Portsmouth Naval Memorial Extension

Portsmouth Naval Memorial Extension. . , This panel features a selection of ships on which many of the men commemorated on the Second World War extension at Portsmouth were serving when they lost their lives. Until well into the 20th century, when a man, woman or boy joined the Royal Navy they were allocated to a particular port which remained their 'manning port’ for administrative purposes. The memorial bears the names of those naval personnel whose manning port was Portsmouth. The 3,249 men highlighted below represent just over one fifth of the total number commemorated on the Second World War extension. , The R-class battleship, HMS Royal Oak. pictured here in 1937, was completed in 1916 and first saw action at the Battle of Jutland that year. She was sunk by the German submarine U-47 at Scapa Flow on 14 October 1939. 834 men, including Captain Benn, were lost, of whom 785 are commemorated here. Such a significant loss of life, in home waters and just six weeks into the war, came as a major blow to the Royal Navy. , The light cruiser HMS Fiji was commissioned in May 1940 and damaged by the German submarine U-32 in September that year. The ship returned to service in March 194l and participated in the ‘Tiger’ Mediterranean convoy before being sunk, along with the light cruiser HMS Gloucester, off the coast of Crete on 22 May. 241 men were lost, of whom 205 are commemorated here. , The battlecruiser, HMS Hood, commissioned in 1920, was the largest warship in the Royal Navy. As the flagship of Force H, she participated in the destruction of a portion of the Vichy French Fleet at Oran in July 1940. On 24 May 1941, the Hood was sunk at the Battle of Denmark Strait after coming under attack from the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. 1,415 men, including Admiral Holland and Captain Kerr were lost: the largest loss ever on a Royal Navy ship. 1,384 of her crew are commemorated here. , The battleship HMS Barham was built in 1915 and participated in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. In December 1939, the ship was damaged by the German submarine U-30 while patrolling off the Outer Hebrides. In 1940-41, she participated in the Dakar operation the Mediterranean convoys, the bombardments of Bardia and Tripoli and the Battle of Cape Matapan, being damaged at Crete in 1941. After repair, the ship was sunk by the German submarine U-33l in the Mediterranean on 25 November 1941. 841 men, including Captain Cooke, were lost, of whom 630 are commemorated here. , The HMS Eagle, originally ordered as the battleship Almirante Cochrane for Chile, was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1917 and completed, as an aircraft carrier, in 1923. n 1940 and '41, the Eagle participated in attacks on Rhodes, Leros and Tripoli, and in the Battle of Calabria and operations in Italian Somaliland, where she sank six destroyers. She was sunk by the German submarine U-73 on 11 August 1942 whilst participating in the ‘Pedestal’ convoy to Malta. 160 men lost their lives, of whom 128 are commemorated here. , The light cruiser, HMS Penelope, was damaged by mines whilst serving with 'Force K' at Malta in 1941. She sustained further damage as a result of enemy air attacks in 1942, the year this photograph was taken. Having participated in the invasion of Sicily and the landings at Salerno, the Penelope was finally sunk by the German submarine U-410 at Anzio on 18 February 1944. This was the last major Royal Navy warship sunk during the war. 417 men lost their lives, of whom 342 are commemorated here.