Light cruiser of the Dido class
HMS Phoebe in June 1943
| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Light cruiser |
| Class | Dido |
| Pennant | 43 |
| Built by | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 2 Sep, 1937 |
| Launched | 25 Mar, 1939 |
| Commissioned | 27 Sep, 1940 |
| End service | 14 Mar, 1951 |
| Loss position | |
| |
| History | Adopted by the people of Bournemouth during Warships Week.
Decommissioned on 14 March 1953.
Arrived at Blyth on 1 August 1956 to be scrapped by Hughes Bolkow.
Commanding Officers:
Capt. Guy Grantham, RN
10 June 1940 – February 1942
DSO awarded on 3 June 1941
Capt. Charles Peter Frend, RN
February 1942 – 24 June 1944
Capt. Sidney Moffat Raw, CBE, RN
24 June 1944 – still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List Hit by U-boat
Damaged on 23 Oct, 1942 by U-161 (Achilles). |
| Noteable events involving Phoebe include: 23 Oct, 1942
HMS Phoebe (Capt. C.P. Frend, RN) was torpedoed by U-161 off the Congo Estuary, while on passage to French Equatorial Africa. Her route was from Simonstown to Freetown, but the ship had to refuel at Pointe Noire. Two U-boats (U-161 and U-126) were patrolling that area by the time. After the hit, a corvette coming up from the harbour prevented the u-boat to finish off the cruiser. About 60 crew members were killed (and three more from malaria in the following days). After provisional repairs, Phoebe made to New York for definite repairs. It was an outstanding deed to go 10.000 miles with a hole 60' by 30' in size. The repairs were not completed until June 1943. |
