User:DanaIsDiana/sandbox

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Esperance Bay
Namesake	Esperance Bay
Builder	Vickers Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom built as Hobson's Bay
Launched	4 October 1921
Commissioned	5 December 1939
Out of service	12 November 1941 returned to owner
Homeport	Initially London, later Southampton.
Identification	Pennant number: f 67
Fate	sold for scrap in 1955
General characteristics
Class and type	Crown Colony-class light cruiser
Displacement	8,530 tonnes standard 10,450 tons full load
Length	549 ft (167 m)
Beam	18.9 m (62 ft)
Draught	33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion	Four oil fired three-drum Admiralty-type boilers Four shaft geared turbines Four screws 54.1 megawatts (72,500 shp)
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Range	6,520 nmi (12,080 km) at 13 kn (24 km/h)
Complement	730
Armament	12 × BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns in four triple turrets 4 × twin QF 4 in (102 mm) Mark XVI guns 4 × twin 40 mm Bofors AA guns 3 × quadruple QF 2 pounder ("pom-pom") AA mounts 6 × twin 20 mm AA guns 2 × triple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tube mountings
Armour	Belt: 83 mm (3.3 in) Deck: 51 mm (2.0 in) Turrets: 51 mm (2.0 in) Director control tower: 102 mm (4.0 in)

HMS Esperance Bay was an armed merchant cruiser of the Royal Navy Later it was a troop transport. The ship was was built as Hobson's Bay, a passenger ship, and requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to a military ship. The German reconnaissance vessel Gonzenheim (4000 GRT, built 1937, former Norwegian Kongsfjord) was scuttled by her own crew after being sighted by HMS Esperance Bay in 1941 in the aftermath of the failed mission Rheinübung. It was returned and re-designated as a troop transport in 1941 by the Ministry of War Transport. Towards the end of the war she transported large numbers of United States troops to England. In that role she transported the 467th to England in January 1944.,