The Danae class mounted an extra 6 inch gun and a heavier torpedo armament, compared with their predecessors, the C-class cruiser. The class also had larger low revolution propellers for greater efficiency. Dauntless herself was completed with a large hangar under her bridge, which was eventually removed in 1920.
Interwar service
Headstone of Able Seaman William John Harrhy at Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane.[3] Harrhy drowned in the Brisbane River when Dauntless was moored there as part of the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron.HMS Dauntless (D45) at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda ca 1930
Completed too late to see action in the First World War, in 1919 she was assigned to operate in the Baltic Sea against the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia. She was then on detached service in the West Indies. Following this assignment she was attached to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet for the following five years. Dauntless was a member of the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron, also known as the 'Empire Cruise', of 1923/24. Following this tour, she went with the squadron to the Mediterranean for the next few years.
In 1928, as a result of the addition of South America to the geographic limits of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station, the station was renamed the "America and West Indies Station", and in May 1928 Dauntless was recommissioned and transferred to the Station from the Mediterranean, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortresscolony of Bermuda, to augment the vessels of the 8th Light Cruiser Station. South American waters had previously been patrolled by the "South American Squadron", but this had been withdrawn due to financial constraints in 1921, since when the British flag had been shown there only by special visits (such as during the world cruise of the First Cruiser Squadron in 1924 or by HMS Repulse, or during the March to October, 1925, tour of Africa and South America by the Prince of Wales'), or by detaching a ship from the North America and West Indies Station.[4][5] She ran aground on 2 July 1928 on the Thrum Cap Shoal, 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was badly damaged, suffering the breach of her engine room and of one of her boiler rooms. She was abandoned by most of her 462 crew, the officers remaining on board.[6][7] Subsequently all of her guns and torpedo tubes and much of her other equipment had to be removed to lighten her. She was finally refloated on 11 July 1928[8] and towed off by her sister shipHMS Despatch and a number of tugs. She was repaired throughout 1929 and was reduced to the reserve.
In 1930 she was transferred back to the America and West Indies Station. During 1931-1933 she served with the South American Division (of the America and West Indies Station), and in 1934 she relieved the cruiser Curlew in the Mediterranean and was reassigned to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron. In 1935 she returned to Britain to be paid off into the reserve.
Wartime career
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Dauntless was recommissioned and joined the 9th Cruiser Squadron with the South Atlantic Command. In December, the squadron, including Dauntless, was transferred to the China Station, and in March 1940 Dauntless operated as a unit of the British Malaya Force while in the Indian Ocean. She operated mainly off Batavia, keeping watch on German merchant ships in the Dutch East Indies harbours. On 15 June 1941 she collided with the cruiser Emerald off Malacca and had to put into Singapore for repairs, that were eventually completed on 15 August.
In February 1942 Dauntless returned to Britain, and underwent a refit at Portsmouth. Following this, she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet, and in November was docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown, South Africa, until January 1943. She was then used as a training ship, and in February 1945 was again reduced to the reserve.
She was sold to be broken up for scrap on 13 February 1946, and in April that year was broken up at the yards of Thos. W. Ward, of Inverkeithing.
References
^Colledge, J J (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 50.
^Dodson, Aidan (2024). "The Development of the British Royal Navy's Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940". Warship International. 61 (2): 134–66.
^"Local Jottings (first item)". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda. 27 March 1928. p. 5. In the statement by the First Lord of the Admiralty to Parliament explanatory of the naval estimates, appeared the following: — During the past year the limits of the North America and West Indies Station have been extended to include South America, and the Station has been renamed the "America and West Indies Station". In order to meet the requirements of the enlarged station it has been decided to augment this squadron by the transfer of H.M.S. Dauntless from the Mediterranean. This addition will make it possible for the British flag to be shown in South American waters more regularly than has been the case since the withdrawal of the South American squadron for financial reasons in 1921.
^"Local Jottings (second item)". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda. 27 March 1928. p. 5. This is enlarged upon in a later issue of the Times, which says:— Further opportunity for visits of British warships to South American ports will be provided by the decision, announced in the First Lord's Memorandum, to augment the Eighth Cruiser Squadron by the transfer of H.M.S. Dauntless from the Mediterranean. Since the withdrawal of the South American Squadron in 1921, the British flag has been shown in this part of the world in two ways, one by the calls of special ships, such as the Repulse, with the Prince of Wales, in 1925, and the First Cruiser Squadron in the course of its world cruise, in 1924; and the other by detaching a ship from what has hitherto been called the North American Station. The limits of this Station have now been extended to include South America, and the addition of a cruiser will enable visits to he made in the lower half of the Station without interfering with the annual programme of ships in the upper half.
^"H.M.S. Dauntless ashore". The Times. No. 44935. London. 3 July 1928. col F, p. 16.
^"The wrecked cruiser". The Times. No. 44936. London. 4 July 1928. col B, p. 16.
^"H.M.S. Dauntless refloated". The Times. No. 44943. London. 12 July 1928. col B, p. 14.
Publications
Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85. ISBN0-8317-0303-2.
Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-922-7.
Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-119-2.
Whitby, Michael (2020). "On Barren, Hideous Rocks: The Grounding of HMS Dauntless, July 1928". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford, UK: Osprey. pp. 167–179. ISBN978-1-4728-4071-4.
"Royal Navy Log Books - HMS Dauntless". naval-history.net. Retrieved 22 December 2013. OldWeather.org transcription of ship's logbooks January to December 1919
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