HMS Caledon (D53)
 | |
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Caledon |
| Builder: | Cammell Laird |
| Laid down: | 17 March 1916 |
| Launched: | 25 November 1916 |
| Commissioned: | 6 March 1917 |
| Decommissioned: | April 1945 |
| Reclassified: | Converted to Anti-Aircraft cruiser at Chatham Dockyard between 14 September 1942 and 7 December 1943 |
| Fate: | Sold to be broken up for scrap on 22 January 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | C-class light cruiser |
| Tons burthen: | 4,190 tons |
| Length: | 450 ft (140 m) |
| Beam: | 43.6 ft (13.3 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Installed power: | Six Yarrow boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Two Brown-Curtis geared turbines Two screws |
| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
| Range: | carried 300 tons (950 tons maximum) of fuel oil |
| Complement: | 327 |
| Armament: | 5 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XII guns 2 × QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA guns |
| Armour: | 3 inch side (amidships) 2¼-1½ inch side (bows) 2 inch side (stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder |
HMS Caledon was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was the nameship of the Caledon group of the C-class of cruisers.
Service history
She was built by Cammell Laird and laid down on 17 March 1916, launched on 25 November 1916 and commissioned into the Navy on 6 March 1917. She was commissioned in time to see action in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the battle Ordinary Seaman John Henry Carless, although mortally wounded in the abdomen, still went on serving his gun and helping to clear away the casualties. He collapsed once, but got up again and cheered on the gun's new crew. He then fell and died. He not only set a very inspiring example, but while mortally wounded continued to do effective work against the enemy. He was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross. Caledon survived the First World War and went on to see action in the Second World War.
Caledon spent the early part of the war with the Home Fleet, where she escorted convoys and was involved in the pursuit of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau after the sinking of HMS Rawalpindi. She was reassigned to the Eastern Fleet between August 1940 and September 1942. She then rejoined the Home Fleet. Upon her arrival in the UK, she underwent conversion into an anti-aircraft cruiser at Chatham Dockyard between 14 September 1942 and 7 December 1943. The image of Caledon shows her after her conversion to an anti-aircraft cruiser.
Obsolete by the end of the war, she was disarmed in April 1945, and subsequently sold to be broken up for scrap on 22 January 1948. Caledon arrived at the yards of Dover Industries, Dover on 14 February 1948 to be scrapped.
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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
- HMS Caledon at Uboat.net
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