HMS Fiji
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Fiji | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | light cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | Battle of the Atlantic | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Mediterranean Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Greece | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 84 km from land |
| Position | 34.5830, 23.1700 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Fiji was the lead ship of her class of 11 light cruisers built for the Royal Navy shortly before the Second World War. Commissioned in May 1940, she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet under the command of Captain William Gordon Benn (1889-1962) who had previously commanded the Revenge-class battleship Royal Oak sunk by U-47 in Scapa Flow. In August 1940, Fiji was detached to escort a force tasked to force French West Africa to join the Free French. On 1 September 1940, the ship was torpedoed by U-32 while en route, and was out of service for six months while undergoing repairs. With a new captain in command, Fiji was then assigned to Force H where she helped to escort convoys to Malta. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in early May 1941. After the Germans invaded Crete a few weeks later, she was sunk by German aircraft on 22 May after having fired off all of her anti-aircraft ammunition.
Location
- Recorded position: 34.5830, 23.1700 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Mediterranean Sea
- Nearest coast: Greece
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Fiji (revision 1378894230), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-557 1941 · 81 km
- HMS Kelly 1941 · 92 km
- HMS Kashmir 1941 · 92 km
- HMS Calypso 1940 · 103 km
- HMS Airedale 1942 · 103 km
- HMS Hasty 117 km
Other wrecks of the Battle of the Atlantic
- U-16 1939
- U-35 1939
- U-40 1939
- HMS Jervis Bay 1940
- U-102 1940
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- U-142 1940
- U-26 1940
- HMS Repulse 1941
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All 704 wrecks of the Battle of the Atlantic →
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Greece · Mediterranean Sea