Royal Navy County Class Cruisers

[sharlin648]

Background:

 

After World War 1 the Royal Navy had a glut of light cruisers, many of which had seen extensive service in the War including the Town and City classes.  As cruisers were developed they were getting bigger and even the newest Royal Navy light Cruiser was fairly small and short ranged built for operating more in the North Sea and around the UK than their traditional role of patrolling the waters of the Empire.  The RN also started a new trend in 1915 with the construction of the large and powerful Hawkin's class cruiser, armoured like the cruisers of the time with a maximum of 3 inches of plate protecting her vitals the Hawkins was huge for a cruiser at 605 feet and weighing in at over 12000 tonnes.  Also revolutionary was her choice of armament. Previous RN cruisers had 6 inch guns or a mix of 4 and 6 inch weapons. The Hawkin's went one step further and fitted 7.5 inch rifles, a gun that had not seen use since the Dorsetshire Class Cruisers of the early 1900's.

 

1*  A Hawkins class cruiser as completed.

 

Overseas the development of this new large ship did not go unnoticed and replies were planned, the IJN started construction on its Furutaka class whilst the USN was working on an equivalent design.  This came to a shuddering halt with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 when cruisers were limited in size and armament to be no larger than 10000 tonnes and carry 8 inch guns as a maximum caliber.

Trying to balance a successful cruiser on that weight limit proved to be a challenge, some nations cheated and ignored the limits of the treaty when it came to size, others tried to stay within the limits, testing new building practices such as weilded hulls to save weight, in most cases there had to be sacrifices and these were evident in the Royal Navy's Treaty Cruisers.

 

Design and Armament

 

A conservative design, especially considering the somewhat radical design of the Nelson class battleships designed and laid down at the time the County Class was optimised for long range, good sea keeping and performance as well as a capable armament, at the expense of armour.  High sided with a powerful look the County's are instantly recognisable thanks to their triple funnels and squat superstructure and bridge which was a new design and gave RN Cruiser captains shelter for the first time since the large armoured cruisers prior to World War 1.  The ships designers accomplished the requirements for range and seakeeping with the ships being steady in a storm and capable of travelling 8000 nautical miles at 10 knots.  The County was built from the start to launch a sea plane which would be used to extend their patrol range and when needed provide gunnery spotting information when engaged at long range with an enemy ship.  One new feature was that the turrets for the 8 inch guns were to also serve as long range anti-aircraft weapons, the guns could elevate to 70 degrees but could not train (turn) fast enough to track hostile planes so the extra weight this design feature used up was less than useful and made the turrets themselves overly complicated things even if the guns themselves were very good.

Other armament included 4 inch guns for further anti-aircraft defence as well as two of the new quadruple 40mm 2pounder pom-pom guns which for their time made the County class the best protected cruiser in the world against air attacks.

 

*A profile view of the County class cruiser as built.

 

Protection

 

Capable of powering through the waves at 31 knots the Countys were no slouches either and their engines, although bulky and heavy were reliable and efficient.  But of course, speed, performance and armament as well as good protection on 10000 tonnes proved to be a difficult thing to achive so something had to be sacrificed and with the County's it was protection.  Of all the 8 inch gunned treaty cruisers they are amongst the most poorly protected.  This decision wasn't helped by the designers sticking very much to the treaty limits.

 

Thus, the traditional side-belt of armour was dispensed with, and the 1 inch (25 mm) side plating afforded only splinter protection. A 1.25 inch (32 mm) protective deck covered the machinery spaced, and there were "box citadels" protecting the magazines and shell rooms; 2.5 inch (64 mm) crowns and 4 inch (102 mm) sides, closed by 2.5 inch bulkheads. The aft box citadel had slightly reduced thicknesses at the ends, and that amidships was thinned as it lay within the confines of the armoured deck and side plating. There was a 1.5 inch (38 mm) arch over the steering gear closed by a 1 inch forward bulkhead. The turrets and barbettes received only thin splinter plating, as did the compass platform. There were external bulges to provide torpedo protection.

 

http://api.ning.com/...ffolk1NP_cr.jpg

HMS Suffolk.

 

Production and Modification

 

A grand total of 13 County Class cruisers were produced, the first seven were called the Kent class, the next four were the London class and the final two were the Norfolk class, each one being an incrimental improvement on the next.  The London class differed only slightly from the Kent's, being slightly narrower and slightly faster with a slightly different layout whilst the Norfolks featured an increased secondary and anti-aircraft armament.  By the Mid 30's it was recognised that these ships although good were poorly protected and they were modernised, the Kent's gaining a 4.5 inch armoured belt as well as alterations to the superstructure and their hanger.  The HMS London was taken in for a complete rebuilt which ended out making her look like one of the new Crown Colony or Town class cruisers and altered her profile completley as well as reciving an armoured belt and thicker protection.  This conversion was not a success and was both expensive and time consuming for what ammounted to a face lift and was not carried out on the other County Class ships due to the outbreak of war and the lack of available dockyards.

 

Wartime service

 

All the County class ships were hard worked in the War as convoy escorts, patrol ships, raider hunters and more.  The Cornwall was sunk by Japanese aircraft whilst in company with the Dorsetshire who had taken part in the Bismarks final battle, both cruisers drowning under an avalanche of bombs from Japanese carrier planes.  The Canberra was mauled at night in the disasterious Battle of Savo Island, not even getting a shot off in her defence before having to be abandoned and sunk by a US destroyer the next day.  The Australia seemed to be a magnet for Kamikazi aircraft late in the war and survived several hits whilst the Suffolk was damaged in the Norway operation and came at risk of sinking due to poor damage control, the lessons learned from her were applied to RN vessels as quickly as possible.

 

http://www.defence.g.../12canberra.jpg

* HMAS Canberra burning and listing after Savo Island, she was torpedoed a few minutes later.

 

Survivors

 

None sadly, all the survivors were worn out after over 20 years of service and hard action during the war and were retired and scrapped in the late 40s to mid 50's.  Only the Cumberland lasted longer, surving as a trials ship for the new automatic weapons that would serve on the Tiger class of cruiser as well as appearing as an extra in the movie The Battle of the River Plate where she played both herself and HMS Exeter before being scrapped in 1949.

[Ariecho]

Very well written (+1)

[Wunderwaffen1945]

Nice

[alphakaynine]

it seems tall to me, is it?

[sharlin648]

They were a tall class of ships yes, but it helped give them superb sea keeping characteristics, they were stable in rough weather.

[Capcon]

alphakaynine, on 06 December 2012 - 06:13 PM, said:

it seems tall to me, is it?

If you are referring to the hull being "tall' that's called "freeboard" and yes they had a lot of it. The upside is it keeps the ship drier in rough seas and permits faster speeds in rough weather. The downside is it makes a bigger target.

[JeeWeeJ]

Nicely done!! +1!

[sgtpepper500]

well written! +1