Accession NumberP492Title (extended title only)Plaque - HMS NewfoundlandDescriptionSmall sized plaque with raised painted stone/ceramic motifDate24th December 1957ProvenanceHMS Newfoundland was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Named after the Dominion of Newfoundland, she participated in the Second World War. The ship served through World War Two with the last two years of the war spent in the Far East/Pacific theatre. The ship was present in Tokyo Bay when the Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard the US battleship USS Missouri, on 2 September 1945. HMS Newfoundland was then assigned the task of repatriating British Empire prisoners of war.
She returned to Great Britain in December 1946.
Post WW2, she served in the Asian and middle eastern waters. On 31 October 1956, the Egyptian frigate Domiat was cruising South of the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, when Newfoundland encountered her and ordered her to heave to. Aware of tensions between Britain and Egypt that would lead to the Suez Crisis, Domiat refused and opened fire on the cruiser, causing some damage and casualties. The cruiser, with the destroyer Diana, then returned fire and sank her opponent, rescuing 69 survivors from the wreckage. One man from the Newfoundland was killed and five were wounded. The cruiser was hulked in 1979 and used as a static training ship in Callao, before being decommissioned and scrapped later that year. Relevance to the CityThe ship visited Fremantle twice, in 1956 and in 1957 when the plaque was gifted to the City by the Captain of the HMS Newfoundland
There is a picture of HMS Newfoundland in Fremantle Harbour on the Ship Nostalgia website.
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/hms-newfoundland.160147/
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HMS Newfoundland (24th December 1957). City of Fremantle Local History Centre, accessed 13/05/2026, https://history.fremantle.wa.gov.au/nodes/view/25426
