Loss
While escorting Convoy PQ-13 in March 1942, she and other escorts were in combat with German Narvik-class destroyers. She hit and sank the German destroyer Z 26, and then launched a torpedo attack. One of her torpedoes had a faulty gyro mechanism possibly affected by the icy waters. The path of the torpedo formed a circular arc, striking the Trinidad and killing 32 men.
Trinidad was towed clear of the action, and was then able to proceed under her own power towards Murmansk. The German submarine U-378 attempted to engage and sink the damaged cruiser, but was spotted and attacked by destroyer HMS Fury. On arrival in Murmansk she underwent partial repairs.
She set out to return home on 13 May 1942, escorted by the destroyers HMS Foresight, HMS Forester, HMS Somali and HMS Matchless. Other ships of the Home Fleet were providing a covering force nearby. Her speed was reduced to 20 knots owing to the damage she had sustained. En route, she was attacked by more than twenty Ju-88 bombers on 15 May 1942. All attacks missed, except for one bomb that struck near the previous damage starting a serious fire. Sixty-three men were lost, including twenty survivors from HMS Edinburgh which had been sunk two weeks earlier. The decision was taken to scuttle her and she was torpedoed by HMS Matchless and sank in the Arctic Ocean, north of North Cape.
One of the survivors was composer George Lloyd, who during his long recovery from shell-shock wrote his Fourth Symphony, entitled "The Arctic" which he prefaced with the description "… a world of darkness, storms, strange colours and a far-away peacefulness".
Read more about this topic: HMS Trinidad (46)
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