HMS Manchester (15): Scuttled, and Her Captain's Career Ended by the Longest Court Martial in Modern Royal Navy History

Built at Hebburn

HMS Manchester was laid down on 28 March 1936 by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn, launched on 12 April 1937 and commissioned on 4 August 1938, the first Royal Navy ship to carry the name, a Town-class light cruiser displacing 9,400 tons standard, deployed initially to the East Indies before returning to Home Fleet duties in November 1939 as war approached.

912 Shells, Not a Single Hit

HMS Manchester took part in Operation Collar in November 1940, escorting a convoy to Alexandria, and fought at the Battle of Cape Spartivento during that same operation, an action in which she fired 912 shells from her main guns without scoring a single hit, a genuinely sobering illustration of just how difficult accurate long-range naval gunnery could be, while nonetheless sustaining splinter damage from the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto.

A 60-Foot Hole From a Torpedo

HMS Manchester was struck by an aerial torpedo on 23 July 1941 while taking part in Operation Substance, an operation to resupply Malta, a hit that blew a 60-foot-long hole in her hull, killed 38 of her crew and caused severe flooding. She underwent extensive repairs that ran until April 1942, a substantial period out of action for a cruiser whose services were badly needed in an increasingly desperate Mediterranean campaign.

Scuttled During Operation Pedestal

HMS Manchester took part in Operation Pedestal in August 1942, one of the largest and most heavily contested Malta convoy operations of the entire war, and on the night of 13 to 14 August, near Kelibia, she was attacked by two Italian motor torpedo boats. A torpedo struck her aft engine room, disabling her propulsion and leaving her listing at 11 degrees. Her commanding officer, Captain Harold Drew, ordered the ship scuttled at 02:50 on 14 August, and she finally sank shortly after 06:47 that morning. Remarkably, casualties were low given the scale of the disaster: only ten sailors were killed by the torpedo itself, and one drowned during the abandonment, with most of the crew either swimming ashore or being rescued by British destroyers.

The Longest Court Martial in Modern Royal Navy History

HMS Manchester's loss triggered genuine controversy back in Britain. Admiral Dudley Pound concluded that Captain Drew's decision to scuttle the ship demonstrated a lack of determination to fight her, and recommended he never be given another command. After the crew's internment by Vichy French forces in North Africa ended in November 1942, a formal court martial convened on 2 March 1943, one that went on to become the longest court martial in the modern Royal Navy's history. The court found that HMS Manchester had, in fact, still been capable of steaming at 10 to 13 knots on her surviving port outer propeller shaft, and that her main and secondary armament had remained largely intact at the time of the scuttling order. Captain Drew was dismissed his ship, severely reprimanded and prohibited from any further sea command, and four additional officers along with one petty officer received further punishment, a genuinely painful and prolonged reckoning for a decision made in the chaos and darkness of a single desperate night.