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History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSDurban
Ordered	September 1917
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company,Greenock Completed byDevonport Dockyard
Laid down	January 1918
Launched	29 May 1919
Commissioned	1 November 1921
Identification	Pennant number: 99 (Aug 21); I.99 (1936); D.99 (1940)[1]
Fate	Sunk as breakwater, 9 June 1944
General characteristics
Class & type	Danae-classlight cruiser
Displacement	4,650 tons
Length	472.5 ft (144.0 m)
Beam	46.5 ft (14.2 m)
Draught	14.5 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion	SixYarrow-typewater-tube boilers Parsons gearedsteam turbines Two shafts 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range	2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi)
Complement	350
Armament	1918: sixBL 6-inch (152.4 mm) L/45 Mark XII guns on single mountings CP Mark XIV twoQF 3-inch (76.2 mm) Mk II AA guns twoQF 2-pounder (40-mm) "Pom-pom" AA guns twelve21-inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes (4 triple launchers)
Armour	3-inch side (amidships) 2, 1¾, 1½ side (bow and stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder

HMSDurban was aDanae-classlight cruiser of theRoyal Navy. She was launched from the yards ofScotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company on 29 May 1919 and commissioned on 1 November 1921.

Durban was initially assigned to theChina Station as part of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron in January 1922, and in 1928 she was transferred to theAmerica and West Indies Station based at theRoyal Naval Dockyard atBermuda, withPrince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son ofKing George V andQueen Mary, serving aboard as a watch-keeping Lieutenant.^[2] In 1930Durban returned to Britain, and in 1931 she joined the South Atlantic Division. By December 1933, she was relieved by the heavy cruiserYork and again returned to home waters. In March 1934,Durban left forGibraltar to join theMediterranean Fleet. She spent two years on this station, returning to Britain in September 1936 to be placed into reserve.

On the outbreak of theSecond World War in September 1939,Durban was recommissioned and assigned to the9th Cruiser Squadron under theCommander-in-Chief, South Atlantic. In March 1940 she was operating in the Indian Ocean and was then transferred to theEastern Fleet based at Singapore. Here she became a unit of the British Malaysian Force with her two sister ships,Danae andDauntless. The unit kept watch on German merchant ships in theDutch East Indies harbours, withDurban's patrol area being offPadang. On 10 November 1940 the Norwegian tankerOle Jacob reported being attacked by the GermanraiderAtlantis betweenCeylon, and the north end ofSumatra. A force was hastily assembled, comprisingDurban, the cruiserCapetown and the Australian cruiserCanberra andarmed merchant cruiserWestralia to hunt forAtlantis. The task force was however unable to locate the raider.

In 1941Durban, with her sisterDragon, was escorting convoys between Singapore and theSunda Strait. In February, she escorted theocean linerQueen Mary, then carryingSecond Australian Imperial Force troops forMalaya, into Singapore, arriving on 18 February. In November, she escorted the troopshipZealandia into Singapore, after relieving the Australian cruiserSydney which had escortedZealandia fromFremantle,Western Australia.

In February 1942Durban moved with the rest of the Eastern Fleet toJava, after the Japanese started their attack on Singapore.Durban was damaged by bombing before she could leave, but on 12 February she and the anti-submarine vesselKedah escorted the merchant shipsEmpire Star andGorgon out of Singapore, repelling successive Japanese air attacks for four hours.^[3] The next day the convoy, carrying thousands of evacuees from Singapore, reached Tandjong Priok, the port forBatavia.Durban, with AdmiralThomas C. Hart as a passenger, departed 16 February escortingPlancius carrying refugees toColombo.^[4] ThereDurban underwent temporary repairs. She then travelled toNew York, arriving in April, where full repairs were completed.Durban then returned to Britain, where further modifications were made inPortsmouth between June and August. She then escorted convoys from Britain to South Africa.

On 8 December 1942 the ship grounded in the entrance toMombasa harbour. After refloating she was drydocked inBombay. In February 1943Durban was again in New York for repairs, and by June had returned to South Africa, docking atSimonstown, before rejoining the Eastern Fleet. In November, she once again returned to Britain to bepaid off into the reserve. She was then one of the ships selected to be scuttled to form a breakwater for theMulberry harbours that would be used to support theBattle of Normandy.

Subsequently, on 9 June 1944Durban wasscuttled to form part of the Gooseberry 5 breakwater for protecting the artificial harbour offOuistreham in the Seine Bay. The wreck currently lies in 11 metres (36 ft) of water.

• Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85.ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.OCLC 67375475.
• Friedman, Norman (2010).British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
• Gill, G. Hermon (1957).Royal Australian Navy 1939-1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Vol. 1. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Archived fromthe original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved13 December 2013.
• "Taffrail" (Henry Taprell Dorling) (1973).Blue Star Line at War, 1939–45. London:W. Foulsham & Co. pp. 61–64,109–113.ISBN 0-572-00849-X.
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980).British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-922-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Whitley, M. J. (1995).Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell.ISBN 1-86019-874-0.

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• Ships of theDanae class

49°20′44″N00°16′08″W / 49.34556°N 0.26889°W /49.34556; -0.26889

• Danae-class cruisers of the Royal Navy
• Ships built on the River Clyde
• Ships built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
• Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
• 1919 ships
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• World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
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