page_title: HMS Dragon (D46)
section_title: Wartime career
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Dragon (D46) / History / Wartime career
caption_attribution_description: English: Ligh cruiser HMS Dragon with early hangar superstructure
context_page_description: HMS Dragon, also known in Polish service as ORP Dragon, was a D- or Danae-class cruiser built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in Glasgow, in December 1917, and scuttled in July 1944 off the Normandy beaches as part of the Arromanches Breakwater.
context_section_description: During World War II, the ship was initially attached to the 7th Cruiser Squadron of the Northern Patrol,in the Shetland area. In November 1939, she took part in pursuit of the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. In February 1940, HMS Dragon crossed the Mediterranean and returned to the Atlantic. On 16 September 1940 she scored her first victory after capturing the French steamer Touareg. On 23 September of the same year she reached the area of the port of Dakar, where she took part in Operation Menace against the French fleet stationed there. Together with HMS Inglefield and Foresight, she sank the Vichy France submarine Persée and took part in shelling the port.  HMS Dragon moved to Freetown, from where she operated against the German cruiser Admiral Scheer in December.
  Until November 1941 Dragon served as an escort ship of various convoys in the Atlantic, after which she was moved to Asia. Following commencement of hostilities with Japan in December, she served with the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command forces, escorting convoys to Singapore, HMS Dragon was the last warship to leave Singapore before it surrendered.  On 20 January 1942, she was attached to the Western task force operating in the Java Sea, which included HMAS Hobart, HMS Danae, HMS Tenedos and HMS Scout. After the fall of Java, she joined HMS Caledon and the Dutch cruiser HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck, and operated from Ceylon. In May she was moved to Madagascar. The following month, most of the crew of the ship was landed and moved to other units, while Dragon started her voyage back to Britain for refurbishment. Since the rump crew could not operate the ship independently, she had to be attached to various convoys and it took almost half a year before she finally reached Liverpool via Cape Town, Chatham and Durban.
caption: HMS Dragon in the 1920s
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