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HMS Aurora
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HMS Aurora was an Arethusa-class light cruiser, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and launched on the 20 August 1936. She served with the Home Fleet in 1939 as part of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, escorting convoys to Scandinavia and joining the hunt for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
In July and August 1941 she was involved in operations to Spitsbergen and Bear Island (operation Gauntlet) as part of Force "K" with the Home Fleet. In autumn 1941 she was transferred to the Mediterranean and arrived in Malta on the 21st of October 1941 to join a new Force "K". She saw action in the Battle of the Duisburg Convoy. Aurora was badly damaged by on the 19th of December 1941, when teh ships of Force K sailed into a newly laid Italina Minefield. Neptune and Kandahar were sunk and Penelope was also damaged. HMS Aurora was patched up at Malta then sailed home on 29 March 1942 for repairs at Liverpool.
Returning to the Mediterranean she joined Force "H", and in November joined the Centre Task Force for the Landings in North Africa, Operation Torch. In December she was part of Force "Q" at Bône against the Axis convoys between Trapani and Tunis. Aurora took part in the invasion of Sicily and the Salerno landings. She moved to the Aegean in October 1943 where she was damaged by bombs on the 30th of October, and withdrew to Taranto for repairs which were completed in April 1944. In August 1944 she supported the landings in the south of France, then assisted in the liberation of Athens.
HMS Aurora was sold on the 19th of May 1948 to the Chinese Navy and was renamed Chung King. She later defected to the Communists and was renamed Tchoung King. In March 1949 she was sunk in Taku harbour by Nationalist aircraft but was later salvaged.
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List of those who served on HMS Aurora during The Second World War
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Ronnie Strike Aurora Penelope Spartan I believe my father, Ronnie Strike, who was a Radio Office "sparkie" sailed and was sunk on Aurora. Unfortunately he now has Alzheimer's. I can't be sure, but I believe he once told me that he sailed on:
Aurora, Penelope, Spartan and (I think) one of the "Tonipandy Class."
Does anyone know of anyway I can confirm this? Sometimes he can talk quite lucidly of his Royal Navy days.
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Gnr. Edison Thomas "Taff" Jones HMS Aurora Eddie Jones served on HMS Abercrombie and HMS Aurora, apparently the late actor Kenneth Moore served on one of these ships, not sure which one. One story I was told was that of a football match between the navy boys and some bare footed Guerkas in which apparently, the navy took a beating on a red hot deck by these bare footed soldiers. My lasting memory of which Eddie told me was how after months on end in the Med he recalled crying for hours on end up on the deck, with not a sight of anything at all during this time, just this vast expanse of water. Eddie came out of the navy after the war and moved in with my nan and granddad just outside Worcester as a lodger working the local farms before working for the railway up until retirement. Eddie died in 2001 aged 77 but will never be forgotten. I would love to hear from anyone who knew him. |
Art. John Armstrong HMS Aurora My later father John Armstrong, was crew member of several ships but one he always spoke about, after a few drams was HMS Aurora. Malta was a special place for him. I asked him about the `Gut` and what was it all about, his reply was `just a lot of bands playing`. I new what the gut was in these days and I think he was being polite to me. He always thought a tot of rum was a bad thing and told me a story of someone who did something to the locks to the munitions through drink. |
Able Sea. Maurice Edgar Garland HMS Aurora We have recently been researching the family tree and my mother has been talking about the time my father added on a year to his age so that he was able to join the Navy. It must have been when the Aurora was serving in the Med as apparently my father and his fellow sailors spent some of their leave in Italy attending the opera amongst other things!! We knew that my father had been involved in the (what we thought was the sinking)hit on the boat and he and several other seamen were picked up by the boat belonging to the King of Saudi. They were all given medals, money or something by the then King of Saudi. My father often mentioned that he could not get the terrible screams of the men trapped in the boiler/engine room out of his head. For many years, my grandparents had a huge picture of HMS Aurora on their sitting room wall but I do not know what happened to it. My father sadly died 18 years ago but if there is anyone out there that still remembers what happended I would love to hear their stories. |
CPO. Harry Spencer Garrett HMS Aurora My father served on the HMS Aurora during the North Africa landings. I have his certificate from "Neptune" from crossing the line, somewhere. |
George "Bill" Marriott HMS Aurora Bill was part of the Royal Marine (Gunnery) Contingent on HMS Aurora when it hit a mine in December 1941. He was thrown into the water. I believe the mine struck close to a gun turret. He was subsequently picked up by another ship which was also hit and he ended up in the water again. He remembers much oil in the water, lots of coughing, swallowing of oil. He and another Royal Marine officer were both picked up and taken to Alexandria. It was planned that they would be taken back to Malta by submarine to rejoin the ship's Company. Alas, the submarine never made it and they were ordered to take ship on the long passage south, home to the UK where they subsequently rejoined the Aurora's company. He never spoke much about his experiences - only snippets especially later in life. He served on the Aurora in the Med and in the North Atlantic. |
Sub.Lt.Writer. Joseph Harold Nield HMS Aurora My father, Harold Nield enjoyed his sea time on Aurora, necessary to get his commission which, he avowed, was offered to him because he could type, he was Ships Writer. He remembers Kenneth More (the actor who was, I believe, Jimmy the One) and his signature is on Dad's Crossing The Line Certificate. The captain was Captain Agnew (not sure if that was his rank then) who later was the first captain of the battleship HMS Vanguard. During his time on Aurora, Dad was at Oran and later told me the French had larger shore based guns than on Aurora. He joined shortly after Aurora sank a number of Italian Merchantmen during one engagement, during which Penelope did not get one!( according to Dad). He said HMS Aurora was a happy ship.
My father later, with his boss Commander Godfrey, was one of the two officers who set up RNAS Cullum, near Oxford which accepted aircraft into naval service from the manufacturers.
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