| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Escort Carrier |
| Class | Nairana |
| Pennant | D 05 |
| Built by | John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 7 Nov 1941 |
| Launched | 20 May 1943 |
| Commissioned | 12 Dec 1943 |
| End service | |
| History | Aquired March 1942. Ex merchantile. Loaned to the Royal Netherlands Navy as HrMs Karel Doorman on 23 March 1946. Returned to the Royal Navy on 28 May 1948 and immediately sold into merchantile service as Port Victor. She was converted back into a merchant ship at Belfast. Scrapped at Faslane, starting in July 1971. |
Commands listed for HMS Nairana (D 05)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. Raymond Maurice Trevelyan Taylor, RN | 31 Aug 1943 | 28 Jul 1944 |
| 2 | Capt. Villiers Nicholas Surtees, DSO, RN | 28 Jul 1944 | May 1945 |
| 3 | Cdr. George Henry Beale, DSO, OBE, RN | May 1945 | late 1945 |
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Notable events involving Nairana include:
18 Jan 1944
HMS Tantalus (Lt.Cdr. H.S. Mackenzie, DSO and Bar, RN) conducted exercises off Larne with aircraft from HMS Nairana (Capt. R.M.T. Taylor, RN).
Later the same day, HMS Tantalus and HMS Statesman (Lt. R.G.P. Bulkeley, RN) carried out attack exercises on each other. (1)
21 Jun 1944
Convoy MKF 32.
This convoy departed Port Said on 21 June 1944 and arrived in U.K. waters on 4 July 1944.
It was made up of the following transport vessels; Antenor (British, 11174 GRT, built 1925), Nieuw Holland (British, 11066 GRT, built 1927), Orduna (British, 15507 GRT, built 1914), Orion (British, 23371 GRT, built 1935), Ormonde (British, 14982 GRT, built 1917), Ranchi (British, 16738 GRT, built 1925), Stratheden (British, 23722 GRT, built 1937) and Strathmore (British, 23428 GRT, built 1935).
On departure from Port Said the convoy was escorted by the escort destroyers HMS Chiddingfold (Lt. T.M. Dorrien-Smith, RN), HMS Croome (T/A/Lt.Cdr. J.S. Lawrence, DSC, RNVR), HMS Exmoor (Lt. D.D. Howson, RN), HMS Tetcott (Lt. H.J. Watkins, RN) and HMS Wheatland (Lt. H.A. Corbett, DSC, RN).
Later on 21 June 1944 the damaged light cruiser HMS Birmingham (Capt. H.W. Williams, RN) joined the convoy for passage to Gibraltar. She came from Alexandria together with the netlayer HMS Guardian (Capt.(Retd.) H.A.C. Lane, OBE, RN) which also joined the convoy for passage westwards to Djidjelli, Algeria [now called Jijel].
In the eastern Mediterranean the escort destroyer Quantock was also with the convoy for a while. [Further details currently unkown.]
Around noon on 25 June 1944 convoy SNF 25 coming from Naples merged with the convoy. Convoy SNF 25 had departed Naples on 24 June 1944 and was made up of the transports Hai Lee (Norwegian, 3616 GRT, built 1934), Orontes (British, 20097 GRT, built 1929) and Samaria (British, 19597 GRT, built 1921).
On departure from Naples this convoy was escorted by the escort carrier HMS Attacker (Capt. H.B. Farncomb, DSO, MVO, RAN), frigates HMS Bazely (Lt.Cdr. J.V. Brock, RCNVR), HMS Bentinck (Cdr. E.H. Chavasse, DSO, DSC, RN), HMS Byard (A/Lt.Cdr. J.I. Jones, DSO, DSC, RNR), HMS Calder (T/A/Lt.Cdr. E. Playne, RNVR), HMS Drury (Lt.Cdr. N.J. Parker, RN), HMS Pasley (Lt.Cdr. J.H. Wright, RD, RNR) and the destroyer escort USS Frederick C. Davcis (Lt.Cdr. O.W. Goepner, USNR). This last ship served as jammer escort against German radio guided bombs.
The transport Hai Lee proceeded to Bizerta while the other two transports joined convoy MKF 32.
On 26 June, off Djidjelli, HMS Guardian was detached and later off Algiers the transport Champollion (French, 12263 GRT, built 1925) joined the convoy while HMS Attacker was detached.
On 27 June, off Oran the transport Monarch of Bermuda (British, 22424 GRT, built 1931) and the escort carrier HMS Hunter (Capt. H.H. McWilliam, RN) joined the convoy. They were escort from Oran to the rendezvous with convoy MKF 32 by the destroyers USS Knight (T/Cdr. J.C. Ford, Jr., USN) and USS Doran (T/Cdr. N.E. Smith, USN). USS Frederick C. Davis was detached to Mers-el-Kebir.
On 28 June, off Gibraltar the escort carrier HMS Hunter was detached as were the escort destroyers HMS Chiddingfold, HMS Croome, HMS Exmoor, HMS Tetcott and HMS Wheatland.
Also off Gibraltar the transports Felix Roussell (French, 17083 GRT, built 1930) and Tai Shan (Norwegian, 6962 GRT, built 1929) joined the convoy as did the escort carriers HMS Nairana (Capt. R.M.T. Taylor, RN), HMS Ravager (A/Capt. G.V.B. Faulkner, RN) and the AA ship HMCS Prince Robert (Cdr. A.M. Hope, RCN).
The convoy arrived in U.K. waters on 4 July 1944.
Sources
- ADM 173/18941
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.