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BRITISH HEAVY
CRUISERS 193945
ANGUS KONSTAM
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL WRIGHT
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
NEW VANGUARD • 190
BRITISH HEAVY
CRUISERS 193945
ANGUS KONSTAM
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL WRIGHT
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Hawkins Class
The Washington Naval Treaty
Kent Class
London Class
Norfolk Class
Class B Cruisers
04
05
HEAVY CRUISER SPECIFICATIONS, SEPTEMBER 1939
Kent Class
York Class
London Class
Norfolk Class
Exeter Class
18
SERVICE HISTORY, 193945
Kent Class
London Class
Norfolk Class
York Class
Exeter Class
26
ARMAMENT AND OPERATION
Main Armament
Anti-Aircraft Armament
Other Weaponry
Radar
Effectiveness
34
FURTHER READING
INDEX
46
48
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
BRITISH HEAVY CRUISERS 193945
INTRODUCTION
When World War I ended Great Britain possessed the largest navy in the
world. Many of these warships, and those still under construction, reflected
the cutting edge of naval design and technology. Valuable lessons had been
learned during the conflict and the Royal Navy’s most modern warships
reflected this hard-won wartime experience. The period from 1914 to 1918
was a heady time for naval designers, but during the two inter-war decades
that followed few new warships were built and Britain eventually surrendered
her maritime supremacy to the US Navy.
In naval affairs the inter-war years were dominated by a succession of
naval treaties that set international limits on warship numbers, ship size and
armament. In these circumstances it made sense to build new warships that
met the upper limit of these international limitations. In the case of cruisers,
this meant there was an international demand for vessels displacing 10,000
tons and armed with 8-inch guns. This led to the building of a new generation
of British heavy cruisers, all equipped with these powerful weapons. During
World War II these imposing warships formed the backbone of the Royal
Navy’s hard-pressed cruiser fleet.
The role of the cruiser was to protect maritime trade by hunting down
enemy raiders, to support the main battle fleet by scouting for the enemy,
defending it against attack by smaller torpedo-armed warships, and to maintain
a calming presence overseas, particularly in the further reaches of the British
Empire. Britain’s largest heavy cruisers – known collectively as the Town class
– were purpose-built to carry out these important tasks. These cruiser roles
were in turn a modern version of the similar missions assigned to the frigates
Class B 8-inch cruisers were a
political compromise by the
Admiralty, when budget cuts
meant that the building of the
larger County class warships
was no longer financially
possible. This photograph of
the Class B cruiser HMS
Exeter
was taken during the early
1930s.
4
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
of Britain’s sailing navy. While the way these ships looked and operated might
have changed, their basic
raison d’être
remained the same for centuries.
The big difference of course was that by the outbreak of World War II the
way naval campaigns were fought had altered dramatically. U-boats and
aircraft were now a significant threat and this left Britain’s now ageing fleet of
heavy cruisers vulnerable to attack from above or below the waves.
Consequently, as the war progressed these powerful warships found themselves
increasingly sidelined and sent to theatres or made to perform menial duties
where their lack of anti-air or anti-submarine defence was less of a problem.
They were increasingly being asked to perform tasks for which they hadn’t
been designed, such as convoy protection, naval gunnery support and naval
blockading. Strangely, the very factors that made them perfect for their original
roles – long range and endurance, seaworthiness, the ability to function as
squadron flagships, and a formidable degree of firepower – all ensured that
they continued to play their part in the naval war throughout six years of bitter
conflict. They remained useful naval assets – the unglamorous workhorses of
the fleet – until the very end of hostilities.
The London class heavy cruiser
HMS
Shropshire
as she
appeared during the mid-
1930s, when she was serving
with the Mediterranean Fleet.
In 1936 she was used to
evacuate refugees from
Barcelona as Franco’s Fascists
closed in on the city.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
During the period between the two world wars the cruiser was an important
part of the fleet – probably the most highly visible and flexible component of
the peacetime navy. This was largely because the cruiser was still needed to
perform its primary functions of protecting maritime trade, showing the flag
and helping to maintain order within the British Empire or in places where
Britain maintained a trading presence. They were especially useful on the
China Station where ‘showing the flag’ was deemed patricularly important.
There had been no heavy cruisers per se in the Royal Navy during World
War I – only armoured cruisers and light, or protected, cruisers. These larger
armoured cruisers had been designed to outgun all other cruisers, but they
proved far less versatile than their designers had hoped and had effectively been
rendered obsolete by the advent of the battlecruiser. The light cruiser was just
that – a fast and lightly armed cruiser that performed all the traditional roles of
the cruiser but which lacked the powerful armament of battlecruisers or older
5
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