HMS Curacoa (D41)

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.

First World War
Her first service was with the Grand Fleet during the last days of the First World War. Later, in 1935, she was one of four Royal Navy ships featured in film Brown on Resolution, where she played a German battlecruiser.

Second World War
In 1939, a few months before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, she was selected for conversion to an anti-aircraft cruiser and underwent a refit at Chatham Dockyard. She then served with the Home Fleet during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, until, on 24 April, she sustained heavy damage from aerial bombing and suffered 30 casualties. She returned to Chatham for repairs and resumed active duty in August, serving with the Nore Command convoy defence. During "Warship Week" in March 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Wolverhampton.

Collision
On 2 October 1942 about 60 km north of the coast of Ireland she was escorting the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary carrying 10,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division to join the Allied forces in Europe. Queen Mary was steaming an evasive zig-zagging course; eight minutes to starboard, eight minutes to port then the resumption of her base course for four minutes before starting the cycle again, which the aged Curacoa could not match due to deterioration of her engines. Curacoa was hard pressed to keep pace with Queen Mary as it was and her Captain opted to forego the zig-zag so as to be able to maintain a position from which to provide effective anti-aircraft watch. At 2:15 PM the Queen Mary started the starboard turn for the first leg of her zig-zag, cutting across the path of the Curacoa with insufficient clearance, striking her amidships at a speed of 28 knots and cutting her in two. The Curacoa sank in six minutes, about 100 yards from the Queen Mary. Due to the risk of U-boat attacks, the Queen Mary did not assist in rescue operations and instead steamed onward with a damaged bow. Hours later, the convoy's lead escort, consisting of HMS Bramham (L51) and one other ship, returned to rescue 99 survivors from the Curacoa's crew of 338, including her captain John W. Boutwood.

The incident occurred as the result of several factors. The captain of the Queen Mary made the assumption that her escort ship would track her course change and adjust accordingly. Meanwhile, Captain Boutwood on board the Curacoa assumed the standard seafaring rule that an overtaking ship must yield. The resulting convergent courses were reported on board both ships and the Queen Mary's First Officer issued a correction, but both the reports and correction were dismissed by the respective ship's captains.

The loss was not reported until after the war ended, whereupon the Navy immediately pressed charges against the Queen Mary's owners, Cunard White Star Line. The High Court of Justice subsequently ruled mostly in favour of the latter, assigning two-thirds of the blame to the Admiralty and one third to Cunard White Star. This ruling would become important in the civil lawsuits subsequently filed against Cunard White Star Line by relatives of the Curacoa's deceased. It also prompted significant revisions in Royal Navy policy, including the suspension of escorts for passenger liners indefinitely.

Under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, the Curacoa's wrecksite is designated a "protected place".