HMS Cornwall (56)

HMS Cornwall (56) History

Speed ??and range were at the heart of the 20th century steel naval cruiser battleship. Among these ships appeared the "heavy cruiser", a better armed and armored warship capable of supporting both a fleet and individual fighter engagements - a fleet that was perfectly positioned between light cruisers and battlecruisers. HMS Cornwall (56) of the British Royal Navy was a warship built under the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty, in the form of a heavy cruiser in the 10,000-ton displacement range. Her keel was laid on 9 October 1924 (from Devonport Dock, Plymouth) and launched on 11 March 1926.

It was commissioned on May 8, 1928, with flag number 56.

HMS Cornwall was part of an initially planned 15 county-class fleet, although only 13 were completed (two warships were cancelled). A total of three people were killed in action, and ten lived long enough to retire. The group served from 1928 to 1959 and was succeeded by the York class.

At the time of construction, this warship had a bow-to-stern length of 630 feet, a beam (width) of 68.5 feet, and a draft of 20.5 feet. Installed power includes 8 Admiralty 3 drum water tube boilers providing 80,000 hp on 4 shafts to 4 Parsons geared steam turbines. Top speed in ideal conditions is close to 32 knots, with a range of 15,300 miles at 12 knots.

Internally, the warship has a crew of 784.

Her silhouette is dominated by the forward bridge superstructure, the crane and the stern superstructure above the center of the ship, towed by a series of smoke funnels. Four turrets make up her main battery, mounted in pairs, one forward and the other rear. A double mast arrangement was used, in keeping with the ship design of the 1920s. Sleek lines dominate her sleek hull, which is lined with a series of portholes.

Armor protection ranges from 25mm on the belt and 38mm on the deck to 25mm on the turret and 111mm on the magazine.

The armament was concentrated on a main turret consisting of an 8 x 8 inch (203 mm) main gun mounted on four turrets with two guns (two front, two rear). 4 x QF 4" (102 mm) Mk V series guns mounted on a single gun mount as an auxiliary weapon for anti-aircraft. 4 x 2-pdr (40mm) guns were also installed as a rapid-fire anti-aircraft measure and were also used in the single gun mounts. In the tradition of warship design at the time, the HMS Cornwall was equipped with 2 x 21" (533 mm) quadruple torpedo tubes.

Multiple .50 caliber heavy machine guns could be mounted for extreme close-range work.[ /p]

In 1936, the ship underwent an overhaul with the complete removal of the torpedo tubes - a common procedure on many ships of WWII. She also received a pair of four-armed .50 caliber anti-aircraft (AA) heavy guns, and the three seaplanes (reusable) included in the original 1928 design were dismantled in 1942.

When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, HMS Cornwall was soon dispatched to pursue German merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. She was then transferred to the South Atlantic as an escort escort, but returned to the Indian Ocean during a sortie in May 1941, where she captured the German raider "Pinguin".

More convoy protection followed, and the main enemy in the region became the mighty Japanese Empire.

Her luck was attacked by Japanese carriers on 4th April 1942 - both HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire were sunk (the operation was part of the "Easter Sunday Raid", the Japanese attacked Ceylon/Sri Lanka) . Over 400 British sailors were killed and over 1,100 spent the night in the water before being rescued by Allied forces. This ended HMS Cornwall's brief reign on the high seas.

Specification

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