Town class (1936)

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HMS Belfast
The HMS Belfast as a museum ship in London
Town class RN Ensign
Data
Displacement: Southampton class 11.540 t
Gloucester class 11.930 t
Edinburgh class 13.175 t
Length: Southampton and Gloucester class 180 m
Edinburgh class 187 m
Width: Southampton class 19.0 m
Gloucester and Edinburgh class 19.8 m
Draft: Southampton- class 6.1m
Gloucester -class 6.3m
Edinburgh -class 6.9m
Drive: 4 boilers, 4 steam turbines, 4 screws,
Southampton class 75,000 hp (56 MW)
Gloucester and Edinburgh class 82,500 hp (62 MW)
Maximum speed: 32  knots (59 km / h)
Crew: 750
Armament: Southampton and Gloucester class (original design)

Edinburgh- class (original design)

  • 12 × 152 mm in 4 triplet towers
  • 12 × 102 mm in twin mounts
  • 16 × 40 mm in eight-way carriage
  • 8 × 12.7 mm MG
  • 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (in two sets of triple)
Airplanes: Two Supermarine Walrus planes (later removed)

The Town class (1936) refers to a class of light cruisers used by the Royal Navy in World War II and the Korean War, among others. They were designed within the confines of the 1930 London Conference . The ships were divided into three sub-classes, the Southampton , Gloucester and Edinburgh classes . Most of the ships have been scrapped, only one has been preserved as a museum.

Just like their American and Japanese counterparts, the Town-class cruisers were "light cruisers" only in name. Since, according to the London Naval Conference, cruisers whose main armament did not exceed a caliber of 155 mm could be considered light cruisers, the three naval powers endeavored to circumvent the restrictions on the construction of heavy cruisers by building light cruisers that match the size and combat strength of Heavy cruisers reached. The smaller caliber of the main armament was offset by a larger number of guns. The Town I-III ships were the British answer to the Japanese Mogami class.

Southampton- class

The Southampton class was the first subclass to be built, so the following subclasses were also referred to as improved or modified Southamptons. They were built in response to the American Brooklyn-class cruisers as well as the Japanese Mogami-class .

Gloucester- class

The Gloucester- class ships had a modified deck and better armor on the turrets.

Edinburgh- class

The Edinburgh- class ships were 187 instead of 180 m longer than their predecessors. Originally it was planned to increase the main armament from twelve 152 mm guns of the type BL 6 "MK XXIII in four triplet turrets to sixteen guns in four quadruple turrets. However, this could not be realized due to technical difficulties with the quadruple turrets, and so they contented themselves with improvements to the triple turrets as well as additional medium artillery, anti-aircraft armament and armor.

Later changes

All ships were heavily modified during the Second World War , including the installation of radar equipment . After the Korean War , one of the stern turrets at HMS Glasgow , HMS Sheffield and HMS Newcastle was replaced by two additional Bofors quadruple anti-aircraft cannons . The Edinburgh- class ships did not have to remove the turret, as this sub-class was larger and there was more space.

service

The first Town-class ships were launched in 1936 and entered service in 1937. The ships were involved in numerous actions during World War II, including the sinking of the Scharnhorst . Many of the town cruisers that survived World War II were subsequently used in the Korean War. The only remaining ship of the class is the Belfast , which can be seen in London as a museum ship.

Web links

Commons : Town class  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David and Hugh Lyon; Siegfried Greiner: Warships from 1900 to today, technology and use . Buch und Zeit Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne 1979, p. 54-55 .