HMS Bonaventure (31)

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Career
HMS Bonaventure on patrol, 4 October 1940
Built By:	Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland)
Laid down:	30 August 1937
Launched:	19 April 1939
Commissioned:	24 May 1940
Fate:	Sunk, 31 March 1941 by torpedoes from Italian submarine Ambra, south of Crete (139 lost).
Penant:	31
General Characteristics
Type:	Light (Anti Aircraft) Cruiser
Displacement:	5,600 tons standard 6,850 tons full load
Dimensions:	485 pp, 512 oa × 50.5 × 14 feet (156 × 15.4 × 4.3 m)
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual guns, 1 × 4 in (102 mm) starshell gun, 2 × 0.5 in MG quadruple guns, 2 × 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns, 2 × 21 in (533 mm) triple Torpedo Tubes.
Armour:	Original configuration: Belt: 3 inch, Deck: 1 inch, Magazines: 2 inch, Bulkheads: 1 inch.
Propulsion:	Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 62,000 shp (46 MW) = 32.25 knots maximum speed
Range:	2,414 km (1,500 miles) at 30 knots, 6,824 (4,240 miles) at 16 knots ; 1,100 tons fuel oil
Complement:	480

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Bonaventure.

HMS Bonaventure was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Due to shortages Bonaventure, Dido and Phoebe were completed without one 5.25 inch gun and had a 4 inch starshell gun instead as its main armament.

She was built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland), with the keel being laid down on 30 August 1937. She was launched on 19 April 1939, and commissioned 24 May 1940.

[edit] History

Bonaventure served initially with the Home Fleet on completion, and escorted WS convoys. While on such duty with WS5a on 25 December 1940, the convoy was attacked by Admiral Hipper, although no damage was incurred or inflicted.

Almost immediately afterwards the ship was ordered to the Mediterranean. On 28 December 1940, Bonaventure intercepted the German blockade runner Baden (8204 tons) off Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. The German ship was en route from Tenerife to France. A capture was not possible due to the bad weather, so Bonaventure sank the ship with a torpedo.

Bonaventure was a part of Force "F" during the Operation Excess convoy to Malta in January 1941, she was attacked by the Italian torpedo boats Circe and Vega south of Pantelleria, but sank Vega on 10 January 1941. In March she escorted a convoy to Malta and was damaged by near misses while at Malta on 22 March 1941. She then participated in the Greek campaign, but on 31 March 1941, while escorting a convoy from Greece to Alexandria, she was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Ambra south of Crete with 139 lives lost.