HMS Carlisle was a C-class

C class cruiser

The C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in a sequence of seven classes known as the Caroline , Calliope , Cambrian , Centaur , Caledon , Ceres and Carlisle classes...

 light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, named after the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 City of Carlisle

City of Carlisle

The City of Carlisle is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...

. She was the name ship of the Carlisle group of the C-class of cruisers. Carlisle was credited with shooting down eleven Axis aircraft during the Second World War, and was the top scoring anti-aircraft ship in the Royal Navy.

Construction and early years

She was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

 in 1917, and launched on 9 July 1918. She was completed with a hangar positioned under the bridge, and she was to carry aircraft. This was never carried out and the hangar was later removed. Carlisle was commissioned too late to see action in the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and in 1919 Carlisle joined the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron at Harwich

Harwich

Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

. During March she left Harwich in company with the squadron, and took up station in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. She was refitted between 1921-1929 and went on to serve on the Africa Station with the 6th Cruiser Squadron. In February 1930, Carlisle was docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown, South Africa

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

 prior to becoming a unit of the 2nd cruiser squadron Atlantic (Home Fleet). On 16 March 1937 she was relieved by the cruiser HMS Neptune

HMS Neptune (20)

HMS Neptune was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II.Neptune was the fourth ship of its class and was the ninth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name...

 and returned to the U.K. to be reduced into the reserve. In June 1939 Carlisle started a conversion to an A/A cruiser, with 8-4" QF MK16 and 1 quadruple 2 pdr Pom-Poms

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

 being fitted. This conversion was completed in January 1940. Carlisle was fitted with radar during her conversion and introduced the Type 280 radar combined air warning and gunnery radar into the Royal Navy; she thus became the first naval vessel to be equipped with an anti-aircraft fire control radar system.

Early war service

She then spent a brief period with the Home Fleet, in which she participated in the allied opposition to the German invasion of Norway

Norwegian Campaign

The Norwegian Campaign was a military campaign that was fought in Norway during the Second World War between the Allies and Germany, after the latter's invasion of the country. In April 1940, the United Kingdom and France came to Norway's aid with an expeditionary force...

. She was employed on escort duties of a troop convoy consisting of the 148th Infantry Brigade who went ashore at Åndalsnes

Åndalsnes

is a town in the municipality of Rauma in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is the administrative center of Rauma. The town has a population of 2,207...

; with this the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 position in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

 was threatened from the north and south (Operation Sickle). Later during the month the sloop HMS Bittern

HMS Bittern (L07)

HMS Bittern was a Bittern class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 27 August 1936 by J. Samuel White, of Cowes, Isle of Wight and launched on 14 July 1937.She served in Home waters and off the coast of Norway during the Second World War...

 was mistaken for a cruiser and was badly damaged by German JU88s

Junkers Ju 88

The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...

 and had to be sunk by Carlisle. In August Carlisle was serving in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 and Gulf of Aden

Gulf of Aden

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....

 area when she assisted in the evacuation of British troops, civilians and the sick from Berbera

Berbera

Berbera is a city and seat of Berbera District in Somaliland, a self-proclaimed Independent Republic with de facto control over its own territory, which is recognized by the international community and the Somali Government as a part of Somalia...

 in British Somaliland

British Somaliland

British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...

 to Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

 before Berbera was occupied by Italian

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

 troops.

Mediterranean

She returned to the Eastern Fleet in August 1940 after being converted to an anti-aircraft ship in 1940. Like most of her sisters, she was then assigned to the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

, departing the Far East in March 1941. Once in the Mediterranean, she was used to escort convoys as an A/A vessel of the 15th cruiser squadron for convoys from Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 (Operation Lustre). She became involved in Battle of Cape Matapan

Battle of Cape Matapan

The Battle of Cape Matapan was a Second World War naval battle fought from 27–29 March 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula...

, as well as the first

First Battle of Sirte

The First Battle of Sirte was fought between the British Royal Navy and the Regia Marina during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, southeast of Malta, in the Gulf of Sirte...

 and second

Second Battle of Sirte

The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in which the escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta frustrated a much more powerful Regia Marina squadron. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships escorted by four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser, and 17 destroyers...

 battles of Sirte. She was also involved in the naval attack during the Battle of Crete

Battle of Crete

The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...

 in 1941, and was hit and damaged in an air attack on the 22 May whilst attacking an enemy convoy. A direct hit killed her Commanding Officer, Capt. Thomas Cloud Hampton, RN. The British destroyer HMS Kingston

HMS Kingston (F64)

HMS Kingston was a K-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by J. Samuel White and Company at Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 6 October 1937 as part of an order for six similar destroyers....

 went alongside to give assistance, whilst Carlisle continued to engage the enemy. She went on to rescue the survivors of the SS Thistlegorm

SS Thistlegorm

The SS Thistlegorm was a British armed Merchant Navy ship built in 1940 by Joseph Thompson & Son in Sunderland, England. She was sunk on 6 October 1941 near Ras Muhammad in the Red Sea and is now a well known dive site.-Construction:...

 after the ship was sunk in an air attack on 5 October 1941. By December, the cruiser was back performing convoy duties between Alexandria and Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, she was tasked to support the commissioned auxiliary supply ship HMS Breconshire.

Damage and reclassification

In July 1943, she provided escort for the support force for the Allied landings in Sicily

Allied invasion of Sicily

The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...

. During September-October, during the German counterattack in the Aegean Sea

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

, Carlisle made a sortie into the area south of Piraeus

Piraeus

Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

 with the destroyers HMS Panther

HMS Panther (G41)

HMS Panther was a P class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down on 5 March 1940 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched on 28 May of the following year...

 and HMS Rockwood in order to intercept German convoys in the Scarpanto Strait. On 9 October 1943 they were spotted by German Ju 87

Junkers Ju 87

The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was a two-man German ground-attack aircraft...

dive bombers from I. StG 3 of Megara Air Base which succeeded in sinking HMS Panther at 12.05 hrs and later on seriously damaged Carlisle. She was taken in tow to Alexandria by Rockwood. She was considered to be beyond economical repair as a warship, and instead was converted to serve as a base ship in the harbour of Alexandria in March 1944. She was last listed as a hulk in 1948 after the war had ended, and was broken up in 1949.

Carlisles badge can still be seen painted on the side of the Selborne dry dock wall at Simonstown, South Africa.