H.M.S. Calypso (1917)

H.M.S. Calypso (1917)
Pendant Number:	24 (Jan 1918) 82 (Apr 1918)
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie & Company
Ordered:	Dec, 1915
Laid down:	7 Feb, 1916
Launched:	24 Jan, 1917
Commissioned:	Jun, 1917
Torpedoed:	12 Jun, 1940
Fate:	by Template:IT-Bagnolini

Service

Calypso was completed on the Tyne in June 1917 and two months later in August she was fitted with a director. This alteration required her pole mast to be replaced with a tripod mast for greater rigidity.

At the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight, a 5.9-in shell hit on her C.T. forced in an Electro-Pneumatic firing push and thereby caused her to fire a ready torpedo. This quirk inspired issuance of a Torpedo Order to keep safety pins or push covers in place until the moment before firing.

Calypso re-commissioned on 22 January, 1925.

In June 1927 Calypso sailed to Chatham Dock where she was refitted and was recommissioned in August before returning to the Third Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean.

Re-commissioned at Chatham on 5 November, 1929 for duty with the Third Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean.

Re-commissioned at Chatham on 12 May, 1932 under the command of Guy Onslow Lydekker.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Herbert L. Edwards, 23 May, 1917 – 17 November, 1917  (died at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight)
• Captain Arthur J. Davies, November, 1917  (temporary, pending arrival of Thesiger)
• Captain Bertram S. Thesiger, November, 1917 – September, 1919  (and as Second in Command, Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron)
• Captain Claude Seymour, 27 September, 1919 – 29 September, 1921
• Captain Herbert A. Buchanan-Wollaston, 20 September, 1921 – December, 1922
• Captain Charles A. Scott, 31 December, 1922 – January, 1925
• Captain Colin A. M. Sarel, 22 January, 1925 – 3 February, 1926
• Captain John F. Finlayson, 3 February, 1926 – c. 22 January, 1927
• Captain Brian Egerton, 3 January, 1927 – 22 October, 1928
• Captain Guy L. Coleridge, 20 August, 1929 – 17 October, 1929
• Captain Norman A. Wodehouse, November, 1929 – 17 November, 1930
• Captain The Hon. George Fraser, 27 October, 1930 – 17 October, 1932
• Commander Guy O. Lydekker, 12 May, 1932 – 7 June, 1933
• Commander Geoffrey Nicholson, 7 June, 1933 – 24 July, 1933
• Commander Charles H. Allen, 24 July, 1933 – 2 April, 1935
• Captain Stanley B. de Courcy-Ireland, 24 July, 1935 – 30 August, 1935^[Inference]
• Lieutenant-Commander Alfred W. Sprott, 30 August, 1935 – 22 February, 1936  (temporary, upon her reducing)
• Commander Lancelot V. Donne, 22 February, 1936 – 22 July, 1936
• Lieutenant-Commander Henry T. W. Pawsey, 22 July, 1936 – 19 April, 1937
• Commander Thomas A. C. Pakenham, 19 June, 1937 – 11 January, 1938
• Lieutenant-Commander George R. I. Irving, 10 January, 1938 – 8 July, 1938  (remained in ship after Musters arrived)
• Commander John D. A. Musters, 8 July, 1938 – c. September, 1938
• Commander John D. A. Musters, 1 October, 1938 – 16 October, 1938
• Lieutenant-Commander George R. I. Irving, 18 October, 1938 – 13 June, 1940
• Captain Newton J. W. William-Powlett, 31 July, 1939 – 12 December, 1939
• Captain Henry A. Rowley, December, 1939 – 12 June, 1940  (killed when vessel lost)

See Also

• Transcribed Ship Logs at naval-history.net
• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.
• Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.