HMS Edinburgh
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HMS
Edinburgh was a Town class light cruiser laid down by Swan
Hunter in September 1936 for Royal Navy. She was launched
in March 1938, and was commissioned the year after. She
was extensively used as an escort after the outbreak of
world war two, and was refitted in March 1940. From
December 1941 she was assigned protecting the Arctic
convoys with lend lease material to Murmansk. Under a
journey from Murmansk to Iceland commanding the escorts of
convoy QP-11, she was spotted 30. April 1942 by the German
uboat U-456. Two torpedoes were fired which both hit her
stern, where most of Edinburgh's cargo was stored. Sge
carried 4,5 tons of Soviet gold bars destined for UK as
payment for war material. She was still afloat and
was taken under tow, heading back towards Murmansk. Two
days later they were engaged by the three German
destroyers Z-24, Z-25 and Hermann Schoemann. Edinburgh was
again hit by a torpedo, which sealed her fate. Orders to
abandon ship was given, and HMS Foresight sunk her with a
torpedo. The wreck was found in 1981 on a depth of 240
meters, and a salvage operation to retrieve the gold was
launched. After a second salvage expedition in 1986, only
five gold bars remains unaccounted for.
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 Picture: HMS Edinburgh in 1941 Courtesy of Imperial War Museum, Public domain Last updated: January 2021 |
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