HMS Superb (25)

HMS Superb was a Minotaur-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear on 23 June 1942, launched on 31 August 1943 and commissioned on 16 November 1945.

Superb was the last of the Minotaurs to be built, and was completed to a slightly different design to that of the previous members of the class. Construction on her unfinished sisters was halted after the end of the war and they were later scrapped, or converted into the new Tiger class missile cruisers. Superb was involved in the Corfu Channel Incident in 1946, but otherwise had an unremarkable career, spending some time as the flagship of Rear admiral Sir Herbert Packer, and was decommissioned in 1957. She was sold three years later and arrived at the Dalmuir yards of Arnott Young on 8 August 1960 to be scrapped. Although Superb was the latest of the line of 6-inch gun cruisers to be completed, (the 1943 Minotaur class followed directly from the 1938 Colony and 1936 Town classes), she was also one of the first of this type to be broken up. Pre-war ships lasted longer, showing the difference between peacetime and wartime building standards.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• WWII cruisers
• HMS Superb at Uboat.net