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HMS Diomede in Esquimalt Harbour

by John MacFarlane 2016

HMS Diomede

HMS Diomede in Esquimalt Harbour 1941 (Photo from the MacFarlane Family collection. )

HMS Diomede was a Danae–class cruiser of the Royal Navy built at the very end of the First World War and launched in 1922. Between the wars, she served on the China Station, Pacific waters, East Indies Waters and from 1936 onwards, in reserve. In World War II she performed four years of arduous war duty, during which time she captured the German blockade runner Idarwald.

HMS Diomede

HMS Diomede in Esquimalt Harbour 1941 (Photo from the MacFarlane Family collection. )

Diomede was attached to the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the America and West Indies Station on shipping protection and patrolling duty. On 8 December 1940 she chased the German blockade runner Idarwald from Tampico, Mexico. Before a capture could be effected the crew of the German freighter set it afire and scuttled it off Cabo Corrientes, Cuba.

In July to August she underwent a refit at Bermuda. In September to November, on completion of trials she was transferred to the Pacific Ocean for defence of trade and patrol and deployed off west coasts of North and South American continents and assumed duty as the Flagship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron.

In early 1942 Diomede joined the 9th Cruiser Squadron as part of the South Atlantic and West African Squadron.


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John M. (2016) HMS Diomede in Esquimalt Harbour. Nauticapedia.ca 2016. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Diomede_HMS.php

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