HMS Penelope (1935) an introduction to the Arethusa Class part 3/4

The 1935 cruiser continued a Royal Navy name previously carried by sailing-war fifth rates and a ship later converted to a paddle frigate.

The Arethusas were small light cruisers whose aggressive employment gave them something of a destroyer personality.

A later Leander-class HMS Penelope continued the name after 1962 and then served Ecuador as Presidente Eloy Alfaro until her reported 2008 decommissioning.

Penelope's Norwegian service included Operation EJ's air attack on shipping at Glomfjord, work with HMS Eskimo, and a major repair to her bottom.

Penelope's assignments included Force Q landing operations and Operation Stonewall's anti-blockade-runner duties.

Penelope's long list of operations did not produce an equally long list of named battle honours because many actions were grouped under broad theatre awards.

Penelope was lost to U-410 in 1944 after two torpedoes struck 16 minutes apart around the after engine room and after boiler room.

Penelope's draft of roughly 4.3 metres raises the possibility that a slightly deeper torpedo might have passed beneath her small hull.

The armament list combines six 6-inch guns with a secondary battery, several types of light anti-aircraft weapon, and two triple torpedo launchers.

Quadruple machine guns promised dense fire against approaching aircraft, but practical experience favoured the stopping power of 20 mm and 40 mm cannon.

Penelope had a two-and-a-quarter-inch belt, one to three inches of magazine protection, and about one inch over several other protected areas.

Access to other ships' aircraft and land-based aviation reduced the need for a cruiser to carry its own aircraft, freeing space and weight for anti-aircraft guns.

Repeated air attacks while Penelope remained at Malta left her full of patched holes, producing the nicknames HMS Pepperpot and HMS Porcupine.

A C. S. Forester book based on Penelope receives a personal recommendation over the author's Hornblower novels.