HMS Fiji survives U-32's torpedo damage

Fiji sailed for Operation Menace in August 1940, but a torpedo from U-32 ended the deployment before she reached Dakar. The hit disabled the forward boiler room, flooded adjacent spaces, and reduced the cruiser to eleven knots. She still retained enough strength and buoyancy to return to Britain for six months of repairs. Her crew discharged forward ammunition and jettisoned the port-side torpedoes to reduce the list. The blast vented through the forward funnel, an unusual example of machinery-space layout channeling an explosion away from the hull. Repairs brought radar and additional light anti-aircraft weapons before Fiji returned to service in March 1941. She then moved from the Denmark Strait to Force H, Malta convoy support, and Operation Tiger before transferring to the Mediterranean Fleet, a rapid series of assignments driven by the need for cruisers in several theatres.