RN:
HMS
Raleigh was one of five
Hawkins-class heavy cruisers built for the
Royal Navy during the
First World War, although the ship was not completed until 1921. She was assigned to the
North America and West Indies Station when she
commissioned and often served as a
flagship. After visiting ports in the
Caribbean Sea,
Gulf of Mexico and both coasts of the United States and
Canada in 1921–1922,
Raleigh ran aground off
Newfoundland in August 1922 with the loss of a dozen crewmen.
On 8 August
Raleigh was bound for
Forteau,
Labrador, from
Hawke's Bay,
Newfoundland, and she entered a heavy fog in the
Strait of Belle Isle en route. The ship ran aground at
L'Anse Amour, Newfoundland, that afternoon, 15 minutes after entering the fog. She did not strike with much force, but the strong wind quickly blew her stern onto the rocks, which pounded multiple holes in the hull and gave her an eight-degree
list. A dozen sailors died from drowning and
hypothermia as the crew abandoned ship. Many men were able to find shelter ashore while the others lit fires to stay warm
They returned to the ship the following morning to evaluate the ship's condition and to recover personal belongings, only to find a 260-foot-long (79 m) gash in the hull and most personal items ruined by leaking fuel oil. The light cruisers
Capetown and
Calcutta arrived later that day and fed the crewmen. In the bad weather little could be done immediately and many of the survivors were marched to Forteau to be transported back to Britain. The 18,481-
gross register ton (GRT) Canadian
ocean liner RMS Empress of France arrived on 10 August to load the crewmen, but her
captain refused to do so as he did not have enough provisions for all the men. They had to wait several more days before the brand-new 16,402 GRT ocean liner
SS Montrose arrived. Several hundred men were kept back to salvage
Raleigh and to protect the wreck from locals intent on the same task. It was stripped of everything useful and the wreck was abandoned in place, still upright. Shortly after their return to the UK, Bromley and his
navigator were both
court martialled and found negligent in their duty; they were severely reprimanded and dismissed their ship. Their careers over, both men requested retirement.
Embarrassed by the sight of the apparently intact
Raleigh visible to every passing ship, the
Board of Admiralty deemed the wreck a hazard to shipping in 1926 and ordered it to be refloated. A survey found that this was impossible and the captains of
Capetown and
Calcutta were ordered to remove as much as possible from the wreck and then demolish the remains so that it was unrecognizable. The crew of the former ship carried out the first task and the latter's crew blew
Raleigh's remains apart using
depth charges under the command of Captain
Andrew Cunningham over five days beginning on 23 September.
Cunningham's men made no effort to recover the pieces of the ship and remains are still plentiful.
Royal Canadian Navy dive teams were forced to visit the site in 2003 and 2005 to remove live 7.5-inch ammunition, although there were reports of shells still visible as of 2016
