The Royal Navy

Famed as the most powerful in the world, the Royal Navy boasted a massive fleet, although the vastness of the British Empire meant that it was spread thin around the globe, and interwar budget constraints led to an aging force.

HMS Hood seen passing from HMS Repulse — ***HMS Hood* seen passing from *HMS Repulse***

After the victory in the Great War the expansion of the already vast Royal Navy ground to a halt, and this was soon followed by a significant downsizing of the fleet. Pay cuts were also put through for the sailors themselves, with a 25% reduction in pay resulting in mutinies in some cases, resulting in partial rescinding of that plan. A further reduction took place as they Royal Navy switched from its requirement to match the fleet size of the two second largest fleets in the world combined to simply matching to size of the rising US Navy.

Only two new battleships were commissioned in the first decade of the interwar period, and it was not until the late 1930s, as war loomed once again, that the Royal Navy began a program to construct new and modern warships. An attempt to integrate the naval aviation services into the RAF also was canceled with the restoration of a Navy controlled Fleet Air Arm in 1937. The Navy did have some advantage as older ships were refit to a more modern standard, and equipped with more modern technologies such as radar and radio direction finding equipment.

When war broke out in 1939 the Royal Navy moved to support the Atlantic convoys and blockade Germany, as it had in the Great War. These operations were met with some success, but the U-boats remained capable of breaking out into the Atlantic with little difficulty, and German surface raiders remained a problem. Even at home bases the Royal Navy was in danger, as proven in October of 1914 when a German submarine penetrated the Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow and sunk the battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor before slipping away unmolested.

The Fall of France in June of 1940 led to a real danger of the French fleet being used against the British, and on the orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill the Royal Navy sailed into the anchorage at Mers el Kebir in French Algeria, destroying the bulk of the Marine Nationale. The use of French bases by the Kriegsmarine, however, could not be so easily denied, and the U-boats began to operate without the need to make a dangerous journey around Britain. When the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sortied into the Atlantic via the Denmark Straight the danger to the British was extreme, and great efforts were made to being the Germans to task, and after that failed to prevent another such excursion.

The Leaders

The First Lord of the Admiralty in the early Great War and as the Second began, Winston Churchill had a long association with the Royal Navy, despite his personal military experience being mainly in the British Army in the Boer War and service in the trenches of France following the disaster of the Galllipoli Campaign. After the invasion of Norway and the subsequent failure of the Allies to eject the Germans from Scandinavia, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was ejected, with Churchill appointed to replace him.

Well known for his dogged determination to fight on until total victory, Churchill retained a vested interest in naval affairs following his appointment as Head of Government. His oversight of the Admiralty and by extent the Royal Navy as a whole was sometimes considered to be to the point of micromanagement, and he kept his Admirals on a rather tight leash. His insistence on British warships being aggressive and never breaking off engagements led to some friction with naval leadership, with his attempts to dismiss and court marshal officers who disengaged from the enemy or were not sufficiently aggressive in combat earning particular ire.

In early 1941 Churchill and Britain stood alone as Europe was dominated by the Germans. Churchill fostered his relationship with US President Franklin Roosevelt, who saw the grave threat posed by the Germans and Hitler despite the neutrality policies of the American government. As a result, a larger “neutrality zone” existed in which US warships patrolled, and the Americans were actively reporting German movements in the Atlantic to the British. With the net of the Royal Navy and the assistance of the ostentatiously neutral Americans, Churchill had a strong web in place to prevent future German surface raids into the Atlantic.

**Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound**

The task of the First Sea Lord is to serve as the commander of the Royal Navy, and the direct connection between the military command of the service and the Prime Minister. Sir Dudley Pound was appointed to the post three months before the outbreak of war, capping off a long career that included commanding a battleship against the Germans at Jutland. As First Sea Lord, he joined in Churchill’s micromanaging of naval affairs, leading to trouble with the likes of Admiral Tovey and others. He did stand up to the Prime Minister at times, however, such as when he managed to block a planned naval sortie into the Baltic.

With the success of the German battleships in Operation Berlin much of the blame was shouldered upon Pound, and his health was being questioned increasingly, as his difficulty sleeping led to him falling asleep during meetings, and sometimes erratic decisions led to some to wonder about his mental state. Despite this, he remained a competent commander in his own right, and his fleet was prepared to meet potential German actions at sea.

