| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Light cruiser |
| Class | Arethusa |
| Pennant | 26 |
| Built by | Chatham Dockyard (Chatham, U.K.) : Parsons |
| Ordered | 1 Sep 1932 |
| Laid down | 25 Jan 1933 |
| Launched | 6 Mar 1934 |
| Commissioned | 23 May 1935 |
| End service | |
| History | Sold to J. Cashmore in 1950, arrived at Newport on 9 May 1950 for scrapping. |
Commands listed for HMS Arethusa (26)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. Quintin Dick Graham, RN | 30 Jun 1939 | 14 May 1941 |
| 2 | Capt. Alex Colin Chapman, RN | 14 May 1941 | 17 Nov 1942 |
| 3 | A/Cdr. Mark Taylor Collier, RN | 17 Nov 1942 | 21 Nov 1942 |
| 4 | A/Rear-Admiral George Hector Creswell, DSO, DSC, RN | 21 Nov 1942 | Dec 1942 |
| 5 | A/Cdr. Mark Taylor Collier, RN | Dec 1942 | 30 Jun 1943 |
| 6 | Cdr. Hugh Forbes Robertson-Aikman, RN | 30 Jun 43 | 1 Dec 1943 |
| 7 | Capt. Hugh Dalrymple-Smith, RN | 1 Dec 1943 | Jun 1945 |
| 8 | Capt. Casper Silas Balfour Swinley, DSO, DSC, RN | Jun 1945 | late 1945 |
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Noteable events involving Arethusa include:
4 Apr 1940
The Polish destroyers Burza, Grom and Blyskawica reached their new home base Rosyth. In the afternoon they left the harbour with the British light cruisers HMS Arethusa, HMS Galatea and three British destroyers.
These ships were ordered to conduct a patrol at North Sea and were later ordered to intercept German invasion groups heading for Norway.
17 Nov 1942
17 November 1942 / 20 November 1942;
Operation Stone Age;
On 17 November 1942 a convoy of 4 merchants (MW-13) left Alexandria for Malta. This convoy was escorted by the British light cruisers HMS Arethusa, HMS Euryalus, HMS Dido and 10 destroyers.
On the 18th HMS Arethusa (Capt. A.C. Chapman, RN) was hit by a aerial torpedo. She was heavily damaged and towed back to Alexandria. 156 men lost their lives during this attack. She was patched up and later went to the Charleston Navy Yard in the USA for full repairs. These repairs were not completed until December 1943. Capt. Chapman was severely burnt in this attack.
The convoy arrived safe at Malta on the 20th. This meant the end of the Malta siege.