Town-class cruiser (1936)

For the Town class of World War I, see Town-class cruiser (1910).

HMS Liverpool in 1942
Class overview
Name	Town class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Template:Sclass-
Succeeded by	Template:Sclass-
Subclasses	Southampton Gloucester Edinburgh
Completed	10
Lost	4
Retired	5
Preserved	1
General characteristics
Class and type	Light cruiser
Displacement	Southampton class: 11,540 long tons (11,730 t) Gloucester class: 11,930 long tons (12,120 t) Edinburgh class: 13,175 long tons (13,386 t)
Length	Southampton and Gloucester classes: 591 ft 7.2 in (180.3 m) Edinburgh class: 613 ft 7.2 in (187.0 m)
Beam	Southampton class: 62 ft 3.6 in (19.0 m) Gloucester and Edinburgh classes: 64 ft 10.8 in (19.8 m)
Draught	Southampton class: 20 ft (6.10 m) Gloucester class: 20 ft 7.2 in (6.28 m) Edinburgh class: 22 ft 7.2 in (6.89 m)
Installed power	Southampton class: 75,000 shp (55,900 kW) Gloucester and Edinburgh classes: 82,500 shp (61,500 kW)
Propulsion	4 × Parsons steam turbines 4 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 4 × shafts
Speed	Southampton class:32 kn (36.8 mph; 59.3 km/h) Gloucester and Edinburgh classes:32.25 kn (37.1 mph; 59.7 km/h)
Range	5,300 nmi (6,100 mi; 9,800 km) at 13 kn (15 mph; 24 km/h)
Capacity	1,325 short tons (1,202 t) fuel oil
Complement	750
Sensors and processing systems	Radar
Armament	Southampton and Gloucester classes, as designed: 12 × BL 6 in (152 mm) Mark XXIII guns (4x3) 8 × QF 4 in (102 mm) Mark XVI guns (4x2) 8 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mark VIII pom-pom guns (2x4) 8 × .5 in (12.7 mm) Vickers machine guns 6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3) Edinburgh class, as designed: 12 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mark XXIII guns (4x3) 12 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI guns (6x2) 16 × QF 2-pounder (40 mm) Mark VIII pom-pom anti-aircraft guns (2x8) 8 × .5-inch (12.7 mm) anti-aircraft machine guns (2x4) 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)
Aircraft carried	2 × Supermarine Walrus flying boats (removed in the latter part of WWII)
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult

The Town class was a 10-ship class of light cruisers of the Royal Navy. The Towns were designed to the constraints imposed by the London Naval Treaty of 1930. The ships were built in three distinct sub-classes, the Southampton, Gloucester and Edinburgh classes respectively, each sub-class adding on further weaponry.

Armament

Mk XXII turret with rounded contours mounted on Southampton and Gloucester sub-classes

Mk XXIII turret with squared-off contours mounted on the Edinburgh sub-class

Like their US and Japanese counterparts of that era, the Town-class cruisers were "light cruisers" in the strict terms of the Treaty. The London Treaty defined a "light cruiser" as one having a main armament no greater than 6.1 in (155 mm) calibre, all three major naval powers sought to circumvent the limitations on heavy cruiser numbers by building "light cruisers" that were equal in size and effective power to heavy cruisers. These ships made up for their smaller calibre guns by carrying larger numbers of them.

All of these ships carried BL 6-inch Mk XXIII guns in triple turrets, with the centre gun mounted 30 in (76 cm) behind the two outer guns to prevent interference between the shells in flight and to give the gunners more room to work in. The turret roofs had cutouts at the front to allow extreme elevation, originally intended to give the guns an anti-aircraft capability. In practice the guns could not be trained or manually loaded quickly enough for continuous anti-aircraft fire, so the Royal Navy designed the ABU, which allowed the guns to be preloaded with time-fuzed shells and then fired when the target aircraft reached the preset range. These ships were equipped with the HACS AA fire control system for the secondary armament and the Admiralty Fire Control Table for surface fire control of the main armament.

