Image size: Image - H19.6cm, W37.9cm,
Image size: Frame - H36.1cm, W52.6cm
The HMS Cleopatra was a Dido class Royal Navy light cruiser that entered into service in 1941. The vessel played an active part in the naval battles of the Second World War, serving primarily in the Mediterranean theatre of operations until it was heavily damaged by a torpedo attack from the Italian submarine Dandolo in 1943. Temporary repairs were carried out on the cruiser at Malta before it crossed the Atlantic for further repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Following the completion of repairs in late 1944, the vessel was redeployed to Southeast Asian waters, where it became the first Royal Navy ship to sail into the recaptured port of Singapore in September 1945. Royal Marines from the vessel were part of the Allied contingent, headed by Lord Louis Mountbatten, which attended the official Japanese surrender ceremony held at the Municipal Offices that same month. Decommissioned in 1953, the vessel was broken up at the Cashmore naval yard in 1958.
