John Herbert Pears

PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 44, Column 3.

HMS Orion

HMS Orion was a Leander-class light cruiser commissioned on 18 January 1934, for service with the Home Fleet but she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in 1937 where she was with the 8th Cruiser Squadron.

In June 1940 she was transferred to the Mediterranean, where she was with the 7th Cruiser Squadron as John Tovey's flagship. She took part in the bombardment of Bardia, and the Battle of Calabria in July 1940. Late in that month, she sank the small Greek freighter Ermioni which was ferrying supplies to the Italian-held Dodecanese islands. During the rest of 1940 she escorted Malta convoys and transported troops to Greece.

In the early part of 1941 she was in the Crete and Aegean areas and was also at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. In the course of an attack on a German convoy headed for Crete on 22 May, she was damaged in a duel with its escort, the Italian torpedo boat Lupo.

On 29 May 1941, during the evacuation of Crete, she was bombed and badly damaged while transporting 1900 evacuated troops. Around 360 lives were lost including Pears and Able Seaman Alfred Hodgkinson from Radford, Nottingham. 100 were soldiers were among the dead. (Wikipedia)

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