HMS Birmingham (C19)

HMS Birmingham (C19)

Ship data flag  United Kingdom Ship type Light cruiser class Town class Shipyard Royal Dockyard Devonport , Plymouth Order March 1, 1935 Keel laying July 18, 1935 Launch September 1, 1936 Commissioning November 18, 1937 Decommissioning 1959 Whereabouts Scrapped in 1960

Ship dimensions and crew length 180.6 m ( Lüa ) 178.3 m ( KWL ) 170.4 m ( Lpp ) width 18.9 m Draft Max. 5.2 m displacement 9100 ts standard 11350 ts maximum   crew 748 men

Machine system machine 4 Admiralty three-drum boilers 4 Parsons turbines Machine performance 75,000 PS (55,162 kW) Top speed 32 kn (59 km / h) propeller 4th

Armament 4 × 3 152 mm Mk XXIII in 4 triple turrets 4 × 2 102 mm Mk XVI in twin mounts 4 3-pdr (47 mm) Hotchkiss salute guns (removed in 1939) 2 × 4 40 mm (2-pdr) in quadruple mounts 2 × 4 heavy 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun quadruplets 2 × 3 533 mm torpedo tubes 2-3 Supermarine Walrus until August 1943 from 1945: 3 × 3 6 inch Mk XXII in three triplet turrets 4 × 2 102 mm Mk XIX in twin mounts 4 × 4 40 mm / L60 Bofors Mk.I / II in quadruple mounts 2 × 4 40 mm "pom-pom" in quadruple mounts 10 × 2 20 mm / L70 Oerlikon 9 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons 2 × 3 533 mm torpedo tubes Armor Belt 76–102 mm, deck 51 mm, triple towers 25–51 mm Sensors 1942: Radar type 273 u. 281B , later modernized from 1952: two Type 275

The British Royal Navy's second HMS Birmingham (C19) was a Southampton sub- class cruiser of the Town- class that served in the Royal Navy from 1939 to 1959. The name had previously the cruiser from 1913 to 1931 Birmingham Old Town Class out of the First World War at the battles at Heligoland , on the Dogger Bank and the Skagerrak was involved.

The design of the Town- class cruisers was influenced by the regulations of the London Naval Conference of 1930. Accordingly, the number of heavy cruisers was limited, and light cruisers were allowed to carry a main armament of no more than 6.1 inches (15.5 cm) caliber. All three signatory states of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 (Great Britain, Japan, USA) subsequently tried to build light cruisers that matched heavy cruisers in size and combat power by increasing the number of guns and thus trying to compensate for the lower caliber.

The Birmingham from 1913

Technical specifications

The Birmingham was laid down at the Royal Shipyard in Devonport on July 18, 1935, launched on September 1, 1936 and commissioned on November 18, 1937 as the fifth ship of the class. At 180.2 m long, 18.8 m wide and 6.2 m draft, it displaced 9,100 tons (standard) and 11,350 tons (combat weight). The crew numbered 748 men.
The armament consisted of twelve 6-inch (152-mm) guns in four three-turrets, eight 4-inch (102-mm) rapid-fire cannons in four double mounts, eight QF-2 anti-aircraft guns ("Pom-Pom" ) in two quadruple mounts, eight 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) Vickers machine guns in quad-mounts, and six 21-inch (533-mm) torpedo tubes in two sets of triples. The four Parsons turbines with a total of 75,000 horsepower (shp) allowed a top speed of 32 knots .

Mission history

The Birmingham was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in January 1938 at China Station .

The Birmingham 1939 in Shanghai

At the outbreak of World War II , the cruiser with the squadron flagship Cornwall and the aircraft carrier Eagle was in Singapore . These three ships then set sail for Ceylon to monitor maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean . The squadron's other two cruisers (the station flagship Kent and the Dorsetshire ) were in Hong Kong and Shanghai, respectively . At the turn of the year 1939/1940, the Birmingham relocated to Malta for an overhaul , in order to then start service with the Home Fleet in March 1940 .

First war missions

The cruiser then belonged to the 18th cruiser squadron, which operated off the coast of Norway to prevent German merchant ships from returning home and to prevent German fishing steamers from using these sea areas. After the German invasion of Norway , the Birmingham escorted Manchester and the anti-aircraft cruiser Cairo in April with Allied troops to Norway. On April 26, in a battle with a German outpost boat, she accidentally rammed the destroyer Arrow , which was badly damaged and was out of action for a long time. In May, the Birmingham took part , again with the Manchester , in the evacuation of 1,500 men from Åndalsnes . From September to December 1940 the cruiser was then overhauled in Great Britain.

