HMS "MALAYA" BRITISH ROYAL NAVY BATTLESHIP 1943

Description

HMS Malaya was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction. In World War II she served in the Mediterranean in 1940, escorting convoys and operating against the Italian fleet. On one occasion her presence in a convoy was sufficiently discouraging to the German commerce raiders Scharnhorst and Gneisenau that they withdrew rather than risk damage in an attack. She shelled Genoa in February 1941 as part of Operation Grog but due to a crew error, fired a 15" armour piercing shell into the south east corner of the Cathedral nave. The fuse failed to detonate. She was damaged by a torpedo from U-106 at 2323 on 20 March 1941. On 9 July, under the command of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger, the battleship left New York on trials and steamed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to provide protection for an urgent fast convoy. On this Atlantic crossing no ships were lost and Malaya arrived on 28 July in Rosyth. Thereafter Malaya escorted convoys from the United Kingdom to Malta and Cape Town until summer 1943. Malaya was placed in reserve at the end of 1943. During this time her entire secondary 6" armament was landed while her anti-aircraft armament was enhanced. She was reactivated just before the 1944 Normandy Landings to act as a reserve bombardment battleship. Malaya was finally withdrawn from all service at the end of 1944 and became an accommodation ship for a torpedo school. Sold on 20 February 1948 to Metal Industries, she arrived at Faslane on 12 April 1948 for scrapping. The ship’s bell can be seen in the East India Club, London. (Scale : 1/700e)