HMS Berwick (65)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Berwick late 1944. |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Built By: | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland) |
| Laid down: | 15 September 1924 |
| Launched: | 30 March 1926 |
| Commissioned: | 12 July 1927 |
| Paid off: | 1946 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, she was allocated to British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrapping on 15 June 1948 and arrived at Hughes Bolkow, Blyth, on 12 July for breaking up. |
| Penant: | 65 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Type: | Heavy Cruiser |
| Displacement: | 9,750 tons standard;
13,450 tons full load. |
| Length: | 630 ft (192 m) |
| Beam: | 68 ft 3 in. (20.8 m) |
| Draught: | 16 ft 3 in. (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | 8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 4 shaft Brown Curtis geared turbines, 80,000 shp. |
| Speed: | 31.5 knots |
| Range: | 4,989 km (3,100 miles) at 31.5 knots, 21,404 km (13,300 miles) at 12 knots ; 3,400 tons fuel oil |
| Complement: | 700 |
| Armament: Original configuration: |
4 × 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4 × 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns 2 x 2 pdr (40 mm) quadruple pom-pom mounts 2 × 0.5 in MG quadruple guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) quad Torpedo Tubes. |
| Armament: (1938 - 1941) |
4 × 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4 × 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns, 2 × 2 pdr (40 mm) pom-poms eight barrel guns, 2 × 0.5 in MG quadruple guns. |
| Armament: (1941 - 1945) |
4 × 8 in (203 mm) dual guns, 4 × 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns, 2 × 2 pdr (40 mm) pom-poms eight barrel guns, 2 x single 20 mm Oerlikon guns, 7 x dual 20 mm Oerlikon guns, |
| Armour: Original configuration |
1 to 4 in magazine box protection, 1.375 in deck,
|
| Aircraft: | 3 aircraft with 1 catapult, removed in 1942 |
HMS Berwick (65) was a Royal Navy Kent class - one of the subclasses of the County class heavy cruisers. She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland), with the keel being laid down on 15 September 1924. She was launched on 30 March 1926, and commissioned 12 July 1927.
[edit] History
When completed Berwick was sent to the China Station, where she remained until a temporary detachment to the Mediterranean in 1936. After reconstruction between 1937 and 1938, she served on the America and West Indies Station with the 8th Cruiser Squadron until 1939. When World War II started, she served on ocean convoy escort duties, then formed part of Force "F" (with York) when hunting groups were formed to find the German raiders. She did not make contact with any raider, but intercepted the mercantile blockade runners Wolfsburg and Uruguay in the Denmark Straits during March 1940.
On 9 April 1940 she participated in the Norwegian campaign. On completion of naval operations off Norway, was allocated to Force "H" at Gibraltar arriving on 7 November. On 11 November 1940, Berwick escorted the carrier Illustrious in the successful raid against the Italian battle fleet in Taranto harbor. Later that month she also escorted convoys between Egypt and Greece.
On 24 November 1940 Berwick had received orders to go to Freetown, escorting carrier Formidable with sistership Norfolk where they would form into Force "K" to hunt for the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, but on 27 November those orders were amended to allocate her to convoy escorts in the North Atlantic. While on passage to Gibraltar, an Italian Squadron comprising the battleships Vittorio Veneto and Andrea Doria attempted engaging the British, resulting in the Battle of Capo Teulada. In the course of the ballistic contact, at 1222 hrs Berwick sustained a 203 mm (8") hit on "X" turret, with 7 dead and 9 wounded, and another at 1235 hrs, probably another 203 mm, which exploded in the Officer's quarters.
On 25 December 1940, Berwick formed apart of the escort to convoy WS.5a, a troop convoy to the Middle East, but became under attack from the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper off the Canaries. Berwick engaged the attacker but got the worse of the encounter, sustaining a fair amount of damage. She had to returned to Britain for repairs, which lasted until June 1941.
When repaired Berwick joined the Home Fleet and for the remainder of her wartime career she was escorting convoys to North Russia and operating in the northern North Sea. In February 1942 she was escorting the carriers which attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in her anchorage at Altenfjord. She escorted two more carrier against the Tirpitz in 1944 and again in 1945. Berwick's last role was to escort carriers that were raiding the Norwegian coast in 1945
After the war she was allocated to BISCO for scrapping on 15 June 1948 and arrived at Hughes Bolkow, Blyth, on 12 July for breaking up.
See HMS Berwick for other ships of the name.
| County-class cruiser |
| Royal Navy |
| Kent class - Berwick | Cumberland | Cornwall | Kent | Suffolk |
| London class - Devonshire | London | Shropshire | Sussex |
| Dorsetshire class - Dorsetshire | Norfolk |
| Royal Australian Navy |
| Kent class - Australia | Canberra |
| London class - Shropshire (transferred) |
List of cruiser classes of the Royal Navy List of major warship classes of the Royal Australian Navy |
| County class cruisers Kent sub class |
| Royal Navy |
| Berwick | Cumberland | Cornwall | Kent | Suffolk |
| Royal Australian Navy |
| Australia | Canberra |
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