HMS Cornwall (56)

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Career
Class and type:	County-class heavy cruiser
Name:	HMS Cornwall
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK)
Laid down:	9 October 1924
Launched:	11 March 1926
Commissioned:	8 May 1928
Fate:	Sunk 5 April 1942, with HMS Dorsetshire, by bombs from Japanese carrier aircraft, west of Ceylon (198 lost)
General characteristics
Displacement:	9,750 tons (9,010 t) standard 13,450 tons (13,670 t) full load
Length:	630 ft (190 m)
Beam:	68 ft 3 in (20.8 m)
Draught:	16 ft 3 in (5.0 m)
Propulsion:	Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers Four shaft Brown Curtis geared turbines 80,000 shp
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range:	3,100 miles at 31.5 knots (5,740 km at 58 km/h), 13,300 miles at 12 knots (24,600 km at 22 km/h); 3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil
Complement:	700
Armament:	Original configuration: 4x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4x 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns 2x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns 2x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns 2x 21 in (533 mm) quadruple Torpedo Tubes. 1936 - 1942 configuration: 4x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4x 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns 2x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms eight barrel guns 2x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns
Armour:	Original configuration: 1 to 4 in magazine box protection 1.375 in deck 1 in side-plating,turrets and bulkheads 4.5 in belt 4 internal boiler room sides (added 1936-1940)
Aircraft carried:	Three aircraft with one catapult, removed in 1942
Notes:	Pennant number 56

HMS Cornwall (56) was a County class heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass of the Royal Navy. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK), with the keel being laid down on 9 October 1924. She was launched on 11 March 1926, and commissioned 8 May 1928.

[edit] History

Upon completion in 1928 Cornwall joined the China Station. In 1936 Cornwall had her tour of duty completed left the China Station for United Kingdom for a refit the following year. In 1938 with the refit completed Cornwall joined the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. In 1939 Cornwall was once again transferred to the China Station, joining the 5th Cruiser Squadron.

In September 1939, after the outbreak of war, the cruiser was transferred to the Indian Ocean as a member of the newly created Force "I" based on Ceylon. On 5 October, she was involved in the search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

From 8 February to 14 February 1940 Cornwall was docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simonstown, South Africa. In August she was summoned from the South Atlantic to proceed on convoy duties from Freetown. On the 25th convoy WS-2 arrived in South Africa with troop reinforcements including at least three Armoured Regiments for the 7th Armoured Division in Middle East. Also embarked was the 2nd West African Brigade en-route from Mombassa to participate in the Abyssinian Campaign. The convoy split into WS-2A for Cape Town and WS-2B for Simonstown, it included fourteen ships. In September in the central Atlantic area, a French naval expedition force consisting of the light cruisers Georges Leygues, Montcalm, Gloire and the large destroyers Le Fantasque, Le Malin and L'Audacieux were sent to re-establish the authority of the Vichy government. The light cruiser Primauguet with the tanker Tarn had been sent ahead of the French force to Libreville to provide fuel supplies, but they were intercepted by Cornwall and Delhi and escorted to Casablanca.

January 1941, was spent in Selborne dry dock where Cornwall had her rudder removed and refitted. In May she was in the Indian Ocean while on patrol the German commerce raider Pinguin was sighted near the Seychelles and was engaged. Unfortunately 200 prisoners along with 332 Germans were lost with the ship, Cornwall managed to rescue 60 crew members and 22 prisoners who were originally the crew of the 32 merchant ships the raider had either sunk or captured. During the battle, Cornwall was hit in the stern. She returned to Durban for repairs, which were completed on 10 June. On 25 November, Cornwall intercepted the Vichy-French merchant Surcouf off the east coast of Somalia and brought her to Aden. The Surcouf was enroute to Djibouti with food.

January 1942 found Cornwall at the Dutch East Indies Station participating in convoy duties between Ceylon and the Sunda Strait. During February until March the cruiser was still deployed in escorting convoys. Admiral Somerville, Commander in Chief Eastern Fleet, received reports on 29 March, of the impending attack by the Japanese on Ceylon, Cornwall (Capt. P.C.W. Manwaring, R.N.) together with her sister ship HMS Dorsetshire made up Force "A", and were then detached to Colombo.

HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall under heavy air attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on 5 April, 1942. Photographed from a Japanese aircraft.

In early April, Cornwall and her sister ship HMS Dorsetshire were detached from the fleet to escort the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes to Trincomalee on Ceylon for repairs. On 4 April, the Japanese carrier fleet was spotted, and the two cruisers left the Harbour, and after a hurried refuelling at sea, set out for Addu Atoll shortly after midnight. On 5 April, the two cruisers were sighted by a spotter plane from the Japanese cruiser Tone about 200 miles (370 km) southwest of Ceylon. Bombers were immediately flown off the carriers to attack the two vessels, in an engagement known as the Easter Sunday Raid.

Cornwall was sunk in 12 minutes by nine 250 to 550 pound bombs, and six near misses. All boiler and engine rooms were out of action within minutes, thereby resulting in a lack of power to the pumps and fire fighting equipment. Dorsetshire was also lost in this engagement. 1,120 men from the crews of both ships were rescued by the light cruiser Enterprise and the destroyers Paladin and Panther.

The cruiser's badge can still be seen proudly displayed on the Selborne dry dock wall at Simonstown, South Africa.

[edit] References

• British and Empire Warships of the Second World War, H T Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, Ed. Robert Gardiner, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. 
• HMS Cornwall at U-boat.net