HMS Penelope (97)
Arethusa-class cruiser light cruiser
Service
- as Penelope13 November 1936 — 18 February 19441,631 days of the war
- Name
- HMS Penelope
- Pennant / hull number
- 97
- Builder
- Harland & Wolff, Belfast
- Laid down
- 30 May 1934
- Launched
- 15 October 1935
- Commissioned
- 13 November 1936
- Fate
- Torpedoed and sunk, 18 February 1944
By torpedo (1944) - Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 5,220 long tons (5,304 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 6,665 long tons (6,772 t)
- Length
- 154.23 m (506 ft)
- Beam
- 15.54 m (51 ft)
- Draught
- 4.27 m (14 ft)
- Speed
- 32 knots (59.3 km/h, 36.8 mph)
- Complement
- 500
- Main gun
- 152 mm (6 in)
HMS Penelope was a Arethusa-class cruiser light cruiser built for the Royal Navy. She carried the pennant number 97. Harland & Wolff, Belfast laid her keel on 30 May 1934. She entered service on 13 November 1936, having been launched on 15 October 1935.
She displaced 5,220 long tons standard and 6,665 long tons at full load. She measured 154.2 m (506 ft) long with a beam of 15.5 m (51 ft). Her designed speed was 32 knots, and she carried a complement of 500. Her main battery was of 152 mm (6.0 in) calibre.
She was in commission for 1,631 days of the Second World War.
She was sunk on 18 February 1944 by torpedo, at 40°33′N 13°15′E. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- Four Parsons geared steam turbines
- Four Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers
- Four shafts
- 64,000 shp
- Armament
- Original configuration:
- 6 × BL 6 in gun
- 4 (2 × 2) 4 inch AA guns
- 8 (2 × 4) 0.5 inch machine guns
- 6 (2 × 3) 21 inch torpedo tubes
- August 1940 configuration:
- 3 × 6-inch (152 mm) dual guns
- 4 × 4-inch (102 mm) dual AA guns
- 2 × quadruple mount QF 2-pdr (40 mm) "pom-pom" AA guns
- 6 × 20 mm Oerlikon single AA guns
- 2 × 0.5 inch quadruple machine guns
- 2 × 21 in (533 mm) triple torpedo tubes
- Armour
- Original configuration:
- One to three inches - magazine protection
- 2.25 inches - belt
- One inch - deck, turrets and bulkheads
- Aircraft
- One aircraft (later removed).
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from HMS Penelope (97) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Royal Navy official photographer — This photograph FL 4822 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 8308-29) — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons