Jamaica was
laid down on 28 April 1939 by
Vickers-Armstrongs in
Barrow-in-Furness, England as part of the 1938 Naval Programme and named for the British
colony of Jamaica. The ship was
launched on 16 November 1940 and completed on 29 June 1942. The Arctic convoys had been suspended at PQ 18, but were scheduled to resume on 15 December with
Convoy JW 51A.
Jamaica and , with several escorting destroyers, formed Force R under the command of
Rear-Admiral Robert Burnett and were tasked to cover the convoy against any German surface ships. The convoy was not spotted by the Germans and arrived at the
Kola Inlet without incident on 25 December.
Battle of the Barents Sea Force R sailed from Kola on 27 December to rendezvous with
Convoy JW 51B in the
Norwegian Sea, but the convoy had been blown southwards by a major storm. Several of its ships had been separated during storm and they confused the radar of Force R's ships as to the true location of the convoy. Thus Force R was north of the convoy on the morning of 31 December when the
heavy cruiser attacked the convoy.
Admiral Hipper was first held at bay by the British
destroyers , , and . Initially driven off,
Admiral Hipper returned, only to be engaged by Force R shortly before noon and was hit by three 6-inch shells from the cruisers. Two German destroyers, and , misidentified
Sheffield as
Admiral Hipper and attempted to form up on her.
Sheffield sank
Friedrich Eckoldt at a range of while
Jamaica unsuccessfully engaged
Richard Beitzen. Less than an hour later Force R spotted the pocket battleship
Lutzow and
Admiral Hipper and opened fire. Neither side scored any hits in the darkness before both sides turned away a few minutes later. Force R continued to track the German ships for several hours before they lost contact. Although the destroyer and the
minesweeper were sunk by the
Kriegsmarine, the convoy reached the Kola Inlet intact. Force R remained at sea to protect
Convoy RA 51 that was returning to Great Britain until relieved by and .
Jamaica rejoined the Home Fleet at the beginning of 1943 and received six twin power-operated AA guns as well as four single guns some time during the year. During November she protected the convoys
RA 53B,
JW 54A,
JW 54B and
RA 54B, but was not engaged. On 15 December she was assigned to Force 2, the distant escort for
Convoy JW 55A, with the battleship and four destroyers. Force 2 was commanded by Admiral
Bruce Fraser, Commander-in-Chief of Home Fleet, in
Duke of York. For the first time the British distant cover force escorted the convoy all the way to the Kola Inlet. Their passage was uneventful, and Force 2 sailed on 18 December to refuel at Iceland. Before he reached his destination, Admiral Fraser received
Ultra information that a sortie by the was likely to attack
Convoy JW 55B, which was already at sea.
Battle of North Cape after the sinking of the German warship on 26 December 1943 German aerial reconnaissance spotted the convoy on 22 December, and
Scharnhorst, escorted by five destroyers of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, sailed on 25 December to intercept it. The resulting engagement became known as the
Battle of North Cape. The Germans were spotted on the morning of 26 December and were engaged by the covering force that consisted of the cruisers , HMS
Sheffield, and four destroyers. Meanwhile, HMS
Jamaica and HMS
Duke of York approached from the south west, barring the
Scharnhorsts path of retreat. The German battleship turned for her base at
Altafjord in the early afternoon after two brief encounters with the British cruisers. She was spotted by
Duke of Yorks
Type 273 radar at a range of and
Duke of York opened fire half an hour later.
Jamaica fired her first
salvo a minute after, and hit
Scharnhorst on her third
broadside. She was forced to cease fire after 19 salvos as the German ship was faster in the heavy seas than the British ships and was opening up the range despite heavy damage from the British shells. A shell from
Duke of Yorks last volley penetrated into
Scharnhorsts Number One boiler room and effectively destroyed it. This reduced the German ship's speed sufficiently for the British destroyers to catch up and make four torpedo hits using a pincer attack. This slowed the ship again, so that
Jamaica and
Duke of York also caught up and opened fire at a range of . They hit the German ship continually, but she did not sink after 20 minutes of firing so
Jamaica was ordered to torpedo her. Two torpedoes from her first volley of three missed and the third misfired, so the cruiser had to turn about to fire her other broadside of three, two of which appeared to hit.
Belfast and the destroyers also fired torpedoes before
Scharnhorst finally sank. She was detached from the latter to escort the
aircraft carrier as she launched an air strike against the German battleship Tirpitz as part of
Operation Tungsten. In July she formed part of the covering force for the carriers , and during an unsuccessful attack on the berthed in
Kaafjord (
Operation Mascot).
Jamaica escorted the Convoys
JW 59 and
RA 59 in August–September before starting a major refit in October that lasted until April 1945. The ship's 'X' turret (third from the front) was removed and her light anti-aircraft suite now consisted of five quadruple and four single 2-pounder mounts, four single mounts for
40 mm Bofors guns, two twin-gun Oerlikon mounts and six single Oerlikons while her radar suite was modernized. On 6 June the cruiser conveyed
King George VI and the
Queen on a visit of the
Channel Islands.
Jamaica was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron of the
East Indies Fleet in September and was later transferred to the 4th Cruiser Squadron. The ship was reassigned to the North America and West Indies Station in August 1948.
Korean War Fighting between
North and
South Korea had broken out on 25 June 1950, whilst
Jamaica was on passage to
Japan. She, and her escort , were ordered to rendezvous with the American light cruiser off the east coast of Korea to bombard advancing North Korean troops. On 2 July a North Korean supply convoy was returning from Chumunjin when it was spotted by the Allied ships. The escorting
motor torpedo boats and
motor gun boats turned to
fight, but three torpedo boats and both gun boats were sunk without inflicting any damage on the Allied ships. They resumed bombarding coastal targets. Six days later
Jamaica was hit by a shell that killed six and wounded five. The following month,
Jamaica participated in the preparatory bombardment of the island of Wolmi-do before the main
landing on 15 September. During the landing itself she supported the southern flank of the assault and she was tasked to support the
1st Marine Regiment afterwards. Two days after the landing
Jamaica and the American heavy cruiser were attacked by a pair of Yakovlev piston-engined fighters at dawn. One aircraft succeeded in
strafing the ship, killing one sailor, before it was shot down by the ship's guns.
Post-Korean War The ship was the flagship of the
Reserve Fleet from May 1953 to 1954 when she was recommissioned for service with the
Mediterranean Fleet. Assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron, she was refitted in
Chatham Dockyard from June 1955 and rejoined her squadron. From the end of 1955 until early 1956 she played the part of HMS
Exeter in the film
The Battle of the River Plate. The ship participated in Operation Musketeer in November 1956. The ship led the bombardment force covering the
Royal Marine landings at
Port Said, but she was not permitted to fire her main guns as the
Cabinet had banned naval gunfire support by guns larger than .
Jamaica was placed in reserve again in September 1958 after a port visit to
Kiel. She was sold for scrap on 14 November 1960 and arrived at Arnott Young's yards at
Dalmuir on 20 December 1960 to begin demolition. ==Notes==