HMS Black Prince (81)

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Career
HMS Black Prince, post-war May 1946, Just before transferring to the Royal New Zealand Navy - note post war paint.
Built By:	Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Laid down:	1 December 1939
Launched:	27 August 1942
Commissioned:	30 November 1943
Loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy:	25 May 1946, Returned to the Royal Navy in 1 April 1961
Decommissioned:	March 1962
Fate:	Sold for scrapping in March 1962, arrived at Mitsui & Company, Osaka breakage yards, Japan, on 2 May 1962 for breaking up.
Penant:	81
General Characteristics
Type:	Light (Anti-Aircraft) Cruiser
Displacement:	5,950 tons standard 7,200 tons full load
Dimensions:	485 pp, 512 by 50.5 by 15.0 ft (156 by 15.4 by 4.6 m)
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) (4 × 2) 12 × 2 pdr (1.5 in) pom-poms (3 × 4) 12 × 20 mm AA (6 × 2) 6 × 21 in (533 mm) Torpedo Tubes (2 × 3) Early 1945 - Mid 1946 configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) (4 × 2) 12 × 2 pdr (1.5 in) pom-poms (3 × 4) 24 × 20 mm AA (8 × 2, 8 × 1) 6 × 21 in (533 mm) Torpedo Tubes (2 × 3)
Armour:	Original configuration: Belt: 3 inch Deck: 1 inch Magazines: 2 inch Bulkheads: 1 inch
Propulsion:	4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers Parsons geared turbines, 62,000 shp (46 MW) 32.25 knots maximum speed 4 shafts
Range:	2,414 km (1,500 miles) at 30 knots 6,824 (4,240 miles) at 16 knots 1,100 tons fuel oil
Complement:	530

HMS Black Prince was a Bellona-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was a modified Dido design, sometimes called Dido Group 2, with only 4 5.25 inch mounts instead of 5, and improved anti-aircraft armament. She was built by Harland & Wolff of Belfast, Northern Ireland, with her keel being laid down on 1 December 1939. She was launched on 27 August 1942, and commissioned on 30 November 1943.

Black Prince was named after Prince Edward (1330-1376), the eldest son of King Edward III.

After commissioning, Black Prince served on Arctic convoys and then came south in preparation for the invasion of Europe, being employed on offensive sweeps against German coastal convoy traffic. On the night of 25 April to 26 April 1944, accompanied by destroyers, she was involved in the action which sank the torpedo boat T29 and damaged T24 and T27 off the north Brittany coast.

During the Normandy landings she was part of Force "A" of Task Foirce 125 in support of Utah Beach. Task Force 125 at this time consisted of the battleship USS Nevada and the cruisers USS Quincy, USS Tuscaloosa, and Black Prince, and several destroyers and destroyer escorts. Her target was the battery of Morsalin. In August 1944 she moved to the Mediterranean for the invasion of Southern France. She was then sent to the Aegean waters in September 1944. On 8 September 1944 Black Prince arrived at Alexandria, Egypt, where she was ordered sweep the area around Scarpanto and the Gulf of Salonica. On one occasion she bombarded the airfield at Maleme on the island of Crete to prevent German aircraft from taking off.

On 21 November 1944 Black Prince left Alexandria, passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, and then on into the Indian Ocean. She arrived at Colombo in Ceylon on 30 November to join the East Indies Fleet, where she covered the aircraft carrier raids against Japanese oil installations and airfields in Sumatra and Malaya.

On 16 January 1945 she sailed as part of the British Pacific Fleet, seeing action off Okinawa and in the final bombardments of the Japanese mainland before withdrawing to reoccupy Hong Kong in September 1945.

After the Japanese surrender she remained in the Far East and was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy on 25 May 1946. She reverted to Royal Navy control, still in an un-modernised condition, on 1 April 1961.

She was sold for scrapping in March 1962; she was towed from Auckland on 5 April 1962 to the Mitsui & Company, Osaka breakage yards, Japan, by the Japanese tug Benten Maru, arriving there on 2 May 1962 for breaking up.

See HMS Black Prince for other ships of this name.

Royal Navy

Dido group