Kenneth Hewitt

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL

Panel 85. Column 2

HMS Penelope

HMS Penelope was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland); her keel was laid down on 30 May 1934. She was launched on 15 October 1935, and commissioned 13 November 1936. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat near Naples with great loss of life on 18 February 1944. On wartime service with Force K, she was holed so many times by bomb fragments that she acquired the nickname "HMS Pepperpot".

On 18 February 1944, Penelope, under the command of Captain G. D. Belben, was leaving Naples to return to the Anzio area when she was torpedoed at 40.55°N 13.25°E by the German submarine U-410 under the command of Horst-Arno Fenski. A torpedo struck her in the after engine room and was followed sixteen minutes later by another torpedo that hit in the after boiler room, causing her immediate sinking.

417 of the crew, including the captain, went down with the ship and 206 survived. Among the dead were Stoker 1st Class Leonard Davies from Mapperley, Nottingham, Stoker Class 2 Dennis Phillips from Wiverton, Nottinghamshire, Coder Fred Quatermaine from Sherwood Nottingham, Sick Berth Attendant Harold Wildin from Nottingham, and Telegraphist Horace Wenman from Hucknall. A memorial plaque commemorating those lost is in St Ann's Church, HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. (Wikipedia)

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