The Commanders

Another veteran of the Battle of Jutland, Admiral John Tovey had taken command of the Home Fleet in November of 1940. The son of an officer of the Royal Engineers, Tovey had enlisted as a cadet in the Royal Navy at the age of 15 in 1900, and in 1915 he took his first command aboard a destroyer. He would later be decorated for his command of the destroyer HMS Onslow during the battle of Jutland.

After the war he would take command of the Second Destroyer Squadron, and eventually took command of the battleship HMS Rodney in 1932. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1935, after a period in command of the Naval Barracks at Chatham, and served as Naval Aid de Camp to King George VI. He would begin the Second World War in command of a destroyer unit in the Mediterranean. Following the Italian entry into the war he became second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet.

After taking command of the Home Fleet Tovey remained adamant to stay at sea, commanding the fleet from his flagship as opposed to his offices at Scapa Flow. In the event of a German attempt to breakout into the Atlantic with more ships, Tovey intended to personally command the interception from HMS King George V.

Lancelot Holland had joined the Royal Navy in 1902, and had served as a gunnery instructor during the Great War. Afterward he would move between a variety of commands, with his first multi-ship command being the Second Cruiser Squadron in 1929. This was followed by time as commander of the battleship HMS Revenge.

As the Second World War began Holland took command of the Seventh Cruiser Squardon in the Mediterranean, where he was involved in the Battle of Cape Spartivento against the Italian Regia Marina. The action there would lead Churchill too angrily question the fighting spirit and ability of Holland and his superior Admiral Somerville. Holland would subsequently be reassigned to command the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag on the pride of the Royal Navy, the HMS Hood.

Commanding the 1st Cruiser Squadron was Rear Admiral Frederic Wake-Walker, another Great War veteran. He had served in command of several cruisers and the battleship HMS Revenge during the interwar years, and was was promoted to Rear Admiral in January of 1939.

After the war began he moved between various commands, earning distinction for his command of the ships involved in the evacuation from Dunkirk in May of 1940, famously transferring his flag to a torpedo boat after his flagship, the destroyer HMS Keith, was sunk by German aircraft. Commanding the 1st Cruiser Squadron in early 1941, his ships were positioned to guard the approaches to the Atlantic via the Denmarck Straight from German raiders.

Commanding Force H out of Gibraltar, Admiral James Somerville was yet another veteran of the Great War, where he had served as a signalman. Afterward, he had served in various capacities as he rose through the ranks, mainly posted in the Mediterranean. He retired in 1939 as a Vice Admiral due to tuberculosis, but was recalled within a year as war broke out in Europe.

He would take command of the Royal Navy forces at Gibraltar, and was in command of that force when it destroyed the French fleet at Mers el Kebir following the French surrender in the summer of 1940. His subsequent action against the Italians at Cape Spartivento would incur Churchill’s wrath, but he remained in command. In the event of a major German breakthrough into the Atlantic, his Force H could be deployed as a southern force in pursuit.

The commander of the largest warship in the Royal Navy, HMS Hood had previously only commanded destroyers. He had only taken command in March of 1941, but his career with the Royal Navy dated back as far as 1904. He had served aboard battleships during the Great War, and had ended it with his first command aboard the destroyer HMS Cossack.

During the interwar years he continued to command destroyers, earning the respect of both Admirals Tovey and Pound, as well as the sailors under his command. Considered to have great potential for higher command, he was posted as flag captain in the Battlecruiser Squadron, and would lead Hood in the planned response to a German breakout attempt.

Captain of the brand-new battleship HMS Prince of Wales, John Leach was in a similar situation to Captain Lindemann, having commanded the newest battleship of his country’s fleet through her trials and only now ready for her first action. Little information on the early life of Captain Leach is readilly available, unfortunately.

Philip Vian had served in the Great War, and been a spectator, but not a participant, in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After the war he was posted as gunnery officer on Australian warships, although he was in the British Royal Navy. He returned to British service in 1923, eventually taking his first command in 1933 aboard the destroyer HMS Active.

