| HMS London's War Service.
She was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 23rd February 1926; launched on 14th September 1927; and completed on 31st January 1929. In the years preceding the Second World War she served as flagship of the Rear-Admiral commanding First Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean until 15th March, 1939, when she was paid off into dockyard control at Chatham for large repairs. On 7th February, 1941, she was commissioned for service in the Home Fleet by Captain R. M. Servaes, who had joined her while in dockyard hands in the previous October. At the time of the raid into the North Atlantic of the German battleship BISMARCK and cruiser PRINZ EUGEN, in May 1941, the LONDON was escorting home the S. S. ARUNDEL CASTLE with evacuees from Gibraltar. She was ordered to leave her and close the enemy. While thus helping to form the net drawn around the enemy ships she did not participate in the actual engagements which resulted in the destruction of the BISMARCK. On 4th June 1941, however, she intercepted the ESSO HAMBURG, and on 5th June the EGERLAND, two fuel and supply ships for U-boats working in conjunction with the BISMARCK and PRINZ EUGEN. The ESSO HAMBURG scuttled herself, and the EGERLAND was sunk by the destroyer BRILLIANT. On 21st June 1941, the LONDON intercepted the German motor vessel BABITONGA, which had left Santos, Brazil, on 24th April for Brest. This ship had been working with a German armed merchant raider, and was disguised as the Dutch JAPARA. On being intercepted, she scuttled herself, about 930 wiles south-west of Freetown. In September 1941, the LONDON conveyed from Scapa to Archangel the first British and American Missions, headed by Lord Beaverbrook and Mr. Averill Harriman, to go to Moscow after the entry of Russia into the War. She also brought home these Missions in October after the Three-Power Conference. During 1942 and 1943 the LONDON took part in the escort of convoys to and from North Russia and in various other operations of the Fleet. At the end of 1943 she was allocated for service with the Eastern Fleet. After a refit at Rosyth, the LONDON arrived at Scapa on 6th February 1944 and left there on the 17th to join the Eastern Fleet under Admiral Sir James Somerville, arriving at Colombo on 13th March. On 19th April 1944, she took part in the carrier-borne air strike on Sabang, Sumatra, by aircraft from the British carrier ILLUSTRIOUS and American carrier SARATOGA in which damage and losses were inflicted upon the dockyard, power station, wharf and town areas and on enemy shipping. On 17th May, she took part in a similar strike on Sourabaya, Java, by a force of the Eastern Fleet which consisted of British (including Australian and New Zealand), American, French and Dutch warships. Complete surprise was achieved and much damage inflicted. On 17th October 1944, the LONDON took part in bombardments of Car Nicobar, in the Nicobar Islands, which took place in conjunction with air attacks on that island and on Nancowry In November 1944, the Eastern Fleet was divided into two to form the British Pacific Fleet under Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser and the East Indies Fleet under Admiral Sir Arthur Power. The LONDON remained with the latter. On 11th April 1945, she took part in a bombardment of Sabang in company with the British battleship QUEEN ELIZABETH and French battleship RICHELIEU. She afterwards proceeded to Simonstown for refit, and was there until July. She rejoined the East Indies Fleet at Trincomalee on 25th July 1945, just too late to take part in the concluding war operations against the Japanese in South-East Asia, but in time to be present with the Allied forces of occupation. On 28th August, flying the broad pendant of Commodore A. L. Poland, she arrived at Sabang, and it was on board her that Japanese officers accepted the arrangements for occupation to become effective as soon as the instrument of surrender had been signed at Tokyo. This took place on 2nd September. On 3rd September, Commodore Poland formally accepted the surrender of Sabang, and on the 8th the LONDON returned to Trincomalee. She left Colombo on 15th October 1945, for England, and arrived at Sheerness on 6th November. For nearly a year afterwards the LONDON was employed on trooping duties to and from the Far East and Australia. For a short period in the autumn of 1946 she was flagship of Rear-Admiral L. H. Ashmore, Flag Officer Commanding Reserve Fleet. In August 1947, after a refit at Chatham, the LONDON was allocated to the British Pacific Fleet in place of the BELFAST. She became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Denis Boyd, in 1948, and the flagship of Vice-Admiral A.C.G. Madden, Commanding the 5th Cruiser Squadron and Second-in-Command, Far East Station, in 1949. Her most exciting experience during two years in the Far East was when on 21st April, 1949, she came under fire from Communist shore batteries in the Yangtze, while attempting to go to the assistance of the corvette AMETHYST. She sustained considerable damage and had 13 ratings killed and 15 wounded. The LONDON returned to Sheerness from Hong Kong on 6th September, 1949, and was welcomed by the Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. John Dugdale, on behalf of the Board of Admiralty, and by Admiral Sir Henry Moore, Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. On 9th September, the ship's company received a civic welcome from the Lord Mayor of London at Chatham. A few weeks later she was laid up in reserve at Falmouth and later handed over to British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrap. HMS LONDON was awarded the following Battle Honour. Atlantic
1941 The following are the names of the Commanding Officers of the LONDON during the period of hostilities of the Second World War:- Captain
R. M. Servaes. 15.10.1940 She was commanded from 14th February, 1949, in the Yangtse engagement, and until after her return home, by Captain P.G.L. Cazalet. Historical
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Original kindly supplied by Graham Bramley.