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County-class cruiser
Class of heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The County class was a class of heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They were the first post-war cruisers constructed for the Royal Navy and were designed within the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 tons standard displacement and 8-inch calibre main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers" (the term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty of 1930[1][page needed]).
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![]() Australia in 1937 | |
Class overview | |
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Name | County class |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Hawkins class |
Succeeded by | York class |
Subclasses | Kent, London, Norfolk |
In commission | 1928–1959 |
Planned | 16 |
Completed | 13 |
Cancelled | 3 |
Lost | 3 |
Retired | 10 |
General characteristics Kent class[1][page needed] | |
Type | Heavy cruiser |
Displacement |
|
Length | |
Beam | 68 ft (21 m) across bulges |
Draught |
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Propulsion | 8 × Admiralty three-drum boilers, Parsons (Brown-Curtis in Berwick) geared steam turbines on 4 shafts, 80,000 shp (60,000 kW) |
Speed | 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) |
Range |
|
Complement | 685 standard, 710 as flagship, 784 during wartime |
Armament |
|
Armour |
|
General characteristics London class | |
Displacement |
|
Length | |
Beam | 66 ft (20 m) |
Draught |
|
Speed | 32.25 knots (59.73 km/h; 37.11 mph) |
Complement | 700 standard, 852 during war |
Armament |
|
Armour |
|
Notes | Other characteristics as per Kent |
General characteristics Norfolk class | |
Displacement |
|
Length | |
Beam | 66 ft (20 m) |
Draught |
|
Complement | 710 standard, 819 during wartime |
Armament |
|
Notes | Other characteristics as per London |
The thirteen Counties were built in the Kent, London and Norfolk sub-classes. They were the only 10,000-ton 8-inch gun, or "A", cruisers that the Royal Navy built. The Counties are remembered for their distinctive three-funnel layout and service in all the major naval theatres of the Second World War.
To extract more ships from the treaty limits, the navy planned to construct 8,250-ton "B" ships, six of which could be built in place of five Counties. The extra ship that this afforded was an attractive proposition for a navy that had the immense peacetime commitments of empire.[1][page needed][2] Peacetime economies and politics intervened and only two B-type cruisers were built, an 8-inch gun modified County design: the York class.
In 1929, the mean cost of each "A" ship was estimated to be £2,180,000, whilst the mean cost of each "B" ship was estimated to be £1,800,000.[3]