HMS Liverpool (C11)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid Down:	17 February 1936
Launched:	24 March 1937
Commissioned:	2 November 1938
Decommissioned:	November 1952
Fate:	Sold for scrap July 1958
General Characteristics
Displacement:	11,930 tons
Length:	591.6 ft (180.3 m)
Beam:	64.9 ft (19.8 m)
Draught:	20.6 ft (6.28 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, 4 shafts, 4 boilers, 82,500 hp (61.5 MW)
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	750
Armament:	Original Configuration: Twelve 6 inch (152 mm) guns in triple turrets (one aft turret later removed) Eight 4 in (102 mm) guns Eight 40.5 mm guns Eight 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine-guns Six 21 inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes (later removed)
Aircraft:	Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Removed in the latter part of WWII)

The sixth HMS Liverpool (C11) was an 11,930 ton Town class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy.

She was laid down on 17 February 1936, launched on 24 March 1937, and commissioned on 2 November 1938.

Liverpool's first active operations in World War II came in the Far East while she was part of the China Station. On 21 January 1940, Liverpool intercepted the Japanese passenger liner Asama Maru, 35 miles (56 km) off the coast of Japan. She removed 21 German passemgers, survivors from the passener ship Columbus, which had been on its way to Germany.

Shortly afterwards, Liverpool was transferred to the 7th Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean. On 12 June 1940, Liverpool and her sister-ship Gloucester engaged three small Italian craft off the Libyan city of Tobruk. The following day, the Italians' admitted the loss of one ship.

Later that month, on the 28th, the 7th Cruiser Squadron — comprising Gloucester, Neptune, Orion, Sydney and Liverpool — sighted and engaged three Italian destroyers south-west of Cape Matapan. The action was at long range and resulted in the desruction of the Italian destroyer Espero.

On 14 October, Liverpool was seriously damaged in a torpedo attack by enemy aircraft south-east of Crete. She was towed to the Egyptian city of Alexandria for repairs and did not reach sea worthiness until April 1941. She then headed for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California for permanent repairs. She returned home in Spring 1942 and covered the unforgiving Arctic convoys during April and May.

The Liverpool joined the famous Malta Convoys in June 1942, but was again torpedoed by aircraft that inflicted serious damage. She had to be towed to the British territory of Gibraltar, where temporary repairs were carried out before she proceeded to Rosyth for permanent repair. She was effectively knocked out for the remainder of the war. She spent three years at Rosyth before returning to service. When repairs were completed, Liverpool was deployed to the Mediterranean.

In 1951, Lord Mountbatten embarked aboard Liverpool to be transported to the city of Split, in what was then Yugoslavia, to meet with Marshal Josip Broz Tito.

With the drawdown of the Royal Navy in the 1950s, Liverpool was placed in Reserve at Portsmouth in 1952. She was finally broken up in 1958.

See HMS Liverpool for other ships of this name.