HMS Ajax

HMS Ajax

HMS Ajax in Malta Harbour
History
Name	HMS Ajax
Owner	British Navy
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Launched	1 Mar 1934
Completed	312 Apr 1935
In service	3 Jun 1935
Out of service	February 1948
Fate	scrapped in 1949
General characteristics
Type	Leander class light cruiser
Tonnage	9,740 max 7,270 normally
Length	554.9 ft (169.1m)
Beam	56 ft (17m)
Depth	19.1 ft (5.8m)
Propulsion	54,000 KW
Speed	32.5 knots (60 km/hr)
Capacity	war tiem crew 680

Remarks

Commissioned for service on the North America, and West Indies stations, but instead was sent to the Mediterranean when completed.

Ajax left Portsmouth on June 11, 1935 and cruised the Mediterranean sailing as far as Alexandria, Egypt (where they had a Christmas party), they passed through the Suez Canal. In 1936, it began its South American cruise, starting from Gibraltar, then Bermuda, and through the Panama Canal down the Pacific coast of South America. It crossed the Equator in September, 1936. Sailing south off Chile and rounding Argentina, it then visited South Georgia, South Shetlands and the Falklands. It sailed up the Brazilian coast and into the Caribbean Sea, stopping in Trinidad and the Virgin Islands to Bermuda. The ship left Bermuda on June 11, 1937 and sailed the West Indies, arriving at Portsmouth on August 6, 1937

In 1938 she deployed to the West Indies and was there when WW2 commenced. Soon after the war commenced she was part of the force that battled with the German Graf Spee which eventually scuttled itself.

Following a refit in England she joined the Mediterranean based 7th Cruiser Squadron, and regularly saw action, primarily against Italian Naval units. She carried troops from Alexandria to Greece and then assisted in their recovery and transport to Alexandria after Crete had fallen to the German army.

Ajax remained out of action from June 1942 until the end of 1943 while undergoing a refit in England, followed by being disabled on 1 Jan 1943 when a 450 Kg bomb hit her boiler room, disabling her. She was also sent to the US for an upgrade in terms of air defense and radar.

As part of Force 'F' Ajax bombarded Gold Beach on D Day during the invasion of Normandy, and she later provide support to other landings in southern France. Following the completion of the war she was assigned to the British Palestine Patrol where she attempted to stop Jewish immigration to Palestine and participated in the Exodus 1947 incident when that she was escorted back to Germany. She was decommissioned in February 1948, and sent to the breakers in November 1949.

Soldiers carried

Crete to Alexandria, Egypt 27 - 28 April 1941

• Raymond Eric Gerard Bennett

Information provided by Ruth Flaherty of New York and taken from a photo album of her grandfather Sidney Reginald Coombs who was a crew member on the ship's maiden voyage 1935 -1937.