Remembering HMS Neptune — New Zealand’s worst naval tragedy.
New Zealand’s worst naval tragedy occurred on December 19th, 1941 when the Royal Navy cruiser, HMS Neptune, struck four enemy mines and sank off the coast of Tripoli. Out of the total ship’s company of 764, 150 were New Zealanders. There was only one survivor.
HMS Neptune was one of seven ships in Force K, that had sailed from Malta to intercept an Italian supply convoy bound for Tripoli. At around 0100, the ship sailed into an uncharted deep-water minefield and triggered a mine. As she reversed to get clear, she exploded two more that wrecked her propellers and steering gear. She was then stopped, disabled and down by the stern. At 0400, Neptune drifted into and detonated a fourth mine. She quickly rolled over and sank.
Only 16 men survived the sinking including the Captain and one New Zealand rating, Able Seaman J.B. Quinn of Wellington. However, all but one succumbed to thirst and exhaustion over the next five days. The sole survivor, Leading Seaman Norman Walton was rescued by an Italian torpedo boat on Christmas Eve and interned in a POW camp until he was released in 1943.
Details of the loss of HMS Neptune were concealed for six months by the Admiralty. Following on from the loss of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse just over a week earlier off Malaya, the British worked hard to conceal the scale of the calamity at the time.
The names of all 150 New Zealand sailors lost on HMS Neptune, are recorded on the Memorial Wall inside the Devonport Naval Base.
There is still no positive identification of any known wreck on the seabed as being that of HMS Neptune.
