HMS Cornwall (56)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Cornwall.

Career
Class and type:	County-class heavy cruiser
Name:	HMS Cornwall
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK)
Laid down:	9 October 1924
Launched:	11 March 1926
Commissioned:	8 May 1928
Fate:	Sunk 5 April 1942, with HMS Dorsetshire, by bombs from Japanese carrier aircraft, west of Ceylon (198 lost)
General characteristics
Displacement:	9,750 tons (9,010 t) standard 13,450 tons (13,670 t) full load
Length:	630 ft (190 m)
Beam:	68 ft 3 in (20.80 m)
Draught:	16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
Propulsion:	Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers Four shaft Brown Curtis geared turbines 80,000 shp
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range:	3,100 nautical miles at 31.5 knots (5,740 km at 58 km/h), 13,300 nautical miles at 12 knots (24,600 km at 22 km/h); 3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil
Complement:	700
Armament:	Original configuration: 8x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4x 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns 2x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns 2x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns 2x 21 in (533 mm) quadruple Torpedo Tubes. 1936 - 1942 configuration: 8x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4x 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns 2x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms eight barrel guns 2x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns
Armour:	Original configuration: 1 to 4 in magazine box protection 1.375 in deck 1 in side-plating,turrets and bulkheads 4.5 in belt 4 internal boiler room sides (added 1936-1940)
Aircraft carried:	Three aircraft with one catapult, removed in 1942
Notes:	Pennant number 56

HMS Cornwall (56) was a County class heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK).

History

In a single ship action of 8 May 1941 Cornwall sank commerce raider Pingun and was hit in the stern. She returned to Durban for repairs, which were completed on 10 June 1941. On 25 November 1941, Cornwall intercepted the Vichy-French merchant Surcouf off the east coast of Somalia and brought her to Aden. The Surcouf was en route to Djibouti with food.

HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall under heavy air attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on 5 April 1942. Photographed from a Japanese aircraft.

In early April 1942, Cornwall and her sister ship HMS Dorsetshire were detached from the fleet to escort the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes to Trincomalee on Ceylon for repairs. On 5 April 1942, the two cruisers were sighted by a spotter plane from the Japanese cruiser Tone about 200 miles (370 km) southwest of Ceylon.

References

• Chesneau, Roger, ed (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwhich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7. 
• Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-922-7. 
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2. 
• Whitley, M. J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell. ISBN 1-86019-874-0. 

External links

• HMS Cornwall at U-boat.net