Wartime Ship's Cat
Convoy
1941–1942
The much-loved ship's cat of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hermione, so fully a member of the crew that he was entered on the ship's books and given his own miniature hammock to sleep in.
- Owner
- HMS Hermione, Royal Navy
- Years
- 1941–1942
- Known for
- Wartime Ship's Cat
Convoy was the ship's cat aboard the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hermione during the Second World War, and he took his name from the convoy-escort work that was the ship's mission. Far from being a mere mascot, Convoy was treated as a proper member of the crew: he was entered on the ship's official books and was even provided with his own tiny hammock, in which he slept slung among the sailors, a detail captured in a famous photograph taken at Gibraltar in November 1941.
Ship's cats were a long naval tradition, valued both for keeping down the rats and mice that plagued vessels and, just as importantly, for the comfort and morale they brought to men living through the fear and monotony of wartime service. Convoy filled both roles, becoming a small, steadying presence and a favourite of the crew.
His story shares the tragic end of so many wartime ship's cats. On 16 June 1942, HMS Hermione was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean while on convoy duty, with the loss of many of her crew — and Convoy was lost along with the men he had lived among.
Remembered today through that single photograph of a cat curled in his own hammock, Convoy has become a quiet emblem of the animals who shared the dangers of war at sea, and of the deep bond between sailors and the cats who kept them company.