Vian took command of various destroyer flotillas during the next few years, and when the Second World War broke out he was commanding the 11th. In ealy 1940 he took command of the 4th Destroyer Division, with his flag aboard HMS Cossack, a tribal class destroyer, which he commanded famously during the seizure of the German transport Altmark in Norewegian waters, which violated the neutrality of that nation and had a pronounced effect on German plans to invade. In May of 1941, Vian and his destroyers were escorting a troop convoy to the North African front, on guard for U-boats that prowled the Atlantic.

The Home Fleet

Admiral Tovey’s flagship was the lead ship of the new King George V class, having entered service in October of 1940. Armed with a formidable forward battery of six 14 inch guns, with four in the first turret and another two in the superfiring second turret. An addition quadruple turret was located aft. A secondary battery of sixteen 5.25 inch guns was also present, as were a number of anti-aircraft guns. She had served on several convoy escort missions during the previous months, as well as supporting the Royal Marines in commando operations in occupied Norway. In late May of 1941 she was stationed at Scapa Flow with the rest of the Home Fleet.

The Nelson Class Battleship HMS Rodney was a peculiar lookking warship, with her superstructure set well aft and her entire main battery of three tripple 16 inch turrets located forward, but she mounted some of the largest weapons in the British arsenal. She had been commissioned in the 1920s, and underwent a minor refit at the end of 1940.

She was bound for Boston in May of 1941, escorting the liner RMS Britannic and on her way for a major refit at an American shipyard. To this end she was loaded with spare parts and other components for the work to be done. If needed, however, she would be close enough to respond to a German breakout.

An Illustrious Class Aircraft Carrier, HMS Victorious had been commissioned only a few weeks before Exercise Rhine began. Intended to be deployed for convoy escort duty, she was still being loaded in Scapa Flow, and Tovey was ready to requisition her if needed. The advantages of having a carrier in a search and destroy mission of this type were imense, even if Victorious only had a portion of her alloted air wing of 36 aircraft aboard.

The County Class Heavy Cruiser HMS Dorsetshire had been stationed in Singapore, but was ordered to the South Atlantic to reinforce the hunt for the German pocket battleship Graf Spee in 1939. Following this she remained in the Atlantic, and was escorting convoys in late May of 1941, although she could be redeployed to aid in a fleet action as needed.

Battlecruiser Squadron

The first and only Admiral Class Battlecruiser, the HMS Hood was the largest warship in the world when commissioned in 1920. Armed with four twin superfiring turrets with dual 15 inch guns, she was very well armed, and the “Mighty Hood” was the pride of the Royal Navy. Despite this, she was not without problems, such as the fact that her relatively short freeboard (the distance between the deck and the waterline) resulted in common incidents of water entering the ventilation systems and gained her the derisive nickname of “largest submarine in the Royal Navy”, and also led to issues with spray obscuring her gun directors in heavy seas. The greatest threat, however, was her weak deck armor, which made her extremely vulnerable to plunging fire from enemy ships, and as a result she would need to close the distance rapidly in any engagement with a major warship to negate this weakness.

When the war began Hood had been assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, but had since returned to serve as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. Despite a series of minor refits she was in poor condition, as her status as flagship had made her too important throughout her career to take out of service for a long term overhaul. Still stationed at Scapa Flow, Hood was to lead the Battlecruiser Squadron in intercepting a potential German breakout.

His Majesty’s newest battleship, HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V Class Battleship, and as such in a very similar configuration to Admiral Tovey’s flagship. Only commissioned in January, she was even newer than Bismarck, to the point that technicians from the builder were still aboard to fine tune her systems. In particular, her quadruple mounted 14 inch gun turrets had proven problematic, and Captain Leach notably feared they might fail during action. The new battleship stood in contrast to the elderly Hood in the Battlecruiser Squadron, and was tasked with her as a rapid response to any German action to enter the Atlantic.

1st Cruiser Squadron

Rear Admiral Wake Walker’s flagship was the County Class Cruiser HMS Norfolk, commissioned in 1930. Like the other ships of her class, she was armed with eight 8 inch guns, as well as two Supermatine Walrus seaplanes. Norfolk was also equipped with modern radar, which would be of great help in her primary mission of spotting Germans attempting to sneak into the Atlantic.

