IN 1941, a royal navy ship named after the Fiji Islands took part in one of the most dramatic battles of the Second World War — The Battle of Crete. The battle involved 12 days of brutal onslaught of German attack against the allied troops made up of New Zealanders, British, Australian and Greek troops. The HMS Fiji was one of three ships that fought and was torpedoed by the Germans.
Today, the remanent of the ship lies on the sea floor off the island of Crete in Greece. It would be 76 years today since that event. The HMS Fiji was the only Crown Colony-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy to bear the name Fiji.
According to records, she was commissioned on May, 5 1940, and initially joined the Home Fleet.
“On 31 August 1940 she sailed for the African Atlantic coast to take part in Operation Menace, the attack on Dakar.
“Before she could join the taskforce, Fiji was damaged by a torpedo from the German submarine U-32 on September 1, 1940 and had to return to Britain for repairs, which lasted for the next six months.
“She was fitted with radar and her anti-aircraft armament was also marginally increased. She returned to service in March 1941 and was assigned to patrol the Denmark Strait for German raiders. On completion of several duties she participated in the Battle of Crete.
“On 22 May 1941 she was acting in company with the destroyers Kandahar and Kingston shortly after the loss of the cruiser Gloucester.”
A Clement Walker who was on the ship when it was bombed gave the following account to BBC: “On the 22nd May 1941 HMS Fiji was sunk by enemy aircraft 50 miles south west of Gavdo Island. The Fiji, along with HMS Gloucester, HMS Kandahar and HMS Kingston, had been sent to assist HMS Greyhound which was under air attack. By the time this group arrived, however, the Greyhound had sunk.
“While rescuing survivors from the Greyhound, Gloucester was bombed and brought to a halt, her upper deck a shambles and fiercely ablaze.
“The captain of the Fiji reluctantly withdrew, leaving behind carley rafts. For the next three and a half hours, as the Fiji withdrew to the west, she was relentlessly attacked from the air until finally having exhausted all her live ammunition and surviving numerous bombing attacks, was hit close to the portside amidships.
“The ship took up a heavy list but was able to steam at 17 knots until half an hour later she was hit again by three bombs above the ‘A’ boiler room. The list increased and at 2015 hours she rolled right over.”
HMS Fiji lost 241 men and had 523 survivors. A plaque paid for by the survivors of HMS Fiji was unveiled at a school in Scotland. The plaque which is a beautiful piece of wood carving bears the inscription: “To commemorate the adoption of this ship by Our Holy Redeemer’s School. The plaque is gifted by the survivors of her sinking off Crete, through enemy action on May 22, 1941.”
