John Joseph Bowskill

Portsmouth Naval Memorial Panel 47 Column 2

HMS Emerald

HMS Emerald was an Emerald-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne, with the keel being laid down on 23 September 1918. She was launched on 19 May 1920 and commissioned 14 January 1926.

On 24 June 1940 Emerald departed Greenock carrying £58 million in gold, and reached Halifax on 1 July where the gold was transferred to a Canadian National Railway train for safe storage in Canada until the threat of German invasion of England had passed. Her sister ship Enterprise shipped another £10 million for Operation Fish.

In 1941 Emerald was transferred to the Indian Ocean, where she escorted troop convoys to the Middle East and stood by in the Persian Gulf during the operations in Iraq in April 1941. On June 15th, 1941 Emerald was involved in a collision with HM Cruiser Dauntless in the Malacca Straits sustaining major damage. 15 men were killed. Able Seaman John Bowskill from New Basford, died the next day, presumably from wounds sustained during the collision. (Wikipedia, naval- history.net and the CWGC Debt of Honour Register)

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