HMS Curacoa was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She was one of the five ships of the Ceres sub-class and spent much of her career as a flagship. The ship was assigned to the Harwich Force during the war, but saw little action as she was completed less than a year before the war ended.

On a near perfect afternoon on 2nd October, 1942 the troopship carrying 15,000 US troops, was off the Irish coast. The vessel was setting a zigzag course to help evade U-boats and long-range German bombers. The “Queen Mary” had caught up with her 4,290 tonne escort vessel, the RN’s “Curacoa”, and was set to overtake her.

Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Curacoa, after the island in the Caribbean Sea more usually spelled Curaçao: HMS Curacoa (1809), a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1809. She was reduced to 24 guns in 1831 and broken up in 1849. HMS Curacoa (1854), a wood screw frigate launched in 1854.

Oct 8, 2021 · HMS Curacoa Tragedy, 1942 The story of the light cruiser that was sliced in half by the colossal Queen Mary transatlantic liner. It was late 1942 and the Battle of the Atlantic – the struggle to ferry millions of tonnes of equipment, war materials and men through a deadly gauntlet of U-Boat submarines – was in full flow.

After four days serving as AA protection off Aldansnes, Norway HMS Curacoa (Capt. E.A. Aylmer, DSC, RN) is seriously damaged by bombs from German aircraft. Repairs lasted into August. (2)

On 2 October 1942 an eastbound Queen Mary, carrying nearly 20,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division to join the Allied forces in Europe, collided with and sank the British light cruiser Curacoa.

HMS Curacoa, named after the island Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea, was a Ceres group C-class light cruiser. In 1942, she became one of the Royal Navy's major accidental losses during the Second World War.

Jun 2, 2005 · hms curacao during ww2 she was mainly engaged in convoy duties. she was sunk in 1942 after collision with the queen mary, 338 died and 108 were rescued from the water by escorting destroyers.

Oct 2, 2016 · Today marks the 77th anniversary of the sinking HMS Curacao and it wasn't sunk by the Germans or Japanese or other Axis powers but by one of the most famous cruise liners HMS Queen Mary. On the morning of 2 October 1942, Curacoa rendezvoused north of Ireland with the ocean liner Queen Mary, who was…

Oct 3, 2017 · The RMS Queen Mary was used as a troopship throughout World War II and usually crossed the Atlantic without an escort, relying on her speed to evade the U-Boats. As she came north of Ireland on the 2nd October 1942 she was joined by HMS Curacoa, providing an anti-aircraft escort for the last leg into Scotland.