HMS Curacoa (D41)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Curacoa.

300px Curacoa in 1941
History
United Kingdom
Class and type:	C-class light cruiser
Name:	HMS Curacoa
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard Harland and Wolff
Laid down:	July 1916
Launched:	5 May 1917
Commissioned:	18 February 1918
Reclassified:	Converted to anti-aircraft cruiser from August 1939 until April 1940
Fate:	Sunk in collision with RMS Queen Mary, 2 October 1942
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	4,190 tons
Length:	450 ft (140 m)
Beam:	43.6 ft (13.3 m)
Draught:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion:	Two Brown-Curtis geared turbines Six Yarrow boilers Two propellers 40,000 shp
Speed:	29 knots
Range:	carried 300 tons (950 tons maximum) of fuel oil
Complement:	327
Armament:	5 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns 2 × 3-inch (76 mm) guns 2 × 2 pounder (907g) guns 8 × 21-inch torpedo tubes
Armour:	3-inch side (amidships) 2¼–1½ inch side (bows) 2-inch side (stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder
Notes:	Certamine summo: 'In the midst of battle'

HMS Curacoa, named after the island Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea, was a Ceres group C-class light cruiser. In 1942, she became one of the Royal Navy's major accidental losses during the Second World War.

First World War

On commissioning, Curacoa became flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, part of the Harwich Force, serving there for the rest of the First World War.

In April 1919, Curacoa joined the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the newly established Atlantic Fleet.

In May 1919, Curacoa was deployed to the Baltic as part of the British intervention in the Russian Civil War in support of the White Russians against the Bolsheviks, relieving HMS Caledon as the flagship of Rear Admiral Walter Cowan. On 17 May, the ship was en route from Helsinki to Liepāja, when she struck a mine 70 miles east of Reval (now Tallinn). One crewman was killed by the explosion, while Cowan, who was taking a bath at the time, was dumped out of the bath, running to the bridge dressed only in an overcoat until clothing could be brought up from his "day cabin". While damage was relatively minor, it did force the ship to be sent back to England for repair.

Curacoa ended her Baltic deployment as Task Force Flagship, before returning to the UK and being re-deployed to the Mediterranean, where she remained until 1928. Later, in 1935, she was one of four Royal Navy ships featured in the film Brown on Resolution, where she played a German battlecruiser.

Second World War

In 1939, a few months before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, she was selected for conversion to an anti-aircraft cruiser and underwent a refit at Chatham Dockyard. She then served with the Home Fleet during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, until, on 24 April, she sustained heavy damage from aerial bombing and suffered 30 casualties. She returned to Chatham for repairs and resumed active duty in August, serving with the Nore Command convoy defence. During "Warship Week" in March 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Wolverhampton.

Collision

On 2 October 1942 about 60 km north of the coast of Ireland she was escorting the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary carrying 10,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division to join the Allied forces in Europe.

Queen Mary was steaming an evasive zig-zagging course. At 2:15 PM the Queen Mary started the starboard turn for the first leg of her zig-zag, cutting across the path of the Curacoa with insufficient clearance, striking her amidships at a speed of 28 knots and cutting her in two. The Curacoa sank in six minutes, about 100 yards from the Queen Mary. Acting under orders not to stop due to the risk of U-boat attacks, the Queen Mary did not assist in rescue operations and instead steamed onward with a damaged bow. Hours later, the convoy's lead escort, consisting of HMS Bramham and one other ship, returned to rescue 99 survivors from the Curacoa's crew of 338, including her captain, John Wilfred Boutwood. According to the HMS Curacoa Roll of Honour, 102 men were rescued from the Curacoa, 338 were lost. A number of graves of men of the Curacoa can be found at Lower Breakish in Skye, Arisaig and Morar.

The incident occurred as the result of several factors. The captain of the Queen Mary made the assumption that her escort ship would track her course change and adjust accordingly. Meanwhile, Captain Boutwood on board the Curacoa assumed the standard seafaring rule that an overtaking ship must yield. The resulting convergent courses were reported on board both ships. The First Officer of the Queen Mary issued a correction, but both the reports and correction were dismissed by the respective ship's captains. The loss was not reported until after the war ended, whereupon the Navy immediately pressed charges against the Queen Mary's owners, Cunard White Star Line. The High Court of Justice subsequently ruled mostly in favour of the latter, assigning two-thirds of the blame to the Admiralty and one third to Cunard White Star. This ruling would become important in the civil lawsuits subsequently filed against Cunard White Star Line by relatives of the Curacoa's deceased. It prompted significant revisions in Royal Navy policy, including the suspension of escorts for passenger liners indefinitely.

Under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, the Curacoa's wrecksite is designated a "protected place".

Sources

• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company.

Further reading

• D. Thomas, Patrick Homes and P. Holmes: "Queen Mary" and the Cruiser: "Curacoa" Disaster (1997) ISBN 0-85052-548-9 Summary/review.
• Jane's Fighting Ships of WWII
• Stuart and Doris Flexner, The Pessimist's Guide to History (1992).
• David Niven "Go Slowly Come Back Quickly" (1981) ISBN 0-340-28347-5 Pages 121–123 Describes the incident