Crown Colony class cruiser

Design

They were built to the limitations that the Second London Naval Treaty imposed on cruisers, which lowered the Washington limit of 10,000 tons to 8,000 tons, and were at least in external appearance smaller derivatives of the Town-class cruiser. The Colony-class cruisers however like the following Minotaurs, essentially fit the same armament on a 1,000 ton less displacement and the Colony class and the follow on Swiftsure were very tight designs, built largely in war emergency conditions with little margin for any great updating postwar. The 62 feet (19 m) beam imposing crippling limits. The armour scheme was revised from that of the Towns in that the main belt now protected the 6 inch ammunition spaces, although the belt itself was reduced to 3.5 and 3.25 inches (89 and 83 mm) in the machinery spaces. The 6-inch (150 mm) Mk XXIII turrets and ammunition spaces were laid out as per the Edinburgh group of the Town class, except the after turrets were a deck lower as in the Southampton and Gloucester groups. The long turret version of the triple 6-inch gun fitted to the Colony class were 25 tons heavier than the 150 ton turret on the Group 1 & 2 Towns and further cramped the design. The supply of ammunition to the 4-inch (102 mm) guns was also improved, dispensing with the complicated conveyor system. The Crown Colonys were instantly recognisable as they had a transom stern and straight funnels and masts; those of the Towns being raked. Due to the size of the Crown Colony class, a number of the ships had their 'X' turret removed to allow the shipping of additional light anti-aircraft (AA) guns. Ships of the Fiji group were equipped with the HACS AA fire control system for the secondary armament while the Ceylon group used the Fuze Keeping Clock for AA fire control. Both groups used the Admiralty Fire Control Table for surface fire control of the main armament and the Admiralty Fire Control Clock for surface fire control of the secondary armament. By the late 1940s most of the Crown Colony class had the updated 274 lock and follow surface fire control radar, which massively increased the chance of hits from the opening salvoes. In the 1950s (except during the Korean War and Suez operation) no more than one of the MKXIII turrets was ever manned, with 'B' and 'Y' turrets mothballed due to the huge manning requirements of the turrets. This allowed for more liveable peacetime conditions by operating with a crew of 610-750 rather than the wartime crew 1,000-1,100.

Modifications

The addition of radar sets meant that the aircraft were now surplus to requirements, allowing the removal of the aircraft and catapult. Not only did this provide additional accommodation spaces for enlarged wartime crews, but there was no longer the need to carry large quantities of volatile aviation fuel; in 1940, Liverpool had her bow blown off when a torpedo detonated the 5,700 gallons of aviation fuel stored forwards and was out of action for a year. Fiji and Kenya never received the catapult, Nigeria had hers removed in 1941 and the other ships had theirs removed between 1942 and 1944.

The Ceylon group were completed without 'X' 6-inch turret, and between 1944 and 1945, those of Bermuda, Jamaica, Mauritius and Kenya were also removed. This allowed the carriage of additional light AA weapons, a quadruple QF 2 pdr pom-pom mounting Mark VII generally being carried in 'X' position. Bermuda, Jamaica and Mauritius had 2 additional quadruple pom-poms added (for a total of five) and between 2 and 4 single pom-poms in powered mountings Mark XV. In Kenya, all pom-poms were removed, and were replaced with 5 twin and 8 single 40 mm /60 Bofors AA guns. By the end of the war, Newfoundland had one and Uganda had 2 American pattern quadruple 40 mm /60 Bofors mounts Mark III and Nigeria had 4 single mounts Mark III. Generally, 6 to 24 20 mm Oerlikon guns were also added in a mixture of single mounts Mark IIIA and twin powered mounts Mark V. Postwar modifications of the class were very limited with improved lock and follow surface fire control and Newfoundland, Ceylon, Bermuda, Gambia and possibly Kenya being fitted with US supplied Mk 63 radar to control the twin 4 inch guns. These ships would have been altered for water sprays to wash off nuclear fallout and received the 960 standard long range air search. Newfoundland received a greater degree of electrical updating, rewiring and more comprehensive AA fire control and was the only Crown Colony-class vessel updated close to the standard planned for the Improved Dido's which were intended for hot war with eventual reboilering, while the Crown Colony class were only refitted for GFS and Colonial patrol and presence. Mid 1950s refitting to Ceylon, Gambia and Bermuda was very austere and mainly consisted of increasing automation and the life of the geared steam turbines and reducing manning below decks and simplification of the CIWS to 4-6 twin L/60 Bofors.

Service

They served with distinction during the Second World War. Jamaica took part in a number of operations, including driving off the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Lützow in 1942, the sinking of the battleship Scharnhorst in 1943, and escorting carrier air attacks on the battleship Tirpitz in 1944. Fiji was lost in 1941, and Trinidad the following year. The survivors continued in service after the war, taking part in further actions, such as the Korean War. Ceylon was later sold to Peru, being renamed Coronel Bolognesi, along with Newfoundland, which was renamed Almirante Grau. These two ships were decommissioned by 1982. Nigeria was also sold, to India, who had it reconstructed in 1954-7 to the same standard as Newfoundland. As INS Mysore, the ship was heavily used from the time of her transfer, seeing action in the 1971 war with Pakistan, and later converted to a harbour training ship in 1979. She was decommissioned by 1984 and then scrapped in 1985, and as such she was the longest lived (41 years) member of her class.

All ships of the Crown Colony class were decommissioned from active service with the Royal Navy by 1962 and began being sold for scrap, though Bermuda was fully operational during 1961 and sometimes ventured to sea in 1962 as flagship of the reserve fleet. Gambia had been reduced to reserve in December 1960 and Ceylon and Newfoundland sold to Peru a year earlier. During the 1950s the larger Towns were usually regarded as more habitable and comfortable in patrolling in the tropics and Far East, although being older their operational use generally ceased by 1958 and went for scrap the following year except for Sheffield (which had at sea deployments as a reserve flagship until late 1960 and was then, maintained as a reserve headquarters ship) and Belfast which stayed in active seaworthy service until 1963. Sheffield and Belfast were the last of the war time commissioned cruisers considered reactivable for GFS and were in semi maintained reserve until the election of the Labour Government in 1964, which immediately decided to scrap them, pending short term use as accommodation ships and consideration for historical preservation.

The last Crown Colony-class cruisers were seriously deteriorating due to being in an unmaintained extended reserve status many years. Gambia was considered as an alternative for use as the London museum ship, as the ship's condition was more original than Belfast, but Gambia was sold for scrap in 1968, because the state of the ship made it more expensive to preserve than Belfast. None of them were the last cruisers of the Royal Navy however. That honour went to Blake, a modified Tiger-class cruiser, which was decommissioned in 1980: the last classic Second World War cruiser design to serve in the Royal Navy.

Fiji group

Ceylon group