In the first four months of 1941, the Birmingham primarily secured troop transports around the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East. In May the cruiser was back with the Home Fleet and was involved in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen . When the German ships broke through, it was already at its station between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and was not used directly against the German ships. Then the Birmingham secured the troop transport WS-9A from Great Britain to South Africa (arrival July 4, 1941). She then became the flagship of the Royal Navy's South American Division. During this use, she was overhauled in Simon's Town and equipped with radars types 284 and 291 as well as seven 20 mm Oerlikon cannons .

Deployments in 1942 and 1943

In February 1942, the Birmingham was assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. From June 1942 she was assigned to the 4th cruiser squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet . She then took part in the double operation Vigorous and Harpoon to supply Malta simultaneously from Gibraltar and Alexandria . During the missions in the Mediterranean she was attacked several times from the air without receiving a direct bomb hit. However, the cruiser suffered a number of damage from close hits.

The Birmingham off Madagascar

In September 1942, the cruiser was then involved in the British occupation of Madagascar . From April to October 1943 the Birmingham was overhauled in Great Britain. She then returned to the Eastern Fleet, but was torpedoed off the African coast by the German submarine U 407 on the march through the Mediterranean Sea on November 28, 1943 without security . The cruiser was able to reach Alexandria, where it could only be temporarily repaired. It was only in June 1944 that the Birmingham could be relocated to the USA for complete repairs. At the end of the year the cruiser returned to Scapa Flow and remained with the Home Fleet until the end of the war in Europe.

Field Marshal Montgomery , who has just arrived in Copenhagen, passes Birmingham in his car . A Royal Marines honor guard has lined up on the quay ; the crew of the cruiser stands in line on deck.

The end of the war

In May 1945 the cruisers Birmingham and Dido reached Copenhagen with four destroyers through the Skagerrak on the 9th , where they occupied the last operational German cruisers ( Prinz Eugen and Nürnberg ). On May 13, 1945, the Birmingham in Copenhagen was replaced as the flagship by the Devonshire coming from Oslo , but remained in the Danish capital until May 20, 1945.

Post war career

In 1948 the Birmingham came to the British South Atlantic Command and then moved from 1949 to 1950 to the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies Fleet . Subsequently, the ship was modernized again until 1952, received a new bridge, a lattice mast and partly air conditioning. For the fire control of the 102 mm flak, two new control stations were set up on the corners of the former aircraft hangar. The ship was found to be too old for further modernization. The modernized Birmingham then moved to East Asia to the 5th Cruiser Squadron. There she took part in the Korean War with the Newcastle and supported the land troops with over 1000 rounds of their 152 mm cannons. She also supported American units in the evacuation of islands on the Korean northwest coast. In June 1954 the cruiser returned home from the Far East.

From 1955 to 1959, the Birmingham served again in the Mediterranean fleet, mostly as the flagship of the 1st cruiser squadron. She worked on two films, including Battle of the River Plate . In June 1957 she was involved with six other warships in exercises off Turkish ports on the Black Sea , which led to violent protests by the Soviet Union. At the end of her service life, the Birmingham collided with the destroyer Delight off Malta in May 1959 . Two members of the crew died during the inspection of the damage in the hull of the Birmingham .

On December 3, 1959, the light cruiser Birmingham was decommissioned at the Devonport naval base. The ship was sold for demolition which began in September 1960 at Ward, Inverkeithing .

Renewed use of the name

From 1976 to 1999 a Type 42 destroyer served as a Birmingham in the Royal Navy.

The next Birmingham of the RN in 1993

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SHIPS, September 1939
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Raven: Town class cruisers. ENSIGN 5; P. 36
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Service history HMS Birmingham

Remarks

1. ↑ Cornwall , Birmingham and Eagle had no destroyer security, as Daring , which was only available in Singapore, had to be released shortly after leaving due to machine problems. The 21st destroyer flotilla of the China station had already surrendered a division of its D-class destroyers to the Mediterranean fleet at the end of August 1939 . None of the replacement destroyers of the old S-Class ever reached the Far East.

literature

• Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships. 1922-1946. Conway Press, London 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
• Alan Raven: TOWN Class Cruisers. ENSIGN 5, Bivouac Books, London.
• Mike J. Whitley: Cruiser in World War II. Classes, types, construction dates. Stuttgart 1997.

Web links

Commons : HMS Birmingham  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• HMS BIRMINGHAM-Town-type Light Cruiser on naval-history.net
• HMS Birmingham (19) on uboat.net
• HMS Birmingham (C19) Southampton Class Light Cruiser on WW2 Cruisers