The secondary armament consisted of four twin X1X 4-inch turrets, quad pom poms (fitted with British 40 mm guns, inferior to the Swedish Bofors) and during wartime single and twin Oerlikons, which were light and accurate enough to pick off aircraft. The 4-inch and pom pom guns were not very accurate and the wartime Type 285 radar directors and their postwar Type 275 Flyplane radar glass house replacements refitted to Newcastle, Birmingham and Sheffiled, were difficult to use and unreliable, The 4-inch guns and pom poms were intended, to create a wall of lead over the ship that hostile German, Italian and Japanese aircraft would either stay away from or fly into. The twin 4-inch mounts had 20 rpm rates of fire per gun, but were not in any way equal to superficially similar, wartime and immediate postwar Russian and German mounts which were usually all enclosed, heated and stabilised and more accurate with effective DC. Postwar the surviving ships were gradually had the quad pom pom and 20 mm armament replaced by twin Bofors and RPC and with faster training and elevation speed for the twin 4-inch XV1 guns was increased.

Southampton class

The Southampton class was the first and the subsequent two sub-classes were also known as modified or improved Southamptons. They had originally been built in response to the US Template:Sclass- and Japanese Template:Sclass- light cruisers.

Gloucester class

The subsequent Gloucesters had a redesigned deck and received thicker armour on the gun turrets.

Edinburgh class

HMS Belfast moored by Tower Bridge

The Edinburgh class were longer at 614 ft (187 m) compared to 592 ft (180 m), initially to allow an increase in the main armament from twelve 6 in (152 mm) guns in four triple turrets as in the two previous sub-classes, to sixteen 6 in guns in four quadruple turrets. The idea was soon shelved however, due to the difficulties in actually manufacturing an effective quadruple 6 in turret, and so the class reverted to the original main armament design, although improved through a "long trunk" Mk XXIII turret design, which reduced the crew requirements and increased the speed of the ammunition hoists. Four extra 4 in (102 mm) "High Angle Low Angle" guns and eight extra 2-pounder (40 mm) guns and further armour protection were added instead.

Later improvements

All were heavily modified during the Second World War and after the Korean War; Glasgow, Sheffield and Newcastle had one aft turret replaced by two quad 40 mm Bofors guns during the Second World War, since there was insufficient space to fit the needed extra anti-aircraft guns and retain the turret. This was not a problem in the Edinburghs, because they were longer and had more room. They still had substantial modifications to their weaponry, including addition of 40 mm Bofors guns. The addition of radar equipment during the Second World War aided the ships' combat effectiveness.

Service

The first Town-class ship was launched in 1936 and commissioned in 1937, just two years before the outbreak of war. The Town class saw much service during the Second World War and took in many famous actions, such as the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst. Four were sunk during the war, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Manchester, and Southampton. Many of the surviving ships saw successful service during the Korean War and continued in active service to the end of the 1950s. The last Town-class ship to be scrapped was Sheffield in 1967. One Town-class warship — Belfast — remains, moored on the River Thames in London as a museum-ship of the Imperial War Museum, a role she has performed since 1971.

Ships

Name	Pennant	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Southampton class
Newcastle (ex-Minotaur)	C76	Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle	4 October 1934	23 January 1936	5 March 1937	Broken up at Faslane, 1959
Southampton (ex-Polyphemus)	C83	John Brown, Clydebank	21 November 1934	10 March 1936	6 March 1937	Scuttled following air attack off Malta, 11 January 1941
Sheffield	C24	Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle	31 January 1935	23 July 1936	25 August 1937	Broken up at Faslane, 1967
Glasgow	C21	Scotts, Greenock	16 April 1935	20 June 1936	9 September 1937	Broken up at Blyth, 1958
Birmingham	C19	HM Dockyard, Devonport	18 July 1935	1 September 1936	18 November 1937	Broken up at Inverkeithing, 1960
Gloucester class
Liverpool	C11	Fairfields, Govan	17 February 1936	24 March 1937	2 November 1938	Broken up at Bo'Ness, 1958
Manchester	C15	Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn	28 March 1936	12 April 1937	4 August 1938	Scuttled following torpedo attack off Cap Bon, 13 August 1942
Gloucester	C62	HM Dockyard, Devonport	22 September 1936	19 October 1937	31 January 1939	Sunk following air attack off Crete, 22 May 1941
Edinburgh class
Belfast	C35	Harland and Wolff, Belfast	10 December 1936	17 March 1938	5 August 1939	Preserved as museum ship in London
Edinburgh	C16	Swan Hunter, Newcastle	30 December 1936	31 March 1938	6 July 1939	Scuttled following torpedo attack, 2 May 1942

See also

• Crown Colony-class cruiser

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Tony DiGiulian, Britain 6"/50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XXIII