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Carlisle (HMS Carlise)

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HMS Carlisle at The Red Sea Wreck Project

The HMS Carlisle was a Carlisle Class Light Cruiser ordered in April 1916 undet the Emergency War Programme. The ship was built at the Fairfields of Govan shipyard, Glasgow, Scotland for the British Royal Navy. Her keel was laid down in October 1917 and the ship was completed 11 November 1918.

The ship served at the China Station until 1928, and then on the Africa Station until 1937 when she was place on the Reserve list at Devonport, England. In 1939, the Carlisle was converted into an Anti-Aircraft Cruister.The ship served at various places during WWI, one of those being in the Red Sea. Starting in September 1940, the ship was assigned escort duties for convoys moving through the Red Sea.
The ship is only loosely connected with the Thistlegorm in that the HMS Carlisle was assigned to provide Anti-aircraft defense in the Gulf of Suez at anchorages “F” and “H” on 29 August 1941, transferred for escort duties for convoys to Tobruk in September and October, and then was reassigned to the Gulf of Suez. In November 1941, the Carlisle was assigned to duties in the Mediterranean in support of convoys to Tobruk, after which she went on to other duty assignments until being deployed off the coast of Sicily in August 1943. On 09 October 1943 the ship came under attack by Ju87’s while in the Scarpanto Strait.The ship suffered severe damage as a result of multiple near misses, with the starboard shaft and propeller being blown off and the port shaft buckled. The ship suffered 20 casualties and 17 crew wounded.The ship was then towed to Alexandria, Egypt by HMS Rockwood. Upon arrival at Alexandria in mid-November, the ship was declared a total constructive loss and conversion for use as a Base Ship was began. Conversion was completed in April 1944.After VJ Day, the ship was paid off. In 1949 the ship was placed on the disposal list, was sold, and later broken up in the Port of Alexandria. So this particular ship IS NOT the suspected shipwreck that lies in the vicinity of the Thistlegorm.

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Lee has been in the marketing industry for the last 15 years and now specializes in teaching marketing techniques to people in the scuba diving industry. He is founder of Dive Media Solutions which, in addition to providing complete marketing, media, communications and IT solutions exclusively for the scuba diving industry, also produces The Scuba News. You can connect with Lee via Twitter by following @DiveMedia

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