HMS Hawkins was a Hawkins-class

Hawkins class cruiser

The Hawkins class was a class of five heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy designed in 1915 and constructed throughout the First World War. All ships were named after Elizabethan sea captains...

 heavy cruiser

Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was built at Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 and launched on 1 October 1917. With the conversion of her sister, HMS Cavendish, to become the aircraft carrier HMS Vindictive

HMS Vindictive (1918)

HMS Vindictive was a Royal Navy warship built between 1916 and 1918. Originally designed as a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser and laid down under the name Cavendish, she served in several different roles and underwent several conversions in a remarkably varied career that lasted until she was scrapped...

, HMS Hawkins became the name ship of her class.

Interwar career

HMS Hawkins was commissioned on 25 July 1919 and became the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron on the China Station

China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

. She spent less than a decade in active service before being paid off at Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 to undergo a refit. During this refit, her coal fired boilers were removed and the remaining oil fired boilers modified. She recommissioned in December 1929, and became the flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron as part of the Atlantic Fleet.

Hawkins was decommissioned again in May 1930 and reduced to the Reserve Fleet

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

. She was recommissioned again in 1932 to become the Flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies, before again being reduced to the reserve in April 1935. The terms of the London Naval Treaty

London Naval Treaty

The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...

 meant that in 1937, Hawkins was demilitarised and had all her 7.5 inch guns and the deck mounted torpedo tubes removed before she was again returned to reserve status. In September 1938 plans were drawn up to utilise Hawkins as a Cadets' Training Ship.

Wartime service

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Hawkins was rearmed and recommissioned to become the flagship to Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 Henry Harwood

Henry Harwood

Admiral Sir Henry Harwood Harwood, KCB, OBE , was a British naval officer who won fame in the Battle of the River Plate.-Early life:...

, after the Battle of the River Plate

Battle of the River Plate

The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War. The German pocket battleship had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September 1939...

. She patrolled off the South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n coast, operating as far south as the Falklands. She left Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

 on 5 September 1940 to sail to Simonstown, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 for a refit. Before she could make use of the dry dock, it was occupied by the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes

HMS Hermes (95)

HMS Hermes was an aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy. The ship was begun during World War I and finished after the war ended. She was the world's first ship to be designed and built as an aircraft carrier, although the Imperial Japanese Navy's was the first to be commissioned...

, which was undergoing repairs after having been damaged in a collision with a merchant ship. Hawkins was diverted to Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

 where she spent seven weeks waiting before she was able to dock in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown. Hawkins also rescued nine of the crew from the tanker SS British Premier

SS British Premier

The SS British Premier was a tanker built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in 1922, registered in London and operated by the British Tanker Company....

, which had been torpedoed off Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

 by U-65

German submarine U-65 (1940)

German submarine U-65 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Over the course of six war patrols from 15 February 1940 through 28 April 1941, she sank twelve ships and damaged three others for a total loss of 88,664 GRT....

.

During February 1941 Hawkins was active off the East coast of Africa, supporting the British reconquest of British Somaliland

British Somaliland

British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...

 and subsequent pushes into Italian Somalia from Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 as part of Force T of the East Indies Fleet. She also captured a number of Italian and German merchant ships attempting to escape the fall of the former Italian territory, including the . She later provided escorts for convoys and intercepted Vichy French

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

 and neutral shipping. Whilst off Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 her starboard outboard shaft fractured and she lost her screw and shafting. She spent the period between 10 October to the 28 October in the Selborne dry dock, before departing on 2 November to refit and repair in the U.K.

The repairs were completed by May 1942 and Hawkins left to join the Eastern Fleet, and again escorted ships around the African coast, with periods in drydock for repairs and refits. One of the ships she escorted was the SS Khedive Ismail

SS Khedive Ismail

The SS Khedive Ismail was a steamship sunk with great loss of life in 1944.The 7,513 ton steamship was launched as the Aconcagua by Scotts of Greenock in 1922. The Aconcagua passed into Egyptian ownership in 1935 and was renamed after Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt from 1863 until 1879...

, later torpedoed by a Japanese submarine with heavy loss of life. In June 1944 she returned to British waters, where she was involved in Operation Neptune

Operation Neptune

The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 , beginning at 6:30 AM British Double Summer Time...

, as part of the Western Task Force Gunfire Support Bombardment Force A, for Utah Beach

Utah Beach

Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...

. Before this, she had been involved in Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, were the code names for a full-scale rehearsal in 1944 for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. During the exercise, an Allied convoy was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 946 American servicemen....

, a disastrous attempt to rehearse the landings. In August she was again designated as a Training Ship.

Decommissioning and scrapping

In 1945 Hawkins was reduced to reserve for the last time. In January 1947 she was allocated for ship target trials, and was bombed by Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 Avro Lincoln

Avro Lincoln

The Avro Type 694, better known as the Avro Lincoln, was a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V, but were renamed Lincoln I and II...

 bombers off Spithead

Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...

. She was sold for scrap on 21 August 1947 and broken up in December that year at the yards of Arnott Young at Dalmuir

Dalmuir

Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...

.

Sources

• British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H T Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
• Whitley, M. J., Cruisers of World War Two, Brockhampton Press
  Brockhampton Press
  Brockhampton Press was a British publishing company, based in Leicester. Originally specialising in children's books, from about 1940, it published well known series, including Asterix, many of Enid Blyton's story collections and Scottish author Nigel Tranter's children's books.It is now an imprint...
  
  , Great Britain: 1995. ISBN 1-86019-874-0
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One
  Jane's Fighting Ships
  Jane's Fighting Ships is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc...
  
  (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
• HMS Hawkins at U-boat.net