning in December 1929 when she joined the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet. In May 1930 the cruiser was decommissioned and joined the Reserve Fleet until 1932 when she became Flagship to the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies. In April 1935 she returned to the Reserve Fleet. In 1937 she was demilitarised and all her main armament and torpedo tubes were removed.

On the outbreak of war in 1939 her armament was replaced and she became flagship to Rear Admiral Harwood after the GRAF SPEE incident, patrolling off South America and operating as far as the Falklands. On September 5th 1940 HAWKINS left Montevideo for Simonstown, South Africa for a long overdue refit. During February 1941 HAWKINS supported the British offensive against Somaliland from Kenya; she and two other cruisers supported the land advance with gunfire. Later the same month, she captured five Italian ships attempting to reach Mogadishu. After this she escorted a troop convoy and patrolled in Cape waters, and, whilst off Mauritius, her starboard outboard shaft fractured and her screw and shafting was lost. In October she returned to dry dock in Simonstown before leaving for the U.K. for refit and repairs.

After refit, HAWKINS left U.K. to join the Eastern Fleet in May 1942. She spent June – August 1943 in the Simonstown dock yard, entering dry dock to enable replacement of shaft bushes. November - December was again spent at Simonstown. During this period she spent time once again in the dry dock for the fitting of a new propeller shaft. During January – February 1944 HAWKINS patrolled in the waters around South Africa escorting troop convoys. At the end of the month she again docked in the Selborne dry dock, prior to her transfer to British waters. In June she took part in Operation NEPTUNE, the amphibious phase of D-Day and in August reverted to the role of Training Ship.

In 1945 HAWKINS reduced to reserve and was allocated for ship target trials in January 1947; Royal Air Force Lincoln bombers attacked her off Spithead. Sold for scrap on 21 August 1947, she went to Dalmuir where, in December, Arnott Young broke her up.

HMS Hawkins Photos for Sale
Click on the images below to see purchasing options for these photos!
To view an enlarged image click the +Enlarge Image button (where available)

Timeline Entries :