| Career | |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | County-class heavy cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Sussex |
| Builder: | R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, at Hebburn-on-Tyne |
| Laid down: | 1 February 1927 |
| Launched: | 22 February 1928 |
| Commissioned: | 19 March 1929 |
| Decommissioned: | 3 January 1950, Handed over to British Iron and Steel Corporation |
| Out of service: | 2 February 1949 |
| Fate: | Scrapping started on 23 February 1950 at Arnott Young, Dalmuir. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 9,750 tons standard 13,315 tons full load |
| Length: | 633 ft (193 m) |
| Beam: | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers Four shaft Parsons geared turbines 80,000 shp (60 MN) |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59.3 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,715 km (2,930 miles) at 31.5 knots, 20,116 km (12,500 mi) at 12 knots; 3,210 tons fuel oil |
| Complement: | 650 (peace), 820 (war) |
| Armament: | Original configuration: 8x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns, 4x 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns, 4x 2 pdr (40 mm) single pom-poms, 2x 2 pdr (40 mm) quad pom-poms, 2x 0.5 in quadruple Vickers machine gun mount, 2x quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes. |
| Armour: | 1to 4in magazine box protection, 1.375in deck, 1in side-plating,turrets and bulkheads, 4.5in belt, 4internal boiler room sides (added 1936-1940). |
| Aircraft carried: | One aircraft, later three. One catapult. |
| Notes: | Pennant number 96 |
HMS Sussex was one of the London sub-class of the County-class heavy cruisers in the Royal Navy. She was laid down by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, at Hebburn-on-Tyne on 1 February 1927, launched on 22 February 1928 and completed on 19 March 1929.
Contents |
Sussex served in the Mediterranean until 1934,, when she was sent to serve with the Royal Australian Navy while HMAS Australia operated with the Mediterranean Fleet.[1] Sussex's exchange tour concluded in 1936,[1] and she resumed her presence in the Mediterranean again until 1939. During the latter trip, she defended the neutral shipping along the eastern Spanish coast on the last days of the Spanish civil war, supported by the destroyers HMS Intrepid and HMS Impulsive. She obtained the release of at least four British cargo ships arrested by Spanish nationalist forces, but was unable to prevent the capture of the London-registered freighter Stangate by the nationalist merchant raider Mar Negro off Valencia, on 16 March 1939.[2][3][4]
In September 1939 she operated with Force H in the South Atlantic during the search for the enemy German raider Admiral Graf Spee. On 2 December she and the battlecruiser HMS Renown intercepted the German passenger ship Watussi. Before the German ship could be captured she was scuttled by her own crew. Following the scuttling of the Graf Spee in December 1939, she returned to the UK, and served with the Home Fleet during the Norwegian Campaign. She entered refit at Glasgow, and while undergoing work, was struck by bombs on 18 September 1940. These caused serious fires, gutting the after end, and she settled on the bottom with a heavy list. She needed extensive repairs and did not return to service until August 1942.
Her next assignment was to the Atlantic, and later with the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean.
Sussex spent 1944 in the Pacific, and covered operations in the Netherlands East Indies following the cessation of hostilities. On 26 July 1945 her Task Force was attacked by two Aichi D3A "Val" dive-bombers acting as "Kamikaze" suicide weapons. On Wednesday, 5 September, 1945 at 1130am., HMS Sussex entered Singapore Harbour carrying the Flag of the Rear-Admiral Cedric Holland. General Seishirō Itagaki, the commander of the garrison at Singapore was brought on board, where he signed the formal surrender of the army, thus completing Operation Tiderace, the allied plan to recapture Singapore.
HMS Sussex was paid off in 1949, handed over to the British Iron and Steel Corporation on 3 January 1950, and arrived at Dalmuir in Scotland on 23 February 1950 where she was broken up by W. H. Arnott, Young and Company, Limited.
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