HMS Suffolk was the second ship of Admiral Wake-Walker’s command, and was another County Class Cruiser, and thus a sister to Norfolk. She had already spent a portion of her war guarding the Denmark Straight, although she had a brief time in support of operations against the German invasion of Norway in 1940, where she was damaged. Fitted with powerful new search radar, she had resumed her post by late May of 1941, guarding the entrance to the straight alongside Norfolk.

4th Destroyer Division

The flagship of Captain Vian’s 4th Destroyer Division, HMS Cossack was a Tribal Class Destroyer, commissioned in 1938. The Tribal Class had been originally envisioned as light cruisers before being downgraded to destroyers as they were designed, but retained their powerful gun armament. Armed with eight 4.7 inch guns in four double turrets, as well as torpedo tubes and depth charges, the ships were very capable hunter-killers. Cossack had already won distinction under Vian in early 1940, when she seized the German auxilliary ship Altmark in a Norwegian fjord in order to rescue POWs taken by the Graf Spee in late 1939. This action violated Norwegian neutrality, but won great accolades in Britain. In late May of 1941, Cossack and the rest of Vian’s squadron were escorting convoys to the middles east against U-boats, and not expecting a fleet action against German surface ships.

Another Tribal Class Destroyer, HMS Maori had been assigned to Vian’s squadron at the start of the war, and remained there in late May of 1941.

HMS Sikh was also of the Tribal Class, and had been in Vian’s squadron since January of 1940.

The last of the Tirbal Class Destroyers of Vian’s squadron.

The newest ship in Vian’s squadron, the Piorun was an N Class Destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy in 1939 as HMS Nerissa. With the fall of Poland and subsequent establishment of a Polish military in exile, she was transferred to the Polish Exile Navy shortly before completion and was commissioned as Piorun, meaning Lightning. Under the command of Commander Eugeniusz Pławski, she was assisting Vian’s destroyers in convoy escort duty in late May of 1941.

As an N Class Destroyer, Piorun was slightly smaller than the Tribals she sailed with, and had two less 4.7 inch guns. These were replaced with additional torpedo armament by design, but on Piorun this had been replaced by an additional anti-aircraft gun.

Force H

The flagship of Admiral Somerville’s Force H, HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers. Famous for her speed, when commissioned in 1916 she was the fasted capital ship in the world, although she would see no action during the Great War. At the start of the war she served in the Home Fleet, but had been transferred to Gibraltar in August of 1940, replacing Hood as flagship. She would subsequently serve as Somerville’s flagship at the Battle of Cape Spartivento against the Italian Regia Marina, as well as other operations on the Mediterranean in late 1940 and early 1941. She remained posted with Force H in May of 1941.

Renown was armed with six 15 inch guns in three double turrets, with two superfiring batteries foreword and a single one aft, supplemented by twenty twin-mounted 4.5 inch guns. Her top speed, which had made her so notable in 1916, was still impressice, and at 31 knots she was one of the few British capital ships that could keep up with Bismarck if she were to sortie into the Atlantic.

HMS Ark Royal was the only ship of her class, and the carrier assigned to Force H in early 1941. Originally part of the Home Fleet, she had been reassigned to the south Atlantic following near misses from U-boats and the loss of the carrier HMS Courageous. After perticipating in the hunt for the Graf Spee in late 1939 she eventually was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, but was recalled once again to Britain in order to provide air support the the Allied expeditionary force in Norway in the spring of 1940. She then returned to Gibraltar as part of Force H, and took part in the destruction of the French fleet at Mers el Kebir later that year. She was still serving with Force H in May of 1941, and had already assisted in the failed attempts to bring Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to heel earlier in 1941. Her complement of 36 Swordfish torpedo bombers and 18 Fulmar long range fighters would prove extremely valuable in any future Atlantic mission.

A Town Class Light Cruiser, HMS Sheffield had spent her early war career guarding the Denmark Straight in much the same way Norfolk and Suffolk now did, and in 1941 she was posted at Gibraltar with Force H. She would sail with Admiral Somerville if needed to combat a possible Atlantic sortie by